ARCHIVIST OF THE HALL OF RECORDS 57

played a prominent part in Maryland history. Col. James Hollyday
(1722-1786) served as a member of the Convention of Maryland and
the Council of Safety. A contemporary printed copy of the Constitu-
tion of 1776 that belonged to him is included in the collection. Col.
Richard Carmichael Hollyday (1810-1885) served as Secretary of State
under six different Governors of Maryland. He was also Clerk of Court
for Cecil County, 1849-1851, and a member of the Constitutional Con-
vention of 1867. About a third of the collection is comprised of docu-
ments relating to the titles of various lands owned by the family. A
number of other items pertain to the genealogy of the family. The
remainder of the collection includes a variety of items, ranging from
several interesting letters of the 1760's discussing the Stamp Act to
such trivia as recipes for "Apple Toddy" or for "Terrapin a la Mary-
land/'

Mr. George Martin, who has manifested a continuing interest in
the Hall of Records, presented us with two reels of microfilm contain-
ing muster rolls of a number of Maryland regiments and companies
for the period of the Revolutionary War. The originals are at the
National Archives.

Through the courtesy of Mrs. John T. Lanning, we were per-
mitted to photocopy a fascinating letter written by Benjamin Farquhar
to David Shriver and the other members of the Frederick County dele-
gation to the General Assembly in 1802. He explains that he had
refused to qualify for his appointment as a justice of the peace and
levy court because, as a Quaker, his conscience would not permit him
to administer oaths to other persons any more than it would permit
him to take one himself. His comments are as valid today as they were
then and in one incisive sentence he points out the fallacy behind the
idea of requiring special oaths to assure truthfulness when he asserts
"that any person that would give a fals [sic] witness in a serious
manner would make oath of it."

The diary of James Ridgaway that was loaned us for microfilming
by Mrs. Howard A. Keith provides an interesting insight into the life
of a Methodist circuit rider in the early 1800's.