Abstracts of the Testamentary Proceedings of the Prerogative Court of Maryland, Volume XXIV: 1744-1746. Libers 31 (pp. 489-679), 32 (1-22)

The Prerogative Court was the focal point for probate in colonial Maryland. All matters of probate went directly to the Prerogative Court, which was located in Maryland’s colonial capital, Annapolis. The Prerogative Court was also the colony’s court for equity cases–resolutions of disputes over the settlement and distribution of an estate.

With the volume at hand, compiler Vernon Skinner has assembled his twenty-fourth volume of transcriptions in his series Abstracts of the Testamentary Proceedings of the Prerogative Court of Maryland, based upon this important source for Maryland genealogists. In compiling the series, Mr. Skinner has worked primarily from microfilm copies of the Prerogative Court records; however, when necessary to resolve problems of paleography, he has consulted the original manuscripts, which are located at the Maryland State Archives in Annapolis.

The series is arranged, volume by volume, chronologically by court session. Volume XXIV consists of abstracts for the period 1744-46, as found in the balance of Liber 31 and the first 22 pages of Liber 32 of the records. In all, the latest book in this distinguished 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.