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 5
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22
The act also prohibits the commissioners from re- ceiving votes for any place except Bel Air and Havre de Grace, whereas in the former election to determine the place of the county seat, Otter Point, Cross Roads, &c., were authorized to be voted for. The election was held at Bel Air, which place was chosen as the county seat, and has since remained such, beginning at that time and continuing to this day to be the subject of the criticism which attaches to all county seats. But de- spite all this, the history of Bel Air and the lives and conduct of its people, their deportment, cultivation and refinement will compare favorably with any town in the State.
On April 27, 1782, Aquila Scott of James conveyed
69
HISTORY OF HARFORD COUNTY.
by deed recorded in Liber J. L. G. No. H, folio 103, two and five-eighths acres to Harford county for the purpose of a courthouse and prison. The considera- tion named was twenty-two pounds six shillings and three pence, or about one hundred and ten dollars. The lot is described by courses and distances in the survey and plat made by Daniel Scott, surveyor of Harford county, and was rectangular in form. This is the lot now occupied by the courthouse and jail, and extended also to the present Bond street, in Belair. The lots on which the Masonic Temple and the Harford National Bank of Belair now stand belonged to this lot. Recently a small parcel of ground of about thirty feet front, adjoining this, was sold for fifteen hundred dollars.
The courthouse at Bel Air was not built at the time of the passage of this act, although court had met there for several years, for the act last stated provides for temporarily renting buildings for the courthouse and jail at the place which might be selected, and authorized the justices of Harford county to contract "as soon as might be for the building of a courthouse and prison" at the place determined on by the election as above stated. The stone building at the junction of the Harford pike with Main street, in Bel Air, was used temporarily for this purpose.
By the act of 1787 (William Smallwood, Governor), John Eager Howard, James Calhoun, of Baltimore county, and William Smith (Bayside), Gabriel Chris- tie and Samuel Griffith, of Harford, were appointed commissioners to "straighten and amend the post road from Havre de Grace to Baltimore Town." This road passes by Aberdeen, Bush, Abingdon and Van Bibber,
70
HISTORY OF HARFORD COUNTY.
and a hundred years before, in the petition to remove the courthouse from Bush river neck to Winter's Run, was alluded to as the "path that runs from the Poto- mack to the Susquehanna."
The first courthouse at Bel Air seems to have been in process of being built in 1788, for by the act of the General Assembly of that year, chapter 23, (John Eager Howard, Governor), the justices of Harford county were "empowered to assess on the assessable property of the county the sum of two shillings and six pence on every hundred pounds worth of property to complete the public buildings of said county and for other purposes." By the same act Baltimore county was required to make a contribution to the building of the Harford courthouse, etc., because the people of the new (Harford) county had helped to build the courthouse at Baltimore Town.
And by the act of 1790 a further tax of five hundred pounds current money was authorized to be levied for the completion of the public buildings.
By chapter 70, of the act of 1791, (George Plater, Governor), it was directed that the following roads should be laid out, surveyed, marked and bounded in the manner hereafter directed, viz : one road beginning at the Pennsylvania line where the road from Peach Bottom Ferry, on the river Susquehanna, intersects the said line, and from thence to Thomas Underhill's Mills, on Deer creek, (afterwards Preston's Mills), and from thence into the most convenient road leading to Baltimore Town; one other road leading from the Bald Friar Ferry, on said river, to Belle Air, and from thence in as straight a direction as the situation of the ground will admit towards Baltimore Town, as
71
HISTORY OF HARFORD COUNTY.
far as the line of Baltimore county, at the Little falls of the Gunpowder river; and one other road leading from Belle Air aforesaid to the Lower Cross Roads; . from thence to the ferry known by the name of Smith's Ferry, on Susquehanna river, and that all public roads within the said county may and shall be straightened and amended. The same act provides that Alexander Rigdon, John Stump, John Carlisle, John Weston, Samuel Raine, John Tredway and James Johnson be appointed commissioners for the purpose of laying out said roads.
By the act of 1795, chapter 63, (John H. Stone, Governor), upon the petition of James Wilson, Samuel Hughes, Gabriel Christie, Mark Pringle, Gibson Deni- son, John Hall and John Lee Gibson, an act was passed "for making an addition to the town of Havre de Grace and to improve the navigation of the river Susque- hanna and for other purposes."
