CALENDAR OF MARYLAND STATE PAPERS--THE BLACK BOOKS [Volume I, page] 227 File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives. USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. _________________________________________________________________________ 158 IX, 22 Prince George's County. Petition of several inhabitants above the Monocacy to the Governor. The subscribers have greatly suffered by the loss or want of a proper person for the office of justice; they recommend Capt. Griffith, William Toneyhill, and Jackob Duckett as proper candidates for that office. D.S. 1 P. 30.6cm X 18.8cm. Mutilated. Signers: Samuel Duvall, Henery Emroney(?), John Harper, Ephraim Gold, James Rigges, Henry Truman Hill, Luke Ray, Mikell Hallett, John Sonnis, Thomas Wilson, Hadworth Wilson, Absallom Wilson, Joseph Wilson, Nichols Roads, Joseph Worren, John Whealler, Orlando Griffith, Robart Parl (M.), Joseph Hill, James Parl (M.), Benjamen Kelley (M.), Joseph Bookout, John Cramphin, William Davis, John Harding, Gareth Davis, Joseph Harris, Aquila Compton (M.) James Comton, Arthur Nelson, Jr., Joseph Gold, John Nelso[n], Alexander De- - -, G[eo]rge Wea- - -, ________-, ________, _________, __________, John Tur[ner], Danel Pa- - -, John Adon- - -, John John- - - (M.), John Comton (M.) James Wood (M.). See Pioneers of Old Monocacy: The Early Settlement of Frederick Co., MD: 1721--1743 by Grace L. Tracey and John P. Dern (Baltimore: Genealogical Publications, Inc., 1987) and also see Monocacy and Catoctin: Some Early Settlers of Frederick and Carrol Counties, MD and Adams County, PA, also Descendants c. 1725--1985, 2 Vols., C. E. Schildknect, Editor (Shippensburg, PA 17257: Beidel Printing House, Inc., 1985). Mr. John P. Dern, co-author of "Pioneers of Old Monocacy" wrote to Henry Wade Bookout III on March 25, 1995: "Your query concerning the location of some 42 signatories on a petition apparently seeking justices or a justice of the peace in some portion of Prince George's County, Maryland is of great interest, especially as it seems to be a petition I personally have not seen. You did not cite a reference to its location or present filing at the Maryland Archives. "Nor did you explain your reasoning in estimating its date as "c.1735," a date which appears to me very plausible. One year earlier Captain William Griffith, whom the signatories recommend in the text of their petition, became a lessee on two lots in "Carrollton" (Pr Geo Land Records T161, 163). That tract comprised 10,000 acres and extended on the west side of the Monocacy River from its mouth up the Potomac so as to include the lower stretch of Tuscarora Creek before it, too, empties into the Potomac. The tract then extended northerly along both sides of today's New Design Road as far as Adamstown and Buckeystown. But Griffith lived on "Black Acre," just west of Sugar Loaf Mountain near Furnace Branch very close to the present Montgomery County line, i.e. on the east side of the lower Monocacy River. Henry (Truman?) Hill among your signatories also recieved land on "Carrollton" in 1744/46. "Griffith was appointed constable for Upper Monocacy Hundred in 1735, signed a petition to divide Prince George's parish in 1742 and signed another petition in 1744 for a road to be laid out from Tuscarora Creek to Kitoctin (Catoctin) Creek. In 1748 he was altering the road leading to the ferry at the mouth of the Monocacy. ' "In 1757 when William Griffith died, his son (and signatory) Orlando Griffith continued to live on "Black Acre." In 1758 Orlando resurveyed the area, increasing its acreage to 708 acres and renaming it "Griffith's Chance." Ultimately he held 1,002 acres and land extending as far as today's Greenfield Mills. The little waterfalls in the Monocacy were known as Griffith Falls. "William Teneyhill (Taneyhill), also recommended in your petition's text, signed in 1744 a petition for a road along the Potomac from Tuscarora Creek To Catoctin Creek, a bridge across the Catoctin and a continuation of the road to Antietam Creek in today's Washington County. "Broken Island," in the Potomac opposite "Carrollton," became the property of Arthur Nelson in 1728. He also held "Nelson's Island" farther up the Potomac (1724) as well as a rather extensive parcel called "Hobson's Choice" (1725) running along the north side of the Potomac above the Tuscarora. You'll note Arthur Nelson Junior as the first to sign your petition. Just north of "Hobson Choice," John Nelson had "Sweeds Folly" surveyed in June 1734. "Gunders Delight" straddling today"s Montgomery County line right at the mouth of the Monocacy River was surveyed in March 1726 (NS) for Gunder Erickson and was later conveyed to your John Harding. "Josiah (your Joseph?) and brother Absalom Wilson in 1745 acquired "forest" near Crampton Gap just east of today's Washington County line. ... John Cramphin signed the 1742 petitions seeking creation of Frederick County and All Saints Parish. "So, with this smattering of observations, you'll see that most probably the men signing your petition were all English, had come north and west from today's Montgomery County and thus were the original settlers in Frederick County. They settled not far from the Potomac River in an area which because of their origins they would think of as "beyond" or, as your petition words it, "above" the Monocacy River's lower reaches. Still to come were the many Frederick County settlers who later populated northern and central Frederick County. These "northerners" dated from the late 1730's, thus confirming the earlier 1735 date you assign to your petition. Moves south from Frederick County to North Carolina were not uncommon. They had been begun by some of the early missionaries tramping the backwoods away from the seaboard. Your letter didn't indicate when settlement of the Bookouts in North Carolina occurred, and I confess that I am no real expert on subsequent North Carolina genealogy. Where that takes you with your quest for Joseph Bookout (the letter "J." between his two names was his mark, not a middle initial), I would be most interested in learning." --John Dern