MONTGOMERY COUNTY

Records

Montgomery County has been especially fortunate in preserving its governmental records.
Its court, land and probate records may be said to be intact and there are records of the Com-
missioner of the Tax and other early administrative bodies which are almost totally lacking
elsewhere.

Part of its good fortune is certainly due to the fact that it has escaped the normal hazards
of acts of God and it has been out of the line of march of hostile human beings. Its court-
houses since there has been any considerable accumulation of records have all been within one
plot of land so that there was little incentive to destroy records in order to ease the problems
of moving. It is a valid deduction too that the custodians of the records have valued them.

Note

The second Rockville courthouse, completed in 1840, has had some of the mystery sur-
rounding it dispelled since the appearance of Volume I of this work. A picture which appeared
in the Montgomery County Sentinel September 29, 1955 was sent me by Mr. Thomas M. Ander-
son, Jr., Attorney of Rockville and President of the Montgomery County Historical Society.
This newspaper picture was rephotographed by the Hall of Records but was still so indistinct
as to be useless as an illustration. However, it was clear enough to make it possible for the
artist to find all the details for the drawing herewith reproduced. It would have been better
to have found the photograph from which the newspaper reproduction was made but in spite
of the efforts of Mr. Anderson and Miss Martha Sprigg Poole it could not be traced. It appears
to have been the property of Mr. Albert Bouic of Rockville who lent it for use in the office
of Judge Charles W. Woodward. On Judge Woodward's retirement the picture seems to have
been returned to Mr. Bouic, but of this point and of its subsequent history no one is now
certain.

A great deal more might have been known about this same courthouse if the full records
of its construction had been found in the County Council's office. They were in existence in
the late 1930's when the Historical Records Survey of the WPA listed them as Item No. 177
in Inventory of the County and Town Archives of Maryland. A diligent search made in 1962
for these records has unfortunately proved fruitless.

In the same work there was listed, Item No. 178, the Proceedings of the Courthouse Com-
mittee of 1928-31. This record is now in the Hall of Records and has been examined. The
reader who wishes more detail may find it here, but it did not reveal any inaccuracies in the
account of this courthouse given in Volume I.

Circuit Court

LAND RECORDS, 1777--. Most volumes indexed. C.H. 1777--. L.O. 1948-, microfilm. H.R.
1777-91; 1777-1949, microfilm.

INDEX TO GRANTORS AND MORTGAGORS, 1777--. Russell-Key. C.H. 1777--. L.O.
1777-1947.

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