The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1889-07-20
MARYLAND's MUsTY RECORDS.
Relics of Colonial Days Preserved in The
Annapolis Museum


the river Severn flows drowsily past, is Mary
lands sleeping beauty'-the ancient and
horrible city Of Annapolis waiting, it is not
difficult to imagine, for the coming of the prince
| who is to remove the spell of enchantment,
in response to whose affectionate kiss the SOM
nolent village is to awake to the fact that this is
| almost the end ofthe nineteenth century and not
the middle of the eighteenth. The visitor to
Annapolis who, on a warm June day, feels no
| temptation to lie down in a shady nook and
sleep, must be victim of insomia-a bad case
too. Nevertheless the old State Capital is one
of the pleasantest places in all the territory
which received its name from England's
bloody queen. Picturesque in all things and
at all times During the hot afternoon the
sound of voices is low and the people who
move around the streets are soft of step; the
dogs lie painting in the shade and the children
repose on grassy slopes or in quaint old school
houses; the birds are almost silent as they hop
around the doorstepss and eat of the myriad
weeds while bees fit droiningly in and out of
| the open windows and noiselessly sip nectar
| from the sweet clover blossoms which so
abundantly decorate the streets. 1t is the
home of Morpheus; the seat of the power of the
State and the headquarters of the drowsy god.
MUSTY OLD RECORDS
Nesting down under the shadow of the State
Capital is an unpretentiOuS brick building, and
in this the spirit of the past is everywhere
visible. Musty records are piled high in the
air and hidden away in closets and chests.
both are under the care of Mr.. Geo. Shafer,
the chief clerk, guided Star reporter through
the muSty maze. Of more than ordinary in
terest are the State records. The original
archives of the province of Maryland are COM
plete from the year 1887, and the historian and
and enthusiastic antiquarian may revel in
some of the queerest old parchments anybody
ever saw. In those good old days (Which were
nothing like as good as some people suppose)
the provincial ruler encouraged immigration,
g III
in inducing persons to leave their homes in
the old lands and to dwell in Maryland he was
presented with fifty acres of land for each
person there are any number of records of
patents for these fifty grants in huge,
heavily-bound volumes. For awhile these in
teresting records were left to the tender mercies
of the vOracious boOk-worm, and as a result
the pOnderous tones have been drilled through
in thousands of places.
THE CITY CHARTER.
The State archives are in good condition and
complete from 1871. The originals are not al
ways to be seen, but printed copies can be in
spected at any time. When juvenile Annap-
oltan is inclined to be frisky and tries to shake
off the dignity which was born with him, he
is recommended to go to the museum and
there 'read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest"
the great truths contained in the original char
ter of the city, granted in the year 1708.-
The huge sheet of parchment is discolored
and curled and creased, but most of its
sentiments can be read by anyone who cares
to struggle with the fading ink and the pecu-
liar chirography. The document which gave
Annapolis the right to live, and which appar-
emily keeps it alive to-day, commences with
"Anne, by the Grace of God of Great Brittaine
France and Ireland and the dominion there
unto belonging, Queen, defender of the Faith,
to all and singular and faithful subjects. p
Then follows several whereaseS and the IL
cense to exist. 1t is addressed to John Sey-
mour. captain general and governor of the
province of Maryland.
LORD BALTIMORE AND THE PENNs.
Hardly less interesting is the agreement be-
tween Frederick, the sixth Lord Baltimore
and Thomas ana Richard Penn, sons OF the
great Quaker. 1t took six sheets of closely
written yard-square parchments, one sheet be-
ing embellished by map, to describe and de-
fine the boundaries of the province of Mary
land. At the foot of the last sheet are three
red wax seals. Each sheet had incorporated
in it the blue and metal inland revenue seal
the same in England to-day as it was then
and each sheet cost five shillings. Samuel
Mabbat (who has been dead some time and to
whom, consequently, this advertisement will
do no good) supplied the parchment and re-
ceived therefor the sum of one pound ten shil-
ings. Mr. Mabbat was stationer in those
days and kept a shop at "Gray's Inn Gate,
Holbourn, London"
There was no dearth of pOmpous fOrmality in
the manner in which the power regnant was
addressed. There was only to do it and so far
as the records at Annapolis show the devia-
tions were not numerous. The prefix to pc
tition reads "To the Right Honorable Charles,
absolute lord and proprietor of the provinces
of Maryland and Avalon, lord baron of Balti-
more, &C." 1t hardly seems that that poten-
tate could ever have been called Charlie
COLONIAL PENMANSHIP.
The general character of penmanship in the
records is good-above the average of to-day.
Of course it is that stiff, cramped, upright and
downright writing which was then universal
among those who could write-but it is not
difficult to read, and in time it becomes really
attractive. There were bookbinders in those
| DAYS; men who put covers on books with
| cord and glue and incorporated with the ma
terial the old-fashiOned intention of having the
| covers outlast the leaves If Curator Shafer
was so inclined he might lombard the State
house with his stock of bound records without
doing any material harm to the bindings
| which are on those whose existence antedates
the war of 1912. For the large volumes, heavy
boards of brown hemp fiber were used, cover
| ed by sheep-skin that has not yet broken in
any place. Some of the books are vellum
bound, and on the front cover, in an oval, is
| the inscription "For the Uses of the Province
of Maryland" The gliding of the letters and
| the border is as clean and bright to-day as it
was when the careful old masterblnder PeeIed
| at it through his great horn-rimmed spectacles
and pronounced it good. A few of the record
books have brass corners and locks, but the
secrets thus protected are not to be recognized
| to-day they are apparently ordinary records.
The museum proper is by no means as eX-
tensive an affair as Maryland should have at
its capital. The few cases are crowded togeth-
| er and classification or arrangement is almost
| impossible 1t is understood, however, that
large room is being fitted in the addition to the
State-house to receive the curios which have
| fallen into the careless hands of the State. Mr..
| Shafer has displayed what there is to the best
| possible advantage, but he needs much more
| space and liberal appropriation.
COL. GREENBERRY's COFFIN.
A grim relic is the piece of mouldy black
walnut which was part of the coffin in which
reposed the remains of Col. Nicholas Green
berry and his wife. The couple were among
the earliest settlers, and when they died, which
they did in 1904, they were entombed together:
Last year, and very Unexpectedly, the place of
their sepulture was discovered while some i'm
| provements were being made. For some time
previous members of the Maryland historical
society had been endeavoring, unsuccessfully,
| to locate the grave, because its situation would
make plain the position of other places of his
toric interest Accident discovered the spot,
! and there was great rejoicing among the his
torians Investigation showed that the two
bodies were encased in lead-5OO pounds Of the
metal being used. The coffin was much de-
cayed, and inside there were only the skulls
and pelvic bones of the two people, who, with
Others, arrived at Old st. Maries City on the
oath day of November, 1888. The museum
also contains a large piece of the tree under
which the cOlonlStS camped wnen tney lanueu
| on that November evening.
| BALTIMORE IN 1852.
An old print of Baltimore as it appeared in
| 1852 shows about twenty five houses all of the
most ordinary description. Beneath it hangs
| a fac-simile of sketch of Annapolis made in
water colors in 1897 by the Chevalier Colbert,
a Knight of Malta and direct descendant of
| Colbert, the minister of Louis XIV The sub
! iect of the sketch would at once be recognized
| by any one who knows Annapolis, although
nearly one hundred years have elapsed since
| there are more houses now and little less
grass, but the main features ofthe landscape are
the same.