JOHN FRANCIS MERCER, ESQUIRE, GOVERNOR; NOVEMBER.

1801.

dred, duly make and execute a codicil to his said last will and testament: And whereas it is also
represented, that the said last will and testament, and codicil, after being thus duly made and ex-
ecuted, were put into the hands of a certain John Merryman, for the purpose of being by him
delivered to the register of wills of Baltimore county, and that part of. the said last will and tes-
tament, being on a loose sheet of paper, was lost, and never recorded by the said register ; and it
being stated that a true copy of the said last will and testament, and codicil, was taken before the
delivery of the same to the register aforesaid, and it is prayed that the said copy may be recorded
and established as the only true last will and testament, and codicil, of the said Nicholas Merry-
man ; and satisfactory evidence of the above stated facts being exhibited to this general assembly,
therefore,

CHAP.
XXIV.

II. BE IT ENACTED, by the General Assembly of Maryland, That the orphans court of Baltimore
county be and they are hereby authorised and empowered to cause all the parties interested in the
establishment of the said last will and testament, and codicil, to be called before them in the usual
way of their proceedings, and if upon examination of all the circumstances they shall be of opi-
nion that any part of the said last will and testament, and codicil, or of either of them, has been
by any means lost, and shall also be of opinion, from the evidence which may be adduced on the
examination, that a true copy of the said last will and testament, and codicil, can be had and pro-
duced, and if the same shall be offered for probat, in such case the said court shall, in their dis-
cretion, have full power and authority to cause such copy of the said last will and testament, and
codicil, to be duly recorded among the records of the orphans court of Baltimore county.

Court to call
the parties be-
fore them, &c.

III. AND BE IT ENACTED, That the said copy of the last will and testament, and codicil, of
the said Nicholas Merryman, deceased, when so recorded, shall be taken and considered, to all
intents and purposes, to be the true and legal last will and testament, and codicil, of the said de-
ceased, and shall have the same force, validity and effect, that the said last will and testament,
and codicil, of the aforesaid deceased Nicholas Merryman would have had, if the same, in all
their parts, had been recorded, as part of the same hath already been

CHAP. XXV.

Copy to hare
force, &c.

An ACT to alter and change the names of Mary Smock, Robert
Smock, John Smock and Anne Smock, of the city of Baltimore,
into the name of Nesbit.

Passed sist of
Dec. 1801.

WHEREAS Mary Smock, Robert Sniock, John Smock and Anne Smock, of the city of Bal-
timore, have petitioned this general assembly that the surname of the said Mary, Robert,
John and Anne, may, be changed to that of Nesbit £~ and the prayer of the petition being reason-
able, therefore,

Preamble

II. BE IT ENACTED, ly the General Assembly of Maryland, That it shall and may be lawful for the
aforesaid Mary, Robert, John and Anne, after the passage of this act, to take upon themselves
respectively the surname of Nesbit, instead of their present surname, and also for the descendants
of the said Robert and John respectively to take upon themselves the surname of Nesbit, and the
surname of the said Mary, Robert, John and Anne, shall be and hereby is changed and altered
into the surname of Nesbit ; and the said Mary and Anne, unless they shall intermarry, or either
of them, with a person or persons of different name or names, and the said Robert and John, and
the heirs of their bodies respectively, shall at all times hereafter be called by, and hold and use,
the surname of Nesbit only.

Persons to take
the name of
Nesbit, &c

III. AND BE IT ENACTED, That all securities, promises, contracts, assurances, deeds and law-
ful acts whatsoever, heretofore made, or hereafter to be made, by or to the said Mary, Robert,
John and Anne, by their respective names, and the surname of Nesbit, shall be of the same force
and effect, and equally avail, to all intents and purposes, as if the surname of Nesbit had been the
true and proper surname of the said Mary Smock, Robert Smock, John Smock and Anne Smock,
respectively, at all times from their .several births, any law, statute, or custom, to the contrary
notwithstanding.

Securities, &c
to have force,
&c.