OF COLONIAL MARYLAND 83

This, of course, included control over probate matters. Poor com-
munications made it impractical for the Lord Proprietary to gov-
ern the colony from England; therefore he found it necessary to
appoint a deputy to govern the colony and look after his interests
in it. The commission he issued to his brother, Leonard Calvert,
on April 15, 1637, is the earliest such appointment found in the
records of the colony. Leonard was named Lieutenant General, as.
the Governor was then called, and placed in charge of all phases of
the government.⁷ A Council was named to advise and assist him.
John Lewger, one of the members of the Council, was also desig-
nated as Secretary of the Province and made responsible for the
keeping and recording of the acts and proceedings of the Lieutenant
General and his Council. On January 20, 1637[8],⁸ the Governor
issued a commission assigning additional duties to Lewger. Besides
being named "Conservator of the Peace within the County of St.
Maries", Lewger was also appointed Commissioner "in causes testa-
mentary, to prove the last wills and testaments of persons deceased,
and to grant admraon of the estates of persons dying intestate with-
in our said Province and to take inventaries and accompts and the
same to record, and to give discharges thereupon; and to minister
an oath to any person or persons witnesse or witnesses exequutors
or admrators as often as there shall be cause."⁹

A few years later, on August 12, 1641, "An Act For Causes Testa-
mentary" was passed. It provided the "Lieutent. Generall or
in his absence his Deputie or otherwise the first Counsellour resi-
dent in the County shall prove Wills and Grant Administracons
& exercise all Temporal jurisdictions to Testamentary causes apper-
tayning". He was to proceed "according to the Law or lawdable
usage of England.... & where the same is uncertain or doubtful
then according to equity & good concience."¹⁰ In practice, Secre-
tary Lewger continued to do most of the work. On September 5,
1642, when Calvert renewed Lewger's commission as Secretary of the

⁷ Arch. Md., III, 49.

⁸ Long after Catholic Europe had adopted the Gregorian calendar which
we now use, England retained the Julian calendar, refusing to change
unitl 1752. In this calendar, the year started on March 25. the period
from January 1 through March 24 being considered part of the previous
year. In order to bring dates falling within this period into proper per-
spective, the year according to the Gregorian calendar has been inserted
in brackets after such dates.

⁹ Arch. Md., III, 60.

¹⁰ Ibid., I, 108.