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GRAND JURY RECORDS IN THE 19TH CENTURY:
PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY
by Pat Melville For Prince George's County the Archives has (Grand Jury Reports) for 1803-1887 in series C1218 and C1219. The collection includes both reports from the grand juries and documents filed with them. The court clerk prepared lists of licenses for the grand jury to help that body fulfill its role in investigating violations of licensing laws and making recommendations for license denials. The lists show the names of licensees and types of licenses that included liquor, retail, ordinary, ferry, peddler, billiard table, stud horse, race course, oyster house, fish landing, and millinery. These license records span the years 1803 to 1887, with intermittent gaps, the most significant being between 1825 and 1856. The earlier documents expand the known license records of Prince George's County, that date from 1835. Liquor licenses seemed to provoke the most interest and activity, an issue still prevalent today. Periodically citizens filed petitions to protest the issuance of such licenses or to support worthy individuals. A grand jury report prepared in 1824 probably summarized the prevailing community sentiments. "[W]e have viewed with deep regret the many evils growing out of the numerous petty establishments throughout the county for selling spirituous liquors, either licensed or carried on in violation of the law, that we consider those places not only calculated to corrupt, demoralize and ruin those who frequent them, but also to annoy and |
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injure the better part of the community and the Public at
large, by the improper conduct of those notaries to
drunkenness and blasphemy, as well as the improper traffic
which is generally there carried on with slaves�." The
jurors concluded with a list of recommended places for
taverns.
Other documents filed with the grand jury included a list of license fees to be collected by the sheriff for 1850, lists of supervisors of roads for 1804-1805, lists of constables for 1804-1805 and 1860-186l, and list of postmasters for 1843. The grand jury could present road supervisors for neglect of duty and needed the constables to report crimes occurring in their districts. Oftentimes the juries reviewed the operations themselves and alerted officials about their concerns. An 1854 grand jury report criticized the road maintenance system with its reliance on road supervisors as too expensive, but offered no suggestions for improvements. Highlighted in 1881 was a situation whereby a county commissioners was being paid for the construction of a bridge, despite its incompletion two years later. An 1884 report notified the judges and court clerk about a persistent failure of constables to take the oath of office. The reason for finding a list of postmasters in the grand jury records is not readily apparent.
Most of the routine reports on public facilities in
Prince George's County date from 1859 and address
conditions in the jail, almshouse, and courthouse. In 1865
the grand jury described the jail as "no security whatever
for the safe keeping of any prisoner, and all the
principal offenders for the last two or three years have
invaribly [sic] escaped. " In 1864 the
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