INTRODUCTION xv

from Pennsylvania and some of the goods imported into Maryland from England
were re-exported to its northern neighbor. 25

In addition to tobacco, corn and wheat, many Maryland planters raised cattle
and swine. Generally these animals were not kept in fenced enclosures but were
turned loose in the woods to forage for themselves until time for butchering. Con-
sequently the severe winter of 1695-96 and lack of fodder caused the loss of large
numbers of animals. 26 Such methods of husbandry also constituted an invitation
to cattle rustling and hog stealing. To cope with these offences the Maryland legis-
lature had adopted a system of live-stock marking administered by the county
courts and passed a series of punitive laws. The court records here published illus-
trate the operation of this system and the enforcement of such laws.

II. ESTABLISHMENT OF PRINCE GEORGES COUNTY

On May 22, 1695 Governor Nicholson assented to and signed an act of Assembly
entitled An Act for the Division and Regulating Severall Countys within this
Province and Constituting a County by the name of Prince Georges County within
the same Province. This act, after reconstituting the boundary between St. Marys
County and Charles County, provided that the bounds of Charles County should
extend upwards "as farr as Mattawoman Creek and branch and bounding on the
said Branch by a straight line Drawn from the head thereof to the head of Swansons
Creek in Putuxent River." It was then provided that "the Land from the upper side
of Mattawoman and Swansons Creeks and Branches Extending upward bounded
by Potomock on the West and Putuxent River on the East" be constituted, founded
and incorporated into a county to be called Prince Georges County (after Prince
George of Denmark), effective April 23, 1696, the next St. George's Day.1

The act further declared that such county should "have and enjoy all other
Rights benefitts and priviledges Equal! with the other Countys of this Province
such as sending Burgesses to Assemblys haveing County Courts Sheriffe Justices
and other Officers and Ministers requisite and necessary and as used in other
Countys of this Province." Provision was made for representatives of the several
counties concerned, including William Hutchison and Thomas Greenfield for
Prince Georges, to run the boundary lines in accordance with the statutory de-
scriptions. 2 Recent research indicates that much of the land making up the new
county was carved out of Calvert County, and not almost entirely out of Charles
County, as earlier believed. 3

25. Id. 70-72, 73-74, 81-84; 19 MA 540; CSP, Col., 1693-96, No. 1916.

26. Morriss, op. cit. supra, 19-20; 20 MA 191, 269-70.

1. 19 MA 212-15. See also 19 id. 158-59, 161, 167, 188-90, 193. On a question in October 1695
whether the act should be repealed the House of Burgesses voted that it should not be altered.
19 id. 254.

2. As to the return of those running the divisional line see 19 id. 300-01, 364.

3. Beall, taking issue with the earlier view of Edward B. Mathews, concludes that Prince
Georges County was erected principally from territory which was Calvert County continuously
from 1654 to 1695 and that only a relatively small portion of Prince Georges County, as erected
in 1695, was from the territory of Charles County between 1658 and 1695. The Boundaries of
Prince George's County Prior to 1695, 5.1 MHM 243-45 (1956). Dr. Morris L. Radoff, Archivist
and Records Administrator, Hall of Records, Annapolis, Md., who has examined into the matter,
is of the opinion that, prior to the establishment of Prince Georges County, the boundary line
between Charles and Calvert Counties followed the drainage line between the Potomac and the
Patuxent. (This was also suggested by Beall but does not support his conclusion.) On this basis
it would appear that Prince Georges County was erected from approximately equal portions
of Calvert and of Charles County. A tract map recently compiled by Louise Joyner Heinton (a
copy is at the Hall of Records, Annapolis, Md.), showing the location within Prince Georges