American Origins Project: 1877 Atlas

American Origins Project: 1877 Atlas

What is the American Origins Project?

Beginning in the late 17th century settlers began to establish themselves in many portions of the Delmarva Peninsula. These early settlers built a foundation for a America. To better understand the past, staff at the Edward H. Nabb Research Center for Delmarva History and Culture have initiated a web-based archive for researchers to gather information on some of the earliest settlers to the region.

Currently the on-line database includes information on some 3,000 of the earliest settlers in Somerset County with emphasis on those who lived in the Mt. Vernon region from 1663 to 1759. Plans are underway to include settler information from a wider time span and geographical location. The majority of information listed was transcribed directly from primary source materials at the Nabb Center including tax rolls, wills, personal inventories, maps, judicial proceedings as well as records of births, deaths and marriages.

The Mt. Vernon region of Somerset County includes Monie and Wicomico hundreds, specifically, those settlers who lived on the neck of land just south of the Wicomico River. Somerset County, officially organized in 1666, is on the southern portion of the Delmarva peninsula. The 180-mile peninsula lies between the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean and is one of the earliest seedbeds of America. Today Delmarva is comprised of southern Delaware as well as portions of Maryland and Virginia.

American Origins Project: 1877 Atlas