The act of 1798, chapter 22, (John Henry, Gov- ernor), was entitled "an act to encourage the destruc- tion of wolves and crows" in Harford county, the allowance to be thirty dollars for an old wolf's head and four dollars for a young wolf's head, and eight cents for a crow.
In January, 1798, an act was passed for the valuation of real and personal property within the State, and Thomas Johnson, William Wilson, Jesse Jarrett, John Western and Henry Richardson were appointed assess- ors for Harford county.
The act of Assembly, passed January, 1800, (Benja- min Ogle, Governor), was entitled an act to regulate elections, and Jesse Jarrett, Daniel Thompson, John
72
HISTORY OF HARFORD COUNTY.
Bartley, Dennis Bond and Henry Vansickle were ap- pointed commissioners to lay off, designate and number the districts of Harford county and fix the places for holding elections in each district.
By an act of the same session, John Clendenning, Nathaniel West, Thomas Butler, William Whiteford and Thomas Montgomery were appointed commission- ers to lay out a public road beginning at Thomas Un- derhill's Mills, on Deer Creek, and to run in a direction so as to intersect a public road leading from John Neal's to John Coxe's, between Henry Richardson's and Amos Jones'.
It will be observed from the foregoing pages that during the space of two hundred and twenty-five years, counting from the date of the erection of the first courthouse for Baltimore county, in Bush river neck, in 1675, to the present time, the people who have resided within the present limits of Harford have had the county seat within their boundaries for two hundred years of that time. Thus Harford may be considered as the parent county of the two except in name, and may claim as her beautiful offspring and daughter the present large and populous county which adjoins our own on the west side of the Little Falls of the Gunpow- der.
CHAPTER VIII.
SELECTIONS FROM THE OLD RECORDS.
TAVERN LICENSES-GRAND AND PETIT JURIES-LUTHER MARTIN ADMITTED TO PRACTICE AT HARFORD BAR-TAVERN RATES- ROAD SUPERVISORS-COURTHOUSE AT BEL AIR OCCUPIED-FIRST JUDGES-DESCRIPTION OF BUILDING-BURNING OF OLD COURT- HOUSE AND CONSTRUCTION OF PRESENT BUILDING.
On petition of a number of citizens of the county the Court appointed Bennet Mathews, James Mathews and Jacob Bond, Jr., to view the road beginning at Lawrence Clark's old fields and leading from thence to Howard's ford on Winter's run.
As many of the proceedings of the Court are routine and there is so much of it, selections that may be thought interesting, will be made from the records of the next few years.
Ordinary (or tavern) licenses granted at August term, 1774:
Joseph Stiles-Sureties, Aquila Hall and Thomas Miller.
Nathaniel West-Sureties, Henry Wilson, Jr., and Wm. Downes.
John Jameson-Sureties, Buchanan Smith and Richard Cruzon.
Basil Smith-Sureties, John Durham and Bennet Matthews.
74
HISTORY OF HARFORD COUNTY.
Robert Bonar-Sureties, James Ellison and John Hawthorn.
John Hawthorn-Sureties, John Blackburn and Robert Bonar.
John Kean-Sureties, Thomas Bond and Mordicai Amos.
John Rogers-Sureties, Aquila Hall and Jeremiah Sheredine.
Araminta Shaw-Sureties, Samuel Lee and Joseph Norris.
Thomas Smith-Sureties, James Horner and Rich- ard Soward.
Robert Trimble-Sureties, William Downes and David Tait.
Stephen Hill-Sureties, James Preston and Nathan Scott.
Edward Robinson-Sureties, Charles Baker and Daniel McComas.
William Wells-Sureties, Samuel Jenkins and Jos. Norris.
Thomas Taylor-Sureties, John Beale Howard and Alex. Cowen.
At the November term, 1774, the following is a list of the grand jury, viz :
Freeborn Brown, Foreman.
Edmund Bull,
Benjamin Scott,
Thomas James,
Joshua Durham,
John McComas of Daniel, James Matthews,
George Patterson,
Richard Ruff,
E. Carvil Tolley. William Downs,
Andrew Wilson, Charles Baker,
Richard Cruson, Francis Durben.
