Liber 31 (pp. 33-251), 1739-1741
The Prerogative Court was the focal point for probate in colonial Maryland. All matters of probate went directly to this Court, located in Maryland's colonial capital, first in St. Mary's City until 1694 and later in Annapolis. Eventually, administration of probate was delegated to the several county courts; however, many documents related to probate continued to be filed at the Prerogative Court and not in the corresponding county. The Prerogative Court was also the colony's court for equity cases (resolution of disputes over the settlement and distribution of an estate).
Compiler Vernon Skinner has produced the twenty-second volume in his series Abstracts of the Testamentary Proceedings of the Prerogative Court of Maryland, based upon this important source for Maryland genealogists. The series is arranged, volume by volume, chronologically by court session. Volume XXII consists of abstracts for the period 1739-41, as found in Liber 31 of the records. In all, the latest book in this remarkable series refers to an additional 7,000 colonial inhabitants of the Province of Maryland. For the most part, the transcriptions state the names of the principals (testators, heirs, guardians, witnesses, administrators, and so forth) as well as details of bequests, names of slaves, appraisers, and more.
Vernon L. Skinner, Jr.
2010, paper, 300 pp.
ISBN: 9780806354545
102-9960
