Abram Lingan Jarrett (1808-1894)
MSA SC 3520-1560
Biography:
Born in Harford County 1808. Son of Abraham Jarrett (owner of a mill and fishery in Harford County) and Elizabeth Dallam Stump Jarrett. Studied law. Married Mary Ann E. Jones (d. June 2, 1888). Died in Bel Air, Harford County, February 18, 1894.
A. Lingan Jarrett engaged in the practice of law in Harford County. He was clerk of the court in the Harford County Circuit Court from 1851 to 1858 and again from 1867 to 1891 and successive years. He was appointed one of five commissioners to plan and oversee the construction of a new court house in Bel Air, Maryland in 1858. He was a member of the Mt. Ararat Lodge of Masons for fifty years. In the fall of 1859, Jarrett ran for comptroller against incumbent William Henry Purnell. Purnell won the race, but only with obviously inflated numbers from the city of Baltimore that were achieved by questionable means. As a result, the Maryland House of Delegates passed Resolution No. 6 on March 10, 1860, declaring the elections void in Baltimore due to widespread rioting and fraud, and declaring that Jarrett was elected comptroller. Governor Thomas Holliday Hicks refused to recognize Jarrett or administer the oath of office to him, and Purnell continued in office until he resigned on May 8, 1861. In the wake of Purnell's resignation, Governor Hicks appointed Dennis Claude comptroller. Claude took possession of the comptroller's account books, stamp, and office space in the record office building in Annapolis, while Jarrett started his own books, procured another copy of the comptroller's stamp, and set up office in the old comptroller's office in the State House. During the spring, summer and early fall of 1861, Claude and Jarrett held competing claims to the office of comptroller. Jarrett had the support of the treasurer, Sprigg Harwood, while Claude was supported by Governor Hicks. Because the governor had refused to administer the oath of office to Jarrett, the legislature acted again on June 21, 1861 by passing an act (chapter 43) enabling Jarrett to take the oath by a Court of Appeals judge. Jarrett took the oath of office on July 9, 1861 before Judge James L. Bartol. Claude brought suit against both Jarrett and Harwood in the Harford County Circuit Court asking for an injunction against Jarrett to prevent him from acting as comptroller. Claude was represented by Thomas S. Alexander, solicitor for the State of Maryland; lawyers for Jarrett and Harwood included Henry W. Archer, William Harwood and ex-Governor Thomas G. Pratt. The court held that the constitution called for disputed elections to be decided by the legislature, that the governor had the power to make appointments only until the legislature acted, and that it had done so in this case by deciding the election for Jarrett. Claude appealed that ruling to the Maryland Court of Appeals (State of Maryland vs. A. Lingan Jarrett and Sprigg Harwood. Court of Appeals of Maryland. 17 Md. 309; 1861 Md. LEXIS 42). The case was heard there by Court of Appeals judges John C. LeGrand, William Hallam Tuck, James Lawrence Bartol and Brice John Goldsborough. The judges unanimously upheld the lower court's decision on October 8, 1861. Unfortunately, Jarrett was unable to enjoy the role of undisputed comptroller for long, as the elections held shortly thereafter brought Samuel Snowden Maffit to the office on January 8, 1862.
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