USA > Maryland > Harford County > History of Harford County, Maryland : from 1608 (the year of Smith's expedition) to the close of the War of 1812 > Part 4
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After the county seat had been removed from Joppa to the present city of Baltimore in 1768, our people, for the first time in their history, had their court placed far from their habitations, and this produced constant inconvenince and vexations. To serve upon the jury or to have their disputes heard and determined neces- sitated long rides that required our fathers a day to go and another to return, when they had been accus- tomed to have their seat of justice within easy reach. On this account they could not take the same active part in public affairs as they had theretofore. So a petition was presented to the Legislature of 1773, which resulted in the passage of a law for a new county to be known by the name of Harford.
In the year 1771, Frederick, the sixth Lord Balti- more, died in Italy, aged forty-one years. He left no legitimate children, and the title became extinct; but by his will Henry Harford, a natural son, was made proprietary of Maryland, though a minor, and the county formed three years later was called Harford from the young head of the province. After the Revo- lution Henry Harford returned from England and
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HISTORY OF HARFORD COUNTY.
urged in person before the Maryland Legislature a claim for six hundred and ninety-one thousand nine hundred and sixty-five dollars and sixty-seven cents for quit rents, and the further sum of eight hundred and seventy-three thousand one hundred and seventy-six dollars for lands. The Legislature rejected his claim, but he with other loyalists received a considerable in- demnity from the British government, and about the sum of ten thousand pounds sterling was also obtained by him from the State's stock then in England .* The act of the Legislature authorizing the formation of the county is as follows :
AN ACT FOR THE DIVISION OF BALTIMORE COUNTY, AND FOR ERECTING A NEW ONE BY THE NAME OF HARFORD .- LIB. RG., FOL. 239.
WHEREAS, A considerable body of the inhabitants of Baltimore county, by their petition to this General Assembly have prayed, that an act may be passed for a division of the said county, and for erecting a new one out of part thereof: And whereas it appears to this General Assembly, that the erecting of a new county out of such part of Baltimore county will con- duce greatly to the ease and convenience of the people thereof ;
II. BE IT THEREFORE ENACTED, by the right hon- orable the Lord Proprietary, by and with the advice and consent of his Governor, and the Upper and Lower Houses of Assembly, and the authority of the same, That after the second day of March next, all that part of Baltimore county which is included within the bounds following, to wit: Beginning at the mouth of the little falls of Gunpowder river, and running with the said falls to the fountain head, and from thence.
*Griffith's Annals.
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HISTORY OF HARFORD COUNTY.
north to the temporary line of this province, and thence with the temporary line to Susquehanna river, thence with Susquehanna to Chesapeake bay, and thence with the said bay, including Spesutia and Pool's Islands, to the mouth of Gunpowder river, and thence up the said river to the beginning aforesaid, shall be and is hereby erected into a new county, by the name of Harford county.
III. AND BE IT ENACTED, That the inhabitants of Harford county aforesaid shall have, hold and enjoy, all such rights and privileges as are held and enjoyed by the inhabitants of any county in the province.
IV. AND BE IT ENACTED, That Mr. John Paca, Mr. Aquila Hall, Mr. John Matthews, Mr. John Hall, of Cranberry Mr. Amos Garrott, Mr. Richard Dallam and Mr. Benedict Edward Hall shall be and are hereby appointed commissioners for Harford county aforesaid, and they, or the major part of them, shall be and they are hereby authorized and required, to buy and pur- chase, in fee, a quantity of land, not exceeding four acres of land, in or adjoining to Bushtown, on the head of Bush river, for the purpose of building thereon a courthouse and prison for the said county, and shall cause the said land to be laid out by the surveyor of Baltimore county, with good and sufficient boundaries, and a certificate thereof to be returned and recorded in the records of the said county ; and the said commission- ers, or the major part of them, shall draw their order on the sheriff of Harford county, to pay such sum as shall be agreed upon for the said land, and the sheriff is hereby directed and required to pay the said order out of the money hereafter mentioned, to be collected by him for that purpose; and such payment for the land aforesaid shall invest the justices of Harford county, and their successors, with an estate in fee-simple therein, for the use of the said county, for ever ; and if the said commissioners, or the major part of them, and the owner of the said land, should differ about the value of the said land, in such case the commissioners,
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HISTORY OF HARFORD COUNTY.
or the major part of them, shall be and they are hereby authorized and empowered to order the sheriff of Bal- timore county to summon twelve freeholders upon the said land, who shall be impanelled and sworn as a jury, to inquire the value of the said land; and the said com- missioners, or the major part of them, shall draw their order upon the sheriff of Harford county to pay the said valuation, and the said sheriff is hereby directed to pay the said order out of the money hereafter men- tioned, to be by him collected for that purpose, and upon his payment of the said order, the fee-simple in the said land shall be invested as aforesaid in the jus- tices of Harford county, and their successors, for the use of the said county for ever.
