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

Volume 662, Page 58   View pdf image (33K)
 Jump to  
  << PREVIOUS  NEXT >>
clear space clear space clear space white space

58 HIS LORDSHIP'S PATRONAGE

clerk frequently made his office a sinecure by employing a deputy
who did all the work for a third or a half of the profits. 32

As with the provincial clerkships, turnover was rapid in the
earlier proprietary period, and long tenure, indeed life tenure,
became the rule thereafter. Kent County, for instance, had
seventeen clerks in the forty-one years prior to 1695 and only
five in the remaining eighty-one years of the colonial period. One
of these, Captain James Smith, served a record fifty-three years.
Thomas Hayward, Jr., Clerk of Somerset County, was in office
forty-four years and John Leeds of Talbot County thirty-nine
years. Some fourteen other county clerks served for two decades
or longer. In most counties the successive clerks were nearly
related, and there are eight cases of immediate succession from
father to son.

32 For instance in 1760 three Justices of the Provincial Court were county clerks
who served by deputy (John Brice, Col. Richard Tilghman, and John Darnall).
Such an arrangement, Gov. Sharpe wrote, was entirely improper; but he knew of
no way to reward the justices for their trouble except by giving them other
offices (Horatio Sharpe to Cecilius Calvert, July 7, 1760, Archives, IX, 432. )


 

clear space
clear space
white space

Please view image to verify text. To report an error, please contact us.

Volume 662, Page 58   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 11, 2023
Maryland State Archives