What's a "Hundred?"

Reprinted from the September 2008 issue of The Timber Farms Voice

What Does A “Hundred” Mean?

Delaware does not have counties or townships like our neighboring states. In fact, Delaware is the only state in the U.S. that retains the geographical term of “hundred.”

Each of Delaware’s three counties is divided up into hundreds and at present Delaware has 33. It is an old English term that is now obsolete. Many believed that a hundred is the area from which 100 soldiers could be raised in the time of need. Actually, for Delaware, the origin was found in a letter written on October 25, 1682 by William Penn, the then newly-appointed Lord Proprietor of the province of Pennsylvania and the counties on the Delaware. Penn directed that “from this point onward, settlements be divided into sections of 100 families.” A deeper definition is found in the Delaware Genealogical Research Guide where a “hundred” would be occupied by 100 families where each family would have an average of about ten members (including servants). The first written reference to the term Hundred dates back to 1687, where the reference reads “a list of taxables of north side of Duck Creek Hundred” (NCC court records.)

It also was used for state representative districts and local officials, but in 1964 a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Delaware disallowed it and new boundaries were drawn.  Today, its only real importance is its use in real estate land recordings as a point of reference, and tax parcel numbers are still assigned by hundreds. The last hundred to be recorded was Blackbird when it split from Appoquinimink in 1875.

The newer term of township quickly spread in the other colonies and newly formed states but Delaware never adopted it.

Written by Vanessa Spence (Mrs. Spence is a resident of Timber Farms.)