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Black Book
No. 1
Letter No. 40
No date
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Inhabitants of the Places aforesaid having by their humble Petition
to his Lordship & the General Assembly in the Year 1732 set forth
" That the vast body of Rich Lands & the Scituation of the Neigh-
bourhood in general renders the head of Potapsco River at Elk
" Ridge Landing a very commodious place for a Town the most
" Convenient for the Western Part of Baltemore & all the back Land
" on Potowmack & Monocasy Rivers; & Prayed that an Act might
" Pass to erect the said Place into a Town, His Lordship & the
General Assembly were Pleased to grant the said Petition, & a Bill
was accordingly passed into a Law for erecting a Town at the afore-
said Landing, to be called by the Name of Janssen Town
But forasmuch as the Gentlemen who by the Act Passed as afore-
said were appointed Commissioners to put the same in execution,
never complyed with the Directions thereof; & the time to which
their Authority for laying out the said place for a Town, was limited
is expired; so that the said Law is become void; the Petitioners beg
leave once more to represent to your Excellency & your Honours,
that, as the aforesaid Landing, is the nearest & most convenient Tide
Water to the said Upper Parts of Ann Arundel, the Western Parts
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[This
should read
Prince
Georges and
Frederick
Counties]
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of Baltemore & the greatest part of Prince Frederick Counties &
other remote Places about the Mountains, where Inhabitants are
Daily increasing; as there are two very Publick Roads thro the place
intended for the Town; which will render it Commodious for Travel-
lers; as the Petitioners are frequently by the want of a Town con-
venient to them put to hardships & expence in procuring the
necessaries of Life & as it has been & is still generally expected that
the chief part of the Trade with the said extensive back Lands must
by Degrees center at the old Elk Ridge Landing; which was one of
the Motives upon which many of the Petitioners did in the year
1748 Prefer a Petition to your Excellency & Honours for having
the Elk Ridge Ware House built there; having been therein encour-
aged by the Proprietors of the Land there abouts with a prospect
of having a sufficient Quantity of it laid out in Lots for the intended
Town. The Petitioners relying on the good inclination of your
Excellency & Honours in promoting things of this kind, are in hopes
that tho by the neglect of the Commissioners they once miss'd of an
opportunity of having a Town at the Landing aforesaid, yet this
will not be made an objection against their having the Foundation
of one laid there now
May it therefore please Your Excellency & your Honours that a
Bill be brought in & passed into a Law for erecting a Town at the
old Elk Ridge Landing on such Ground about the Inspecting House
there, as shall be judged most Convenient for that purpose & on the
same Terms on which other Towns have been erected near Navi-
gable Water in this Province according to the intent of the said
former Act & your Petitioners (as in Duty bound) shall ever pray &c.
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