Captain Berry's Will
Debauchery, Miscegenation, & Family Strife
Among 18th Century Gentry

¹ Capt. Berry's guests discuss a balloon ascent in Prince George's County by Peter Carnes. A year before, the Montgolfier brothers began the balloon craze in Paris, where the peace negotiations were being conducted. See: Peter Lyon, "When Man First Left the Earth," in Horizon, September 1958, Volume 1, Number 1, pp. 114-128.

² PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF THE TAX (Assessment Reccord) 1796, Personal Property, MSA C 1162-22 and (Assessment Record) 1796, Real Property, MSA C 1162-23.

³ "The Foundations of Social Order: Local Government in Colonial Maryland," in Bruce C. Daniels, ed., Town and Country: Essays on the Structure of Local Government in the American Colonies (Middletown, Ct., 1978), pp. 98-99.

⁴ Richard Walsh, "The Era of the Revolution," Part II of Walsh and Fox, ed., Maryland: A History (Annapolis, 1983), pp. 133 & 135.

⁵ Gregory A. Stiverson, Poverty in a Land of Plenty: Tenancy in Eighteenth-Century Maryland (Baltimore & London, 1977), p. 119.

⁶ LAND OFFICE (Debt Book) 1769, 25 FR, p. 4, MSA S 12-111; (Debt Book) 1769, 35 PG, p. 5, MSA S 12-154.

⁷ PREROGATIVE COURT (Wills) 1769-1770, 37: 167 Jeremiah's Will MSA S 538-53; (Inventories) 102:238 MSA S534-102

⁸ PREROGATIVE COURT (Wills) 1769-1770, 37: 167 Jeremiah's Will MSA S 538-53.

⁹ PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY REGISTER OF WILLS (Wills) 1770-1793, T#1:197, MSA C 1326-3. William Berry’s will devises all 3000 acres.

¹⁰ Council of Maryland in Archives of Maryland, XXI: 63, 242.

¹¹ PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY COURT (Levy Book) 1760-94, B, p. 185, 1770 Nov. Ct., Anne Warman, Bastardy; Stephen Warman, Security, £ 3.0.0, MSA C 1245-2.

¹² MARYLAND INDEXES (Census Index) 1776-1778, MSA S 1419.

¹³ Council of Maryland in Archives of Maryland, XLIII: 203.

¹⁴ PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY COURT (Marriage Licenses) 1777-1797, p. 2, November 9,1777, MSA C 1260-1.

¹⁵ MONTGOMERY COUNTY COURT (Proceedings) March Court 1778, p. 45, MSA C 1137-1. R. Lee Van Horn, Out of the Past: Prince Georgeans & Their Land (Riverdale, Md., 1976): 186, 217.

¹⁶ PROVINCIAL COURT (Judgments) 1756, BT #1: 274, MSA S 551-59.

¹⁷ PREROGATIVE COURT (Wills) 1734-1735, 21:20, James Greenfield's will, MSA S 538-31.

¹⁸ An Inventory of Maryland State Papers I: The Era of the American Revolution, 1775-1789 (Annapolis, 1977), #4,000, 1777, Apr. 2. Appointed.

¹⁹ Effie Gwynn Bowie, Across the Years in Prince George's County (Richmond, 1947), p. 636.

²¹ PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY (Land Records) 1791-1793, JRM#1: 507-10, MSA C 1237-34.

²² James Greenfield's will, in PREROGATIVE COURT (Wills)1734-1735, 21:20. MSA S 538-31.

²³ Papenfuse et al., A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature, 1635-1789, Vol. 1: A-H, (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1979., p. 122.

²⁴ ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY COURT (Judgment Record) November Court 1718 - November Court 1721, passim, MSA C 91-7, 91-8, 91-9, 91-10.

²⁵ ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY COURT (Land Records) 1724-1728, SY:21, MSA C 97-13. MONTGOMERY COUNTY REGISTER OF WILLS (Estate Record) 1797-1802, D: 297, MSA C 1138-5.

²⁶ MONTGOMERY COUNTY REGISTER OF WILLS (Estate Record) 1788-1797, C: 243, MSA C 1138-3.

