clear space clear space clear space white space
A
 r c h i v e s   o f   M a r y l a n d   O n l i n e

PLEASE NOTE: The searchable text below was computer generated and may contain typographical errors. Numerical typos are particularly troubling. Click “View pdf” to see the original document.

  Maryland State Archives | Index | Help | Search
search for:
clear space
white space
Proceedings of the Provincial Court, 1666-1670
Volume 57, Preface 54   View pdf image (33K)
 Jump to  
  << PREVIOUS  NEXT >>
clear space clear space clear space white space



       liv                  Introduction.

       alty for running away. Finally the higher court rebelled, and at the December,
       1668, session entered the following order “Severall persons having brought to
       Court theire servts To have theire ages Judg'd was refused to be downe by the
       Justices it being Bussiness belonging to the County Court and not to the Pro-
       vinciall Court” (p. 358).

                        RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS.

         Following the restoration of Charles II, religious disputes and outbreaks of
       intolerance in Maryland were infrequent, although it would be folly to assume
       that this quiet was more than superficial. In this record we find occasional
       references to churches and chapels, to Roman Catholic priests, and church
       holdings, and to an act of hoodlumism against a Catholic chapel.
         Captain Luke Gardner of St. Mary's County, at the June, 1667, court, filed
       an account upon the estate of Robert Cole of St. Clement's Bay, St. Mary's
       County, a Roman Catholic, showing payments by him of 250 pounds of tobacco
       for “Church Levies”, and of his receiving two payments to the estate for “the
       building of the Church” of 532 and of 57 pounds of tobacco for the benefit
       of the orphans. There is also included an item of 60 pounds of tobacco received
       for “a Gunn Stocke Broke in the march”, indicating that he had served in an
       expedition against the Indians (p. 206). Although Cole was a Roman Catholic
       it looks as if he had paid levies in St. Mary's County for the Established
       Church, but whether it was upon a Protestant or Catholic chapel that he
       worked is not disclosed.
         In a deed dated December 1, 1666, from George Reynolds to Thomas
       Covant to a hundred acre tract called “The Fox”, Covant agrees to make cer-
       tain payments at the “abode of him the said George Reynolds neare the Church
       or chappell in Brettons Bay”, St. Mary's County (p. 209). There can be little
       question that this is the church or chapel built by “Zealous Roman Catholick
       Inhabitants of New Town and St. Clement's Bay”, St. Mary's County, upon
       the one and a half acre lot given November ro, 1661, by William Bretton, a
       very prominent Roman Catholic, lying on the east side of the tract Bretton's
       Outlet at the head of St. Nicholas creek, near the narrowest place of the free-
       hold Little Brittain (Bretton) (Arch. Md. XLI, 531). The only evidence of
       an outbreak of religious intolerance characterized by vandalism comes to light
       when at the February, 1669-70, court, upon the complaint of William Bretton,
       gentleman, it was reported that a certain Robert Pennywell “had broke the
       glasse windowes at the Chappell at St. Maries". The culprit was ordered to
       have twenty lashes (pp. 610-611). From the fact that the complainant was a
       very prominent Roman Catholic, it seems likely that it was the Catholic, and
       not the chapel of the Established Church, that suffered, although the Martenet
       atlas shows a “Protestant Point” in this neighborhood. As the sentence was a
       lashing, the vandal was doubtless a servant, as freemen were rarely flogged,
       and the land records show an indentured servant of this name had come into
       the Province about this time.
         The name of a Roman Catholic priest, Henry Warren, of St. Inigoes, St.
       Mary's County, occurs frequently in this record, usually as a buyer or seller
       


 
clear space
clear space
white space

Please view image to verify text. To report an error, please contact us.
Proceedings of the Provincial Court, 1666-1670
Volume 57, Preface 54   View pdf image (33K)
 Jump to  
  << PREVIOUS  NEXT >>


This web site is presented for reference purposes under the doctrine of fair use. When this material is used, in whole or in part, proper citation and credit must be attributed to the Maryland State Archives. PLEASE NOTE: The site may contain material from other sources which may be under copyright. Rights assessment, and full originating source citation, is the responsibility of the user.


Tell Us What You Think About the Maryland State Archives Website!



An Archives of Maryland electronic publication.
For information contact mdlegal@mdarchives.state.md.us.

©Copyright  October 06, 2023
Maryland State Archives