V. AND BE IT ENACTED, That the justices of Har- ford county, or the major part of them, are hereby authorized to contract and agree for a convenient place in Bushtown to hold the courts for the said county, and to contract and agree for a convenient place in the said town for their books, papers and other records, and also for a fit building for the custody of prisoners ;. and the said courts shall be held, and records kept, at such places, respectively, until the courthouse and prison for the said county shall be erected and built, and the charge and expense of such places shall be defrayed by the said county, and assessed with the pub- lic and county levy.
VI. AND BE IT ENACTED, That the justices of Har- ford county shall be and they are hereby authorized and required to assess and levy on the taxable inhabitants of the said county, with the public and county levy, as much tobacco as will pay for the purchase or valuation of the land aforesaid, together with the sheriff's salary of five per centum for collection ; which said quantity of tobacco shall be collected by the sheriff of the said county from the taxable inhabitants of the said county, in the same manner as other public and county levies are by law collected, and the said tobacco, when col- lected, shall be paid by the sheriff to such person or
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HISTORY OF HARFORD COUNTY.
persons as the commissioners aforesaid, or the major part of them, shall order and direct.
VII. AND Whereas the taxable inhabitants of that part of Baltimore county hereby erected into Harford county, have paid a proportionate quantity of tobacco towards the building the courthouse and prison in Bal- timore-town, in Baltimore county: And whereas a considerable sum of money was raised by the sale of the old courthouse and prison at Joppa, and applied towards erecting the said courthouse and prison ; and forasmuch as justice requires, that the said propor- tionable quantity of tobacco, and a proportionable part of the said money, should be refunded, and applied towards the building of the courthouse and prison now to be erected in Harford county ; BE IT THEREFORE ENACTED, that the justices of Baltimore county shall be and they are hereby authorized and required to assess and levy, by two equal assesments, the next year and year afterwards, with their public and county levy, the quantity of one hundred and fifty-four thousand six hundred and sixty-six pounds of tobacco, in and upon the taxable inhabitants of Baltimore county, together with the sheriff's salary of five per centum for collec- tion, which said quantity of tobacco, so to be assessed and levied, shall be collected by the sheriff of Baltimore county from the taxable inhabitants thereof, in the same manner as other public and county levies are by law collected, and the said tobacco, when collected, shall be paid by the said sheriff to the commissioners afore- said, and shall be by them applied towards building the courthouse and prison in the said county of Harford.
VIII. AND BE IT ENACTED, That the justices of Harford county shall be and they are hereby authorized and required to assess and levy with the public and county levy, by two equal assessments, in the next year and the year afterwards, the quantity of two hundred thousand pounds of tobacco, together with the sheriff's salary of five per centum for collection, which said to- bacco, so to be assessed and levied, shall be collected by
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HISTORY OF HARFORD COUNTY.
the sheriff of Harford county from the taxable inhabi- tants of the said county, in the same manner as other public and county levies are by law collected ; which said tobacco, when collected, shall be paid by the said sheriff to the commissioners aforesaid, and applied by them towards building the courthouse and prison afore- said for the said county.
IX. AND BE IT ENACTED, That the commissioners aforesaid, or the major part of them, shall be and they are hereby authorized and required to contract and agree for the building of the said courthouse and prison, which said courthouse and prison shall be built and erected on the land to be purchased as aforesaid, in or adjoining to Bushtown, on the head of Bush river ; and the said town, after the commencement of this act, shall be called Harford Town.
X. AND BE IT ENACTED, That all causes, pleas, pro- cess and pleadings, which now are or shall be depend- ing in Baltimore county court before the second day of March next, shall and may be prosecuted as effectually as they might have been had this act never been made; and in case any deeds or conveyances of lands in Harford county have been made, or shall be before the division aforesaid, acknowledged according to law in Baltimore county, the enrolment or recording thereof within the time limited by law, either in the county court of Baltimore county, or in the county court of Harford county, shall be good and available, the divi- sion aforesaid notwithstanding.
