ARCHIVIST OF THE HALL OF RECORDS 35

portant, they record the actual fact of marriage, not the mere issuance
of the license as in the earlier records. Other vital records received
include Queen Anne's County Marriage Licenses, 1887-1889, Cecil
County Record of Births, 1865-1891, and Worcester County Record
of Births, 1865-1869, 1889.

Also notable are the Minute Books of the Montgomery County
Court for the years 1779-1820, even though there are several sizable
gaps in the series. They record certain administrative actions of die
Court that are not entered in the Judgments, such as the appointment
of sheriffs, constables, road overseers, and other county officials.

Our church records program gained impetus last }^rcar when we
acquired microfilm copies of the records of the Baltimore Yearly Meet-
ing of Friends, Stony Run, one of the finest collections of Quaker
records in the country. Permission to microfilm this rich collection was
obtained largely through the efforts and cooperation of Dr. Bliss For-
bush, Presiding Clerk of the Meeting, and Mrs. LaVerne Hill Forbush,
Custodian of Friends' Records.

The Baltimore Yearly Meeting traces its origin to a "General
Meeting" held at West River in 1672. For over a century it included all
of Maryland and Delaware. In 1790, the meetings on the Eastern Shore
and those in Delaware were transferred to the Philadelphia Yearly Meet-
ing, and in return the Baltimore Meeting received certain meetings in
Pennsylvania and Virginia. As the Quaker movement spread westward,
meetings in Ohio, Indiana, and even as far west as Iowa were added.
Many of these meetings have since separated and the jurisdiction of
the Baltimore Yearly Meeting is now limited to the Western Shore of
Maryland and adjacent areas of Pennsylvania and Virginia.

The earliest surviving record begins in 1677. We have microfilmed
360 volumes out of a total of nearly 700 items listed in the catalogue
of the collection. The remaining items were not considered of sufficient
importance to justify filming.

Although the other church records acquired last year are not so
old or so voluminous as the above collection, they represent important
additions to holdings of such materials. The records of the Montebello
(called "First United" until 1961) Presbyterian Church appear to be
intact from 1826 when the congregation was organized.