John Ross, Bailiff.
75
HISTORY OF HARFORD COUNTY.
There was an appropriation of ten thousand pounds of tobacco to defray in part the expense of building a bridge over the Little Falls, and John Beale Howard and Robert Bishop were appointed managers.
The Court appoints Jacob Bond, Sr., Henry Wilson, Sr., Wm. Amos, Sr., and William Bull to view the road from the Hickory Tavern to Winter's Run at Howard's Ford, where the old road did formerly run by Thomas Smithson's, Samuel Durham's and Daniel Preston's.
At the court which met at Bush March 23, 1779, the following justices were present :
Aquila Hall, Thomas Johnson, John Love, Ign. Wheeler, Samuel Groom Osborne and Aquila Paca. John Lee Gibson, clerk.
The following are the names of the grand jurors for that term of court, viz :
Joseph Brownly, Foreman.
Aquila Scott,
John McComas,
Richard Robinson,
William McCandley,
Hugh Bay,
John Rutledge,
Richard Courson,
John Hall Hughes,
Robt. Jeffrey, James Osborne,
Asael Hitchcock,
Henry Warfield,
Joseph Ashton,
Patrick Creaton,
Charles Taylor,
Henry Vansickle.
Joseph Hartley,
George Dillion, Bailiff.
At this term of court, Luther Martin, the distin- quished Maryland lawyer, afterwards Attorney-Gen- eral of the State, and one of the counsel for Aaron Burr at the impeachment trial at Richmond, appeared and
76
HISTORY OF HARFORD COUNTY.
was admitted to practice before the Harford County Court.
At a county court of the said State held for Harford county at the courthouse, in said county, at Harford town, on the twenty-eighth day of March, seventeen hundred and eighty, before the worshipful justices of the same court, of whom were present Messrs. James Giles, Jas. Philips, John Love, William Smithson, Samuel Groom Osborne, Robt. Amoss, John Archer.
Grand jury :
Joseph Stiles,
John Clark,
Joseph Brownley,
Arch Beaty,
Fras. Billingsley,
John McAdoo,
Daniel Norris,
Wm. Bradford,
Jas. Moore,
John Stenson,
Robt. Creswell,
Michael Gilbert,
Daniel Bailess, John Hay,
John Chancey,
Gilbert Jones,
John McComas,
Joshua Brown,
Wm. Fisher,
George Dew.
John Cooley,
The early minutes of the court are composed chiefly of records of the justices present, the grand and petit jurors, commissions to perpetuate boundaries and records of binding out minors and appointing guard- ians. The court in those early days seems to have exercised the functions of the judge, Orphans' Court, register of wills and county commissioners of the pres- ent day.
As these early juries furnish a number of names of the reputable people of the county of that day full lists
77
HISTORY OF HARFORD COUNTY.
of the panels at intervals of a few years are set out here, and in them the descendants of nearly every old family of the county of the present day will find an ancestor.
There seems to be no record of the proceedings of the court for 1782. It is probable that the removal of the county seat so upset the lords justices and their clerk that it was about a year before they got settled, but on March 25, 1783, we find them holding court at Scott's Old Fields (Bel Air), at which court there were present :
Thomas Johnson, Wm Smithson,
Abrm. Whitacre, Wm. Bond.
Grand jury, March, 1783 :
James Moore,
Thos. Durbin,
Joseph Lewis,
Michael Mather,
Samuel Webb,
Wm. Colthough,
Ben. Silvers, Jas. Hanna,
Hollis Horner,
Wm. Bosley,
Samuel Litton,
Freeborn Brown,
Robt. B. Landon,
Hugh Jeffrey,
Richard Robinson, John Fulton.
Fras. Billingsley,
Stephen Hill, Bailiff.
The commission of the peace was produced and read in court March 27, 1783, and court adjourned for one hour.
The petit jurors for that term were :
A. Rigdon,
Jas. Armstrong,
Samuel Durham,
Wm. Coale,
Leas Billingsley, Aquila Scott of James,
Wm. Robinson, Wm. Jones,
Dennis Bond,
Wm. Whiteford,
78
HISTORY OF HARFORD COUNTY.
