Col. Joseph Belt

Patentee of "Cheivy Chace", Trustee of first free schools in Maryland, one of the founders of Rock Creek Parish, member of the House of Burgesses, Colonel of Prince George's County militia during the French and Indian War.

Col. Joseph Belt was the proprietor of the Chevy Chase Plantation, which was comprised of 1000 acres at that location, which still bears the name Chevy Chase today. He was a colonel in the Maryland Militia, and fought in the French and Indian Wars. He was a trustee of the first free schools in Maryland, and was a member of the Maryland House of Burgesses.

Chevy Chase, MD was one of the first planned suburban communities. It was created in 1890 by the Chevy Chase Land Company, which first purchased a 305-acre plot of land straddling the line between Maryland and D.C. The name, which was subsequently adopted for the entire new subdivision, can be traced to the larger tract of land called "Cheivy Chace” that was patented to Colonel Joseph Belt from Lord Baltimore on July 10, 1725. It has historic associations to a 1388 battle between Lord Percy of England and Earl Douglas of Scotland. At issue in this "chevauchee" (a Scottish word describing a border raid) were hunting grounds or a “chace" in the Cheviot Hills of Northumberland and Otterburn.

• Following records provided by George Arthur Trail IV
• Calvert Rent Rolls ...Prince George's County....200 acres..." Belt's Discovery ".....Surveyed: 07/20/1713....Surveyed for Joseph Belt beginning at a bounded Spanish Oak standing north of a tract of land called " Paculett's Rest "...Patented: 04/ 10/ 1715
• Calvert Rent Rolls....Prince George's County....560 acres...." Chivy Chase "....Surveyed for Joseph Belt beginning at a bounded red oa standing near the head of a glade of the fall branch of the Potomac.

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Death notice in Maryland Gazette, issue 2 July 1761, page 2, column 1.
"Friday Night last Died at his Plantation in Prince George's County, aged 86, Colonel Joseph Belt, whose Death is supposed to be occasioned by Grief for the Death of his Son a few Weeks before."
[The Friday before 2 July in 1761 was 26 June.]
https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc4800/sc4872/001280/...

BET. 1725 - 1727
Assembly member representing county.

BET. 1726 - 1728
Justice of Prince George's County Court.

24 September 1745
Joseph, wife Margery and Joseph sold 300 acres, Belt's Posterity
Standardized Data