²⁷ PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY COURT (Marriage Licenses) 1777-97, 1818-26: 40, MSA C 1260-1 & MSA C1260-4.

²⁸ PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY REGISTER OF WILLS (Wills)1770-1793, T#1: 376. MSA C 1326-3.

²⁹ PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF THE TAX (Assessment Record) Real Property, 1796: 18, MSA C 1162-22. PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY REGISTER OF WILLS (Administration Accounts) 1792-1803, ST#3: 113, MSA C 1144-7

³⁰ PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF THE TAX (Assessment Record) Real Property, 1796: 7, MSA C 1162-22. PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY REGISTER OF WILLS (Inventories) 1796-1800, ST#3: 317, MSA C 1228-14.

³¹ PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF THE TAX (Assessment Record) Real Property, 1796: 29, MSA C 1162-22. PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY REGISTER OF WILLS (Inventories) ST#3: 186, MSA C 1228-14.

³² MONTGOMERY COUNTY REGISTER OF WILLS (Estate Record) 1807-1809, F: 8, MSA C 1138-8.

³³ MONTGOMERY COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF THE TAX (Assessment Record) Real & Personal Property, 1798-1812: 33, 90, MSA C 1110-2.

³⁴ CHARLES COUNTY REGISTER OF WILLS (Wills) 1818-1825, HB 14: 76, MSA C 681-15. CHARLES COUNTY REGISTER OF WILLS (Inventories) 1818-1822: 200, MSA C 665-17.

³⁵ PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY REGISTER OF WILLS (Administration Accounts) 1777-1795, ST #1: 208-10, MSA C 1144-4. William Kilty, Laws of Maryland, 2: April 1787, Chapter XIV. PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY REGISTER OF WILLS (Administration Bonds, Original) 1786, box 23, folder 35, MSA C 1147-23.

³⁶ PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY REGISTER OF WILLS (Inventories) 1789-1796, ST #2: 233, "Kindred refused signing," MSA C 1228-9.

³⁷ PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY REGISTER OF WILLS (Administration Accounts) 1777-1795, ST #1: 207, MSA C 1144-4.

³⁸ Bureau of the Census, Heads of Families At the First Census of the United States Taken in the Year 1790: Maryland, (Washington, 1907), p. 98.

³⁹ PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY COURT (Land Records) 1794-1795, JRM 3: 127, MSA C 1237-36.

⁴⁰ PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF THE TAX (Assessment Record) Personal Property, 1800 & 1802, MSA C 1162-25 & 28. He is William Warman Berry in the Census of 1800 but remains William Berry Warman in the Assessments until 1804.

⁴¹ PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY COURT (Marriage Licenses) 1797-1817: 18, MSA C 1260-2.

⁴² Archives of Maryland, New Series, I.

⁴³ PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY REGISTER OF WILLS (Estate Papers) MSA C2119-9. Dr. Papenfuse made this discovery.

⁴⁴ PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF THE TAX (Assessment Record) 1807, Real Property: 15, MSA C 1162-33; (Assessment Record) 1807, Personal Property: 16. MSA C 1162- 34.

⁴⁵ PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY COURT (Marriage Licenses) 1797-1817: 36, MSA C 1260-2.

⁴⁶ PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY REGISTER OF WILLS (Inventories) 1798-1815, TT#1: 309-310, MSA C 1228-15; (Distributions) 1812-1815, TT#4: 146, MSA C 1201-5.

⁴⁷ PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY REGISTER OF WILLS (Distributions) 1812-1815, TT#4: 155-6; 26, 146, MSA C 1201-5.

⁴⁸ PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY REGISTER OF WILLS (Distributions)1812-1815, TT#4: 276, MSA C 1201-5.

⁴⁹ MONTGOMERY COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF THE TAX (Assessment Record) 1793-1797, 1798-1812, 1813-1830, MSA C 1110-1, 2, & 3. MONTGOMERY COUNTY REGISTER OF WILLS (Estate Record) 1811-1814, H: 250; 1818-1821, M: 39, MSA C 1138-10 & 14.