[ebay 71]

Sund-Publication, 2о. 2.

THE FIRST COMMANDER

OF

KENT ISLAND:

BY

SEBASTIAN F. STREETER,

LATE RECORDING SECRETARY OF THE MARYLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY;

Baltimore, September, 1868.

THE FIRST COMMANDER

OF

KENT ISLAND.

In the month of December, 1636, appeared on L Kent Island, a person, whose arrival occasioned no little stir among the members of Claiborne's settlement and who was destined to exercise an important influence over the fortunes of those with whom he thus became associated.

The new-comer, to whom I allude, was GEORGE EveLIN, the eldest son, if I am rightly informed, of Robert Evelin, of Godstone, in England. His uncle, Capt. William Young, had been or was then engaged in a trading enterprise in the Dela-ware, (then generally known as the Charles river, and had built a fort, or trading house, at Eriwo-meck, on the north side of the river, for the purpose of organizing a traffic with the natives of that region. He was accompanied by his nephew, Robert Evelin, a brother of George, and probably by a sufficient company to protect him from the assaults of the surrounding tribes; but his undertaking was not prosperous, and after a fair trial, was relinquished.