Jas. Sedgwick,
John McComas,
John Montgomery,
Wm. McComas,
John Barclay,
Daniel Smithson,
Bernard Preston, Jas. Carroll.
At the term of court held at the same place, com- mencing August 26, 1783, on application of James Amos for persons to view a road leading from the Cross Roads to Cooptown, the Court appointed An- drew Tate and Lemuel Howard.
Tavern Rates Affixed by the Court :
Hot dinner, with beer or cider .2S.
Cold dinner, with beer or cider Is.6d.
Breakfast or supper, with green tea. Is.6d.
Overseers of the public roads in Harford county, 1784:
Jacob Forwood, George Patterson,
Greenberry Dorsey, Edward Hall,
William Hall,
George Lytle,
Overseers of all the public roads from the end of Col. Hall's lane to Harford Town (Bush).
Joseph Toy, overseer of the road from the black- smith shop, where Mrs. Finnegan formerly lived, to the lower ford on Winter's run, from the upper ford on said run to Binam's run.
Daniel Ruff, overseer from Hall's Mill to the smith shop where Mrs. Finnegan formerly lived, and from said shop to Otter Point.
William Smith (Bayside), overseer from Susque- hanna lower to the Cranberry bridge.
79
HISTORY OF HARFORD COUNTY.
Josias Hall, overseer from the Cranberry bridge to Humphrey's run.
John Patterson, overseer from Humphrey's run to Harford town.
Lambert Wilmer and Joseph Presbury, overseers from the lower ford on Winter's run to the lower part of the Gunpowder neck, from the ford of the road to where Wm. Doughtridge now lives, to Joppa, and from Joppa to Winter's run, on the old road.
William Smith, Gunpowder upper from Smithson's ford to Captain Kell's, from Mapleford along the new road to David Harry's.
Charles Taylor, Gunpowder upper, from Wm. Rich- ardson's to the Cross roads ; from thence to Benjamin Amos's mills ; from Shorper's lane to the ford on the Little Falls, near Thomas Blearney's Fullering Mill, and from Shorper's to the widow Stuart's on Winter's run.
John Rutledge, overseer from Thomas Bond's on the Little falls of the gunpowder to the Upper Cross roads.
John Green, from the Widow Bay's to Scott's fields ; from thence to Binam's run, the Deer Creek road; from thence by said Samuel Durham's to Bull's Mill.
Henry Stump, Richard Croyon, Michah Gilbert,
Thos. Mitchell,
Susquehanna hundred, in- cluding the northern and east- ern limits, and lay out them as nearly equal as possible.
David Lee, Gunpowder Upper, from the mill to Joppa.
80
HISTORY OF HARFORD COUNTY.
William McComas, from the bridge on the Little falls to Winter's run.
James Trapwell, same hundred-from George Gar- retson's up to John Wilson's Mill; from the school- house to the Quaker Meeting House; from the school- house to Buckler Bond's Mill; from the schoolhouse to Bull's ford on Winter's run.
Benjamin Rumsey, from Joppa to Amoss' Mills.
The first record of the change of name from Scott's Fields to Bel Air we find in the minutes of March 22, 1785, where the expression is used "at a county court held for Harford county at the courthouse in the town of Bel Air," etc .; but at the August term of the same year it is again called Scott's Old Fields, and in the November term Bel Air is again mentioned as the name.
The following is a list of the Grand Jury for that term of Court, viz :
William Bradford,
Thomas A. Thompson,
James Walker, Richard Robinson,
William Luckey,
John Guyton,
Andrew Lindsay,
Robert Glenn,
James Barnet, Thomas Hope,
Joseph Carroll,
James Moore,
Buck Bond,
Thomas Gast,
David Harry,
John Fulton.
Robert Coon,
Samuel Day, Bailiff.
At that term an application was made by John Coo- ley and Daniel Sheridine for a commission to view the road leading from Cox's Mill to Rock Run, and the Cumberland Forge from Nathaniel Baley's to the Elbow branch. The Court appointed Nathaniel Baley,
81
HISTORY OF HARFORD COUNTY. 1
John Rogers, Samuel Gover and Ambrose Gohaghan as the commission.
There are a great number of records of apprentice- ship among these early minutes, the binding out being in the following form :
"Nathaniel Gordon, an orphan, aged thirteen years, is bound by the Court to Jacob Donavan until he arrives at the age of twenty-one years; said master is to teach said apprentice the art and mystery of a cord- wainer ; teach him to read, write and cypher as far as the rule of three, and give him the customary freedom dues."
These freedom dues seem to have caused much liti- gation, and there are records of many suits brought against masters on account of their non-payment.
A frequent ground of complaint was on account of the master not keeping the apprentice to his trade, and the Court would hear and determine by remanding the apprentice to the service of the master, or if the charge should prove well-founded by revoking the ap- prenticeship and discharging the complainant.
The courthouse at Bel Air seems to have been first occupied at the March term in 1791, at which time we find our modern custom of three regular judges. The names of the first three judges were Benjamin Nichol- son, Samuel Hughes and Benedict Edward Hall.
The courthouse which was then first used was built of brick and occupied the same position as the present court building in Bel Air. It had wings to the north and south. The wing on the north was used for the clerk's office, and that on the south for the office of the register of wills. The courtroom was down stairs, and the floor was made of bricks. Within the rail where
82
HISTORY OF HARFORD COUNTY.
the lawyers and jury sat the floor was raised, and the bench, or judges' seat, was high above like a pulpit. There were two immense open fireplaces in the room, in which hickory of cordwood lengths was burned. The other county officers were on the second floor, the steps to which went up from the outside, starting at the front door and slanting towards the south. The steps had no covering, and as the grand jury room was upstairs that body in passing from their room to the court and back again had to go out of doors, as also with the petit jury. There was a landing at the head of the steps, and from this landing it was customary for political speakers to address their audiences.
This courthouse was burned on the night of Febru- ary 19, 1858, the main building being entirely de- stroyed, but the offices of clerk and register of wills, which were situated in the wings, were preserved with all the valuable records. The only records of value that were destroyed by the fire were those of the county commissioners' office, which was situated up- stairs. The Legislature was in session at the time, and the fire had not been entirely extinguished be- fore a committee set forth for Annapolis on the following morning to secure the passage of an act authorizing the erection of a new courthouse. This act was passed on the 25th of February, 1858, and by it Stevenson Archer, Henry S. Harlan, A. Lingan Jar- ret, James McCormick and William H. Dallam were appointed commissioners to contract for and superin- tend the construction of the new building. There was authority to borrow money and issue bonds to the amount of twenty thousand dollars, and it is to the
83
HISTORY OF HARFORD COUNTY.
credit of the commission that the building was com- pleted within the amount named and a surplus handed over to the county commissioners.
The courthouse built by the commission above named is the structure which is the present court building at Bel Air.
During the construction of the new courthouse in 1858-9 the building of the Masonic Order and Union Church, which stood on the lot now occupied by the Masonic Temple and the Harford National Bank, was used as a temporary court.
While on the subject of the construction of the court- house it was thought better to get ahead of our narra- tive and thus finish up that subject, and we will now go back to the regular course in the old building.
The list of the local attorneys of the court in 1791 is as follows :
Francis Curtis,
T. Hollingsworth,
Robert Smith, John Montgomery,
William Pinkney,
Archibald Robison.
Aquila Hall,
The grand jurors for the August term, 1791, were Samuel Smith, Foreman.
Jacob Norris, Alexander Rigdon,
William Osborn,
William Allender,
William McComas,
Thomas Gast,
James Wetherall,
James Renshaw,
James Bond of William, William Norris,
Thomas Thompson, Corbin Onion,
Nathan Baker, Robert Taylor,
Andrew Turner,
Levin Mathews.
Samuel Day, Bailiff.
84
HISTORY OF HARFORD COUNTY.
The petit jury for that term were :
Richard Bull,
John Streett,
Samuel Bond,
Godfrey Waters,
Charles Waters,
Bernard Preston of James,
Philip Garrison,
John Moore,
Aquila Miles, Mark McGovern,
Michael Gilbert,
Joseph Hays,
Thomas Jeffrey,
Pierce Creight,
Robert Harris,
Michael Mathews,
Samuel Webb,
Sedwick James,
Joshua Miles,
Sho. Denbow.
