Worcester (old) County, Maryland Genealogy

United States &gt; Maryland &gt; old Worcester County

History

 * Old Worcester county was created on the previously neglected ocean side of Maryland shortly after a 26 November 1669 surveyor report of Dutch encroachment in the area.
 * The new county extended along the Atlantic coast between Virginia (southern most branch of Rehobeth Bay) and Pennsylvania (40o north latitude). This included all of the present day State of Delaware. It also seems to have included Durham County which had just been organized by the Maryland Council a month before.
 * 47 new land grants for Maryland were granted in Durham County as late as 1682, although Durham County should have been incorporated into old Worcester County, Maryland in 1670.
 * In 1738 Maryland recognized the claim of Pennsylvania to the lower three counties on the Delaware River (now the State of Delaware) including what was once all of Durham County, or later part of old Worcester County, Maryland.