XI. AND BE IT ENACTED, That the justices of Balti- more county shall be and they are hereby empowered, upon application, to issue executions, or other legal process, upon all judgments had and obtained, or to be had and obtained, in Baltimore county court, against any inhabitant of Harford county, and to enforce the same, which said writs shall be directed to the sheriff of Harford county, and the said sheriff is hereby authorized and directed to serve and return the same to Baltimore county court, with the body or bodies of
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HISTORY OF HARFORD COUNTY.
the person or persons, if taken, against whom such writ or writs shall issue for that purpose; and during the attendance of the sheriff of Harford county at Balti- more county court, he shall have a power to confine in Baltimore county gaol, if he should think it necessary, such persons as he shall have in execution; but after his attendance shall be dispensed with by the said court, he shall then, in a reasonable time, remove such per- sons as he shall have in execution to Harford county gaol, there to be kept till legally discharged.
XII. AND BE IT ENACTED, That the public and county levy now assessed or levied, or to be levied and assessed by the justices of Baltimore county court at their levy court for the present year, shall and may be collected and received by the sheriff of Baltimore county, as well of the taxable inhabitants of Harford as of Baltimore county, and collected, accounted for and applied, in such manner as the said public and county levy would have been collected, accounted for and applied, had this act never been made.
XIII. AND BE IT ENACTED, That the several dele- gates for Baltimore county shall retain their seats, and that such of them as are residents in Baltimore county, after the division aforesaid, shall be deemed and taken as delegates for that county, and such of them as are residents in Harford county, shall be deemed and taken delegates for that county, and writs of election shall issue to make up the number of delegates wanted in either county, to complete the usual and common county representation.
XIV. AND BE IT ENACTED, That the county court of Harford county shall begin, and be held yearly, on the fourth Tuesday of those months in which other county courts are held, and shall have equal power and jurisdiction with any county court in this province.
CHAPTER VI.
ORGANIZATION OF COUNTY-CONTINUED.
FIRST RECORDS-SWEARING IN LORDS JUSTICES-APPOINTMENT OF CLERK, SHERIFF AND STATE'S ATTORNEY-DIVISION OF COUNTY INTO HUNDREDS AND APPOINTMENT OF CONSTABLES-FIRST GRAND JURY-FIRST PETIT JURY-COUNTY SEAT AT HARFORD TOWN, OR BUSH.
In accordance with the direction of this Act of Assembly the first term of court for Harford county was held at Harford Town, or Bush, on the 22nd day of March, in the year 1774, and then and there was put into operation the machinery for the government of the county thus created, and a new child came into the household of the State. With the proceedings of the first court there comes to us the spirit of the times when great events were maturing, when the nation was about to come into being, and when the American Re- public was about to be admitted into the family of nations.
Harford's part in the Revolution will be related later on, and as the order is most convenient, an account of the formation and the first proceedings of the county government will be more particularly given. Of that eventful 22nd day of March, 1774, the follow- ing is the proceeding as taken from the records of our court :
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HISTORY OF HARFORD COUNTY.
TUESDAY, 22nd of March, 1774.
Maryland, Harford County, to wit:
BE IT REMEMBERED that the Right Honourable Henry Harford, Esquire, absolute Lord and Proprietary of the Province of Maryland, sent his commission, closed under the seal of the said Province, in the usual Form, which Commission was distinctly read and published, and thereupon Aquila Hall, Gentleman by Virtue of the Dedimus indorsed on the said Commission admin- istered the severall oaths appointed by Act of Asembly to be taken to the government as also the Oath of Judge or Justice to Thomas Bond, Son of Thomas, Jeremiah Sheredine, Benedict Edward Hall, William Webb and Aquila Paca, Gentlemen, who did severally subscribe the Test and Oath of Abjuration, and being so qualified, did then also agreeable to the directions of the said Dedimus, administer the severall Oaths appointed by Act of Assembly to be taken to Govern- ment as also the Oath of Judge or Justice to Aquila Hall, Amos Garrett and John Beal Howard, Gentle- men who, also, severally subscribed the Test and Oath of Abjuration. Alexander Lawson of Baltimore County, Gentleman, produces to the said Justices to wit Aquila Hall, Amos Garrett, John Beal Howard, Thomas Bond, Jeremiah Sheredine, Benedict Edward Hall, William Webb and Aquila Paca, a Commission from the Honourable Daniel Dulany, Esquire, Secre- tary of the Province of Maryland, bearing date the tenth day of March, Seventeen Hundred and Seventy- Four, whereby the said Alexander Lawson is or- dained, constituted and appointed Clerk and Keeper of the Records of Harford County aforesaid in the usual Form. Whereupon the said Alexander Lawson qualifies himself as Clerk by taking the severall Oaths appointed by Act of Assembly to be taken to Govern- ment and repeating and subscribing the Test and Oath of Abjuration, And the said Alexander Lawson then before the said Justices entered into Bond with two sufficient securities for the due Execution his said office
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HISTORY OF HARFORD COUNTY.
of Clerk and Keeper of the Records according to Law after having taken the Oath of Office as required by Law.
