History:  Act to Create Newport Town, Worcester County, Maryland

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Act to Create Newport Town

Transcribed from the Archives of Maryland.

An Act granting a further Time for surveying and laying out a-new a Town in Worcester 
County, called Newport Town, and confirming the Privileges granted by the former Act to 
the said Town.

Whereas it is represented to this General Assembly, that in Pursuance to the Directions 
and Authority given in an Act made at a Session
of Assembly, begun and held at the City of Annapolis the First Day of May, Anno Domini, 
Seventeen hundred and forty four, entitled, An Act to 
enable Commissioners therein named to lay out forty Acres of Land into eighty Lots for a 
Town on Indian River in Worcester County: As also forty Acres of Land into eighty Lots 
at the Head of Asseteague Creek, at a Place commonly called the Trap[,] for a Town; the 
Commissioners therein named, or the major Part of them, together with the Surveyor of 
Worcester County, did proceed and actually lay out forty Acres of Land at the Head of 
Asseteague Creek, at the Place in the Act mentioned, by the Name of Newport Town; but 
that the Surveyor of the said County upon performing his Part of Duty as required and 
directed by the said Act, refused to stake out and distinguish the several and respective 
Lots in the said Town, or to pay and satisfy the Chain Carriers for their Service. And 
whereas it is further represented to this General Assembly, that an Act passed at a Session 
of Assembly, begun
and held at the City of Annapolis the Fifth Day of August, Anno Domini,
Seventeen hundred and forty five, entituled, A supplementary Act to the 
Act entituled, An Act to enable Commissioners to lay out forty Acres of 
Land into eighty Lots for a Town on Indian River in Worcester County; as also forty 
Acres of Land into eighty Lots at the Head of Asseteague Creek at a Place commonly 
called the Trap for a Town; whereby the Surveyor of Worcester County, for the Time 
being, was authorized, impowered and obliged to lay out, stake, mark and number every 
Lot distinctly in the Town called Newport Town in the County aforesaid, as well as bound 
the Streets, Lanes and Alleys. And that the said Surveyor should pay out of the Sum 
allowed him by the former Law for laying out the said Town, the several and respective 
Chain-Carriers, that had been or should be employed, and further provided that the several 
Matters and Things to be done by Virtue of the said Supplementary Act should be finished 
and compleated on or before the First Day of May, which should be in the Year Seventeen 
hundred forty six; but that by sundry Delays, occasioned by Sickness of the 
Commissioners and other Unavoidable Accidents, the Time elapsed before any thing could 
be done in Pursuance of the said Act, by means whereof the Bounds of the said Town and 
Lots are still uncertain. For Remedy whereof,

Be it Enacted by the Right Honourable the Lord Proprietary, by and with the Advice and 
Consent of his Lordship's Governor, and the Upper and
Lower Houses of Assembly, and the Authority of the same, That 

Master Samuel Hopkins,
John Newble,
John Evans,
Charles Ratcliff,
Edward Franklin,
Ebenezer Evans and
John Fossett,

or the major Part of them, be and are hereby appointed Commissioners, and are, by Virtue 
of this Act, authorized and impowered, together with the Surveyor of the said County of 
Worcester for the Time being, or any 
other Person skilled in surveying, to lay out a-new the said Town called Newport Town, 
in such Manner as to them the said Commissioners, or the major Part of them, shall seem 
meet; and that they the said Commissioners, or the major Part of them, shall be and are by 
Virtue of this Act invested with the same Powers and Authorities in laying out the said 
Newport Town a-new, to all Intents, Constructions and Purposes whatsoever, as the 
Commissioners were by the former Law invested.

And be it further Enacted, That the Surveyor who shall by the said
Commissioners, or the major Part of them, so as aforesaid be employed in laying out the 
said Town, shall be and he is hereby obliged to lay out, stake, mark, and number every Lot 
distinctly in the said Newport Town, when the same shall be laid out a-new by the 
Commissioners aforesaid, as well as bound the Streets, Lanes and Alleys in the said Town.

And be it further Enacted, That all the Privileges, Advantages and
Securities given by the afore-mentioned recