Ducking police - an evasion of law enforcement or officers enforcement of duck hunting laws? This question arose from a genealogical inquiry about an ancestor and the ducking police. The Maryland Manuals in the Archives of Maryland Online revealed the existence of officers called ducking police through 1939, but only for two jurisdictions - Cecil and Harford counties. The publications gave no indication of when the office came into existence or its duties. The research strategy to establish dates and determine duties should have been a simple process of checking the laws of Maryland. Instead, the effort became a lesson in overcoming inadequate indexes. 

First to be searched was (Laws, Index) 1800-1920 in Government Publications. No citations appeared under the obvious headings of duck, ducking, or police. And, nothing showed up under hunting, waterfowl, Cecil County, or Harford County. Since the governor appointed the ducking police, research moved to (Commission Record) in series S1081 in hopes of finding a legal citation when the first officers were appointed. The strategy succeeded with a reference to the annotated code which in turn provided the citations to individual laws. 

Now a legal timeline could be established. By 1860, the General Assembly had passed laws regulating the hunting of waterfowl and placed enforcement in the hands of sheriffs, constables, and commissioned militia officers. In 1872 (Chapter 54), a section of the Chesapeake Bay called the Susquehanna Flats was exempted from the general waterfowl law.  The 

In 1878 (Chapter 292), the waters of the Elk and Bohemia rivers were added to the special hunting provisions. Chapter 106, Acts of 1880, gave the governor the authority to appoint the Board of Special Police, to consist of four men, two each from Cecil and Harford counties, for two-year terms. The board could appoint deputies from among citizens who obtained the gunning licenses. From the time of the first appointments, the governor's commission records listed the officers as special ducking police, later abbreviated to ducking police. 

The next significant change occurred in 1927 (Chapter 568) with the establishment of a state Game Warden within the Conservation Commission. The ducking police, still appointed by the governor, were designated as deputy wardens and placed under the supervision of the state Game Warden. As deputies, they were compelled to enforce all conservation, game, and fish laws. 

In 1941 (Chapter 258), the special legal provisions for gunning on the Susquehanna Flats and for the ducking police were repealed. 

During the American Revolution, popular sentiment on the Lower Eastern Shore of Maryland leaned toward the British cause or indifference. Many citizens were more concerned about preserving their property, especially slaves, than about defending a new nation and new state government. Efforts to recruit men for military service, even in the local militia, produced meager results. The men who did join might show up for training or duty sessions, or they might decide some other task was more important. 

Records of the Revolutionary time period contain many illustrations of the uncertainties and problems encountered on the Lower Eastern Shore. John Lyon, an Archives' volunteer and researcher, found such documentation in Maryland State Papers (Red Books) in series S989, Vol. 19, Nos. 45-48. On September 24, 1778, George Dashiell wrote a letter to Gov. Thomas Johnson and enclosed other correspondence and a deposition supporting his points. Dashiell discussed the selection of officers of the Rewastico Company of the Salisbury Battalion and the punishment of deserters. 

Field officers, while attempting to select a captain for the Rewastico Company, rejected two candidates before recommending William Turpin. They had pronounced Huett Nutter as unworthy of promotion from his position as first lieutenant, and judged William Nutter as unfit for the office. Dashiell in his letter said that William Nutter "was looked upon by the Field officers as a very improper person to command [the company], and has since given us a convincing proof by refusing to take the oath of fidelity to the States...." 

Dashiell praised the dedication and loyalty of William Turpin, and then outlined the travails he faced with the most disaffected company in the

That on the fifth Day of September 1778 Capt. Wm. Turpin called on John Grumble to give his excuse for his non Attendance at a muster some time before. He gave answer that he had None and swore that he did not carry an Almanack [in] his head. With that Capt. Turpin desired him to recollect and see if he could not remember and again [he] swore that he had not any nor should not trouble his head abt it. The Officers proceed[ed] to fine him and the Captain ask'd him for it. He made answer and ask'd him...and cursed the Capt. and officers and swore that they were [a] parcel of rascals and that they would be turned out and better men put on their Room, and further said that they were not all of them worth thirty shillings, and further that Capt. Turpin had come out of jail and could not pay his debts, and that if he had been in jail and taken his degrees as Capt. Turpin had he should be made an officer, too; and this deponent further sayeth that it is usual for the Company to insult Capt. Turpin with the grossest language almost at every meeting.