Thomas Miller, Gentleman, produces to the said Jus- tices here a Commission from the Right Honourable Henry Harford, Esquire, absolute Lord and Proprie- tary of Maryland, to be Sheriff of Harford County, bearing date the second day of March, Seventeen Hundred and Seventy-four. Whereupon the said Thomas Miller was qualified by taking the severall Oaths appointed by Act of Assembly to be taken to Government, repeating and subscribing the Test and Oath of Abjuration and also taking the Oath of Sher- iff. And the said Thomas Miller then in the presence of the Justices aforesaid, gave Bond for the due per- formance of his said Office of Sheriff of Harford County according to Law.
John Long is appointed Crier of Harford County Court by the Justices aforesaid.
AFTERWARDS, to wit, on this fourth Tuesday in March, being the twenty-second day of the same Month in the Third Year of the Dominion of the Right Honourable Henry Harford, Esquire, absolute Lord and Proprietary of the Province of Maryland, and in the year of our Lord One Thousand Seven hundred and Seventy-four, at the Court House in Har- ford Town in Harford County, the following Justices to wit, Aquila Hall, Amos Garrett, John Beal Howard, Thomas Bond, Jeremiah Sheredine, Benedict Edward Hall, William Webb and Aquila Paca, Gentlemen, so appointed and qualified commanded Proclamation to be made for opening the court for the said County of Harford, which was accordingly thereupon done in the usual Manner on the Day and at the Place last a foresaid.
Justices Present : Aquila Hall, William Webb, Amos Garrett, Jeremiah Sheredine,
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HISTORY OF HARFORD COUNTY.
J. Beal Howard, Thomas Bond,
Aquila Paca, Benedict Edward Hall, Gentlemen.
George Chalmers of Baltimore County produces a Commission from Thomas Jenings, Esquire, Attorney- Generall in and over the Province of Maryland, to be Clerk of Indictment and Prosecutor of the Lord Pro- prietaries Pleas civil and Criminall in the said County of Harford and qualified himself by taking the severall Oaths appointed by Act of Assembly to be taken to Government, repeating and subscribing the Test and Oath of Abjuration and taking Oath of Office accord- ing to Law.
On motion made to the Court here, Benjamin Rum- sey, George Chalmers, Francis Curtis, Robert Alexan- der, Jeremiah Townly Chase, Robert Buchanan and Aquila Hall, Esquires, were admitted as Attornies at Law of this Court, after taking the Oaths appointed by Act of Assembly to be taken to Government, re- peating and subscribing the Test and Oath of Abjura- tion and taking the Oath of an Attorney.
Thomas Chalmers taking the Oaths appointed by Act of Assembly, to be taken to Government, repeating and subscribing the Test and subscribing the Oath of Abjuration was appointed Deputy Clerk of said County.
The said Samuel Smith, Servant, JOHN JOHNSON, against is adjudged by the Court to serve John Johnson, his said Master, ten SAMUEL SMITH, Servant. Days after the Expiration of his present Time of Servitude for Run- away Time and also to serve his said Master the further space of six months after the Expiration of the aforementioned Ten Days of Servitude or pay him the Sum of six Pounds eight Shillings and eleven Pence common Money.
The Court divides the County into the Hundreds
.
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HISTORY OF HARFORD COUNTY.
of-Gunpowder Lower, Deer Creek Upper and Lower, Bush River Upper, Bush River Lower, Spesutia Up- per, Spesutia Lower and Susquehannah, according to the Metes and Boundaries of the said Hundreds as re- corded in Baltimore County Court except as to that part of Mine Run Hundred left in this County by the Divi- sion line of Baltimore and Harford Counties, which is added to Bush River Upper Hundred.
The Court appoints the following Constables, to wit :
Billingsly Roberts, Constable of Gunpowder Lower Hundred.
William Fisher, Junior, Constable of Deer Creek Upper Hundred.
Samuel Jenkins, Constable of Deer Creek Lower Hundred.
Samuel Day, Constable of Bush River Upper Hun- dred.
Joseph Morris, Constable of Bush River Lower Hundred.
Hugh Jefferys, Constable of Spesutia Upper Hun- dred.
James Taylor, Constable of Spesutia Lower Hun- dred.
James Horner, Constable of Susquehannah.
