Thomas made his first purchase in 1743. However, early settlement tended to hug the Bay and the major rivers, because the only reliable transport for goods was by water.¹ By Thomas' time, continuous tobacco farming had exhausted much coastal land and pioneers were beginning to push into the back country. Thomas certainly was a pioneer in his area. The land that was Casebolt's Delight was first held by Worthington, but his claim was filed only months before Thomas' purchase. It obviously had never been lived on or developed in any way.

In 1745, St. Thomas parish of the church of England was carved out of St. Paul's parish and established on the frontier northwest of Baltimore.² Like all Church of England parishes it was supported by a tax levied on each white male and each servant over 16 years of age. In 1745 there were only 675 such to pay the tax in the whole of St. Thomas parish.³

Thomas' land was at the northeastern outer edge of the parish. This had to be very much "backwoods" at the time. The Casebolt children would definitely have received a rough frontier upbringing. But settlement was proceeding apace and by 1766, the taxables in the parish had more than doubled, to 1522.⁴

In July 1755, shortly after Thomas sold Casebolt's Delight, British Gen. Edward Braddock was defeated by Indian forces near present-day Pittsburg, Pennsylvania and the whole of the frontier was open to Indian attack, right up to the neighborhood of Baltimore itself.⁵ In May 1756, the French and Indian War officially began and those living to the west of Baltimore often had to take refuge in Baltimore in the face of attack or rumored attack by Indians.⁶ Doubtless, the Casebolts were affected by this tur-

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1 Scharf, vol. II, pp. 2-3. Attesting to this, all the important early towns were founded on the intersection of major waterways, see Scharf, pp. 412-23.

2 Scharf, pp. 857-58.

3 Scharf, p. 858.

4 Scharf, p. 859.

5 Scharf, Baltimore, p.37; Scharf, pp.469-481.

6 Scharf, Baltimore, p. 38.

CASEBOLT -- An American Family                                         Copyright 1992 - RAK

Chapter 2 - The Emigrant                                                            Page 2-15

Last Revised: 9 September 1991