James Barnett,
CHAPTER IX.
OLD RECORDS-CONTINUED.
WILLIAM PINKNEY LOCATES AT BEL AIR-BASIS OF ASSESSMENT- TAX RATE-MEMBERS OF THE BAR IN 1796-JURIES-ROBERT AMOSS, JR., SHERIFF-JUDGES OF ELECTION-JOHN LEE GIBSON RESIGNS AS CLERK-HENRY DORSEY,. OF EDWARD, APPOINTED CLERK.
On the 12th of April, 1790, the court, with the fol- lowing justices present, viz: Thomas Bond, William Smithson, James McComas, John Barclay, Edward Prall and Ignatius Wheeler, authorized William Pink- ney to act as attorney for the county in a dispute be- tween Harford and Baltimore counties, which was to be heard at the courthouse at Baltimore town on the 2nd Monday in May, 1790. The arbitrators named in the act of Assembly were William Smithson for Har- ford county and John Smith for Baltimore county.
William Pinkney, afterwards Attorney -- General of the United States and Senator from Maryland in the United States Senate, passed the bar at Bel Air, and for several years practiced at that court. He lived in the hip-roofed house on the pike in Bel Air, just oppo- site the end of Bond street, and his office was located on the southwest corner of Main street and the pike.
January 10, 1791, the Court agreed with James John- son to finish the courthouse agreeably to the plan filed in the clerk's office ; to satisfy him five hundred and
86
HISTORY OF HARFORD COUNTY.
fifty pounds as soon as collected for that service, he giving bond and sufficient sureties for his perform- ance.
February 7, 1791, in accordance with the act of Assembly, the Court levied a tax of two shillings and six pence for the completion of the public buildings. The basis of assessment stated in the record is £478,- 752, which we may consider as the value of all the property in the county, or $2,393,760, from which basis the tax levied for the above purpose amounted to about $1,500.
It will be observed from the above figures that while the population of the county at that period was about one-half of that of the present day, the assessed value of all the property in the county was not more than one-sixth of the present basis.
Our local bar in the year 1796 consisted of the fol- lowing lawyers, viz :
William Pinkney,
Harry Dorsey,
Aquila Hall,
Davidson David,
Archibald Robinson,
Francis Holland,
John Montgomery,
Z. Hollingsworth.
The grand jury for the March term, 1796, consisted of the following members:
Robert Amoss,
John McComas,
Joseph Brownley,
John Street,
John Thomas,
Richard Hope,
John Ashman,
Thomas B. Onion,
William Duley,
Charles Baker,
Stephen Rigdon, Richard Kruson,
Dennis Bond, Samuel Smith,
Buckler Bond,
Thomas Jeffrey,
87
HISTORY OF HARFORD COUNTY.
Thomas Denbow
Isaac Hitchcock,
Bennet Wheeler,
Samuel Day, Bailiff.
Thomas Richardson,
Petit jury for the same term :
Michael Gilbert,
Ezekiel Williams,
Thomas Durham,
Benjamin Rigdon,
Archer Hays,
James Lytle,
Benjamin Jones,
Benj. Amoss of James,
Stephen Jones,
Gideon Gilbert,
Daniel Donahoo,
John B. Onion,
Abraham Rees,
Nathaniel Smithson,
William Mitchell,
Asael Hitchcock,
David Street,
Aquila Miles,
Barnet Preston,
Aquila Parker,
Benj. Green,
James Kidd,
William Clark, Jr.,
James Carlon,
Joseph Barnet,
Pierce Creagh,
James Barnet,
Samuel Bond.
December 19, 1796, Robert Amoss, Jr., took the oath as sheriff of Harford county, and gave bond for the performance of his duty as sheriff, with Benjamin Amoss, of James, and Bennet Bussey as securities.
At the term of court at Bel Air which commenced March 19, 1798, before the following judges, viz :
Henry Ridgely, Chief Justice.
Benedict Edward Hall and William Smithson, Asso- ciate Judges.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.