George Dashiell questioned the effectiveness of punishments meted out to deserters. Anyone committed to the local jail seemed to escape with ease and impunity. "Four of the recruits which deserted from their quarters in this county last summer, has [sic] now surrendered themselves to me.  From a conviction that imprisoning them will not have the desired effect, I have permitted them to quarter themselves in private homes, until they receive orders to march to camp, as their [sic] is no
probability of delivering them to an officer." 

Research by John Lyon reveals that Capt. Turpin, Ensign Piper, and Private Grumble remained in the Rewastico Company until at least 1780. Six years later, Grumble was listed as a debtor in the estate of Piper. 

BOARD OF LAW EXAMINERS 
    (Bar Applications) 1955-1993 [MSA T1646] 
    (Registration and Petition Record) 1915-1987 [MSA T3282] 

COMPTROLLER OF THE TREASURY 
    (Annual Reports) 1852-2000 [MSA T3333] 

COURT OF APPEALS 
    (Designations) 1990-1998 [MSA T1639] 
    (Miscellaneous Papers) 1996-1997 [MSA T1216] 
    (Name Changes, Attorneys) 1994-1997 [MSA T3130] 
    (Opinions, Miscellaneous Docket) 1996 [MSA T1219] 
    (Writs of Certiorari) 1999 [MSA T1214] 

COURT OF SPECIAL APPEALS 
    (Miscellaneous Papers) 1993-1994 [MSA T1327] 
    (Opinions) 1993-1994 [MSA T1328] 

DEPARTMENT OF ASSESSMENTS AND TAXATION, REAL PROPERTY VALUATION DIVISION 
    (Assessment Record, AA, CD) 2000-2001 [MSA T3310] 
    (Assessment Record, AL, CD) 2000-2001 [MSA T3309] 
    (Assessment Record, BA, CD) 2000-2001 [MSA T3312] 
    (Assessment Record, BA, CD) 1997-2001 [MSA T3312] 
    (Assessment Record, BC, CD) 2000-2001 [MSA T3311] 
    (Assessment Record, CA, CD) 2000-2001 [MSA T3314] 
    (Assessment Record, CE, CD) 2000-2001 [MSA T3316] 
    (Assessment Record, CH, CD) 2000-2001 [MSA T3317] 
    (Assessment Record, CR, CD) 2000-2001 [MSA T3315] 
    (Assessment Record, CV, CD) 2000-2001 [MSA T3313] 
    (Assessment Record, DO, CD) 2000-2001 [MSA T3318] 
    (Assessment Record, FR, CD) 2000-2001 [MSA T3319] 
    (Assessment Record, GA, CD) 2000-2001 [MSA T3320] 
    (Assessment Record, HA, CD) 2000-2001 [MSA T3321] 
    (Assessment Record, HO, CD) 2000-2001 [MSA T3322] 
    (Assessment Record, KE, CD) 2000-2001 [MSA T3323] 
    (Assessment Record, MO, CD) 2000-2001 [MSA T3324] 
    (Assessment Record, PG, CD) 2000-2001 [MSA T3325] 
    (Assessment Record, QA, CD) 2000-2001 [MSA T3326] 
    (Assessment Record, SM, CD) 2000-2001 [MSA T3327] 
    (Assessment Record, SO, CD) 2000-2001 [MSA T3328] 
    (Assessment Record, TA, CD) 2000-2001 [MSA T3329] 
    (Assessment Record, WA, CD) 2000-2001 [MSA T3330] 
    (Assessment Record, WI, CD) 2000-2001 [MSA T3331] 
    (Assessment Record, WO, CD) 2000-2001 [MSA T3332] 

(continued on last page)

DEPARTMENT OF ASSESSMENTS AND TAXATION, CA SUPERVISOR OF ASSESSMENTS 
    (Assessment Record) 1943-1982 [MSA T1231] 

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY AND CORRECTIONAL SERVICES, PATUXENT INSTITUTION 
    (Inmate File) 1994-1997 [MSA T2989] 
    (Minutes) 1997 [MSA T2425]