The Court adjourns till Tomorow Morning 10 o'clock.
Court met the next day, March 23, all the justices being present except William Webb.
It was that day ordered that a service be directed to the sheriff of this county for the purpose of sum- moning a grand and petit jury to serve at the next County Court.
There is an entry that "the Court has rented the house wherein Thomas Miller now keeps store from Mr. Aquila Hall at the rate of twelve pounds common money yearly, and allowed Mr. Thomas Miller ten pounds common money for repairing the said house so
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HISTORY OF HARFORD COUNTY.
as to be fit for the reception of prisoners. Mr. Miller must not exceed ten pounds money aforesaid in the repair of said house."
"The Court agrees with Daniel Pritchard to build a temporary goal twenty-four feet by twenty, two stories high, and appoints Mr. Amos Garrett and Mr. Jere- miah Sheredine to take bond from said Daniel Pritch- ard for the performance of his agreement and to super- intend the building."
The jail was never built, as the county seat was re- moved to Bel Air, which soon eclipsed its ancient rival on the old post road, and the latter is now not even a village, although there are said to have been fine hotels at Bush at the time Lafayette passed through with his army during the Revolution.
The first grand jury for Harford county met at Har- ford Town, or Bush, on August 23, 1774, and con- sisted of :
Levin Mathews, Foreman. Samuel Durham,
George Garrettson,
Nathan Horner,
James Mathews,
James More,
Edward Hall,
Bennett Matthews,
William Hall,
John Barclay,
Barnett Preston, John Hays,
Henry Watters,
Mordicai Amos,
Thomas Smithson,
Lemuel Howard,
George Bradford.
Asbery Cord was bailiff. There was a charge deliv- ered to the grand jury as is now the custom in our court. The grand jury was discharged on Saturday, August 27. There are eighty-nine cases on the crimi- nal docket for the August term, 1774. Most of them
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HISTORY OF HARFORD COUNTY.
appear to be misdemeanors, but the docket entries are so meagre that it is impossible to know fully the nature or the disposition of the cases.
First petit jury for Harford county :
Freeborn Brown,
Richard Ruff,
James Giles,
Amos Hollis,
William Jones,
Joseph Lewis,
Benj. Burgess Chesney,
John Durham,
William Kitely,
Thos. Johnson, of Joseph,
Edward Norris,
James Little,
Richard Curzan,
William De Brular.
Henry Wetherall,
CHAPTER VII.
BEL AIR CHOSEN THE COUNTY SEAT.
OTHER PLACES VOTED FOR-ANOTHER ELECTION CALLED-SCOTT'S OLD FIELDS, OR BEL AIR, WINS AGAIN-AQUILA SCOTT OF JAMES CONVEYS LAND IN BEL AIR TO COUNTY-COURT HOUSE AT BEL AIR-ORDERS FOR OPENING ROADS, ETC .- HARFORD IN THE EARLY DAYS THE CHIEF SECTION OF BALTIMORE COUNTY, WITH THE FIRST TWO COUNTY SEATS.
On January 22, 1782, an act was passed for an elec- tion to determine at what place the courthouse and prison of Harford county should be built, and the places named in the act to be voted for were Harford Town, (or Bush), Otter Point, Cross Roads (other- wise Gravelly Hill), Lower Cross Roads (Church- ville), and Aquila Scott's Old Field (now Bel Air). The act provided that if only two should be voted for the place receiving the highest number of votes to be the county seat, but if more than two should be voted for then another election was to be held between the two receiving the greatest number of votes at the first election.
The justices of Harford county were by this act authorized to purchase in fee four acres at the place to be selected as the county seat, and in the meantime to rent buildings for the court and the prison.
Scott's Old Field, or Belle Air, as it was then called, won at this election, but this did not settle the
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HISTORY OF HARFORD COUNTY.
matter, for we find by an act passed January 20, 1787, an election was authorized to determine "whether the courthouse and prison of Harford county shall be erected at Bel Air or at Havre de Grace," and John Archer, Benedict E. Hall, William Smith (Bayside), John Taylor and Jesse Jarrett, and any two or more of them were appointed commissioners for the purpose of holding the election."
The preamble of this act recites "whereas sundry inhabitants of Harford have petitioned this General Assembly for a law to remove the seat of justice in said county from Bel Air to Havre de Grace and sundry other inhabitants of said county have remon- strated against said petiton and prayed that the seat of justice therein should continue at the place already established by law ; whereas it appears to this General Assembly to be right and proper that the said dispute should be finally determined by an election of the peo- ple, to which said parties have consented," etc.
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