In Colonial Maryland, the sheriff was responsible for collecting taxes, rents and other monies due owed to the governor, as well as issuing court summonses. The sheriff was appointed by the governor as a patronage position, and through the fees he was allowed to collect for himself, could bring the officeholder significant profit.  However, sheriffs would often put forward their own money to cover the obligations of citizens who could not pay, and could consequently lose a great deal of money if unable to collect. It was a position which required great skill and efficiency to perform well. As Stephen Bordley, Attorney General 1756-1763, wrote, "The Sheriffs office is a place of either Considerable gain or...Considerable loss; & the difference turns upon...Care, Exactness & diligence in the Execution of it."²
 

1. Archives of Maryland Online (hereafter given as aomol), Vol. 3, pps. 61, 63.

2.. Bordley to Hercules Coutts, 11 Dec 1756. Bordely Papers, Letterbook of Stephen Bordley, 1756-59, pps. 224-24, Maryland Historical Society. Quoted in Donnell M. Owings, His Lordship's Patronage: Offices of Profit in Colonial Maryland (Baltimore, MD: Maryland Historical Society, 1953), 70.

3. During seizure of power by the Protestant Associators, 1689-1692, Hanslap resigned or was replaced by the provisional government, but continued to collect revenue due to Lord Baltimore. Brown began serving as sheriff in February of 1690. See Lois Green Carr and Davis William Jordan, Maryland's Revolution of Government 1689-1692 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1974) 100, 107 n62.

4. Noke served at least until the Provincial Court's September, 1775 term. Although the governor retained nominal control over the province as late as the beginning of 1776, the Council of Safety increasingly became the governing force in Maryland after its establishment in August, 1775. Noke's successor consequently remains unclear, as Maryland's government was roiled by the Revolution.