INTRODUCTION xxvii

As to the procurement of law books the House obviously had reference to a 1692
act (re-enacted in 1699) providing that "the Statutes books of England to these times
named Keebles Collection of the Statutes and Dalton's Justice of the Peace" be
obtained by the justices of the several county courts, at county charge, to be kept
in the several county courts so that the justices and officers of such courts and
others might have recourse to them as they should have occasion. However, it was
not until the September 1699 court that Colonel Holliday was ordered to send for
"those Law bookes the new Laws makes mention off." The November 1700 levy,
appearing in Liber B, shows he received allowances for copies of the Statutes at
Large and Dalton's The Court trey Justice.1S

What manner of men were the justices or commissioners in Prince Georges
County?

Thomas Holliday, Chief Justice of the Prince Georges County Court from 1696
to his death in 1703, came to Maryland from Virginia in 1679, settling in Calvert
County where he became a substantial planter and land-owner, and perhaps a
merchant. Prior to the formation of Prince Georges County he was a commissioner
and captain of the county militia in Calvert County; later he became lieutenant-
colonel in the Prince Georges militia. He served as a vestryman of St. Paul's Parish
at Upper Mount Calvert, 1692-1703.

William Hutchison (d. 1711), apparently born in England, had served as deputy
surveyor of Charles and St. Marys Counties, as captain of a troop of horse in Charles
County and as a member of the House of Delegates (1694-95) for such county prior
to the establishment of Prince Georges County. He represented Prince Georges
County in the House of Delegates from 1696 through the early 1700's, serving on a
number of committees. He had contacts with the Piscattoway Indians, "having lived
neer the Piscattoway Fort for some years," and was named on several commissions
to treat with them or to resurvey their lands in case of dispute, as well as on several
legislative committees on Indian affairs or securing the frontiers. In 1699 he became
one of the coroners of Prince Georges County. In 1701 Hutchison was one of
eleven persons recommended to the Board of Trade for possible appointment to
the Council "who had been long livers in the country, with good estate, experienced
and well affected toward His Majesty's Government." A vestryman of Piscattoway
Parish, he became "foreman" in 1704. Apparently a substantial planter, he left a
large estate.

William Barton, seemingly the son of Captain William Barton, a prominent
personage in Charles County, upon the formation of Prince Georges County was
nominated major of the county militia (later he appears as colonel) and elected to
the House of Delegates. In June 1699 he became sheriff of Prince Georges, giving
up his seat in the House. Being a planter and Indian trader, he was one of the per-
sons appointed to treat with the Piscattoways and Accokicks in 1697, as well as a
member of the committee on Indian affairs subsequently appointed by the Gover-
nor and Assembly. He served as a vestryman of St. Paul's Parish and left a substan-
tial estate at his death (1705 or 1706).

John White (d. 1705) was a justice in Calvert County prior to the formation of
Prince Georges. In 1696/7 he became one of the coroners for Prince Georges
County. In 1697 he was one of the commissioners appointed to treat with the Piscat-
toway and Accokick Indians. Apparently a planter and merchant, he served as a
member of the House of Delegates from 1698 through 1704.

Robert Bradley (d. 1724), a merchant, ship owner and seemingly factor for
Edward and Dudley Carleton and Company, London merchants, became a member

18. 13 id. 521; for the 1699 act to the same effect see 22 id. 463; infja 553; PGCJ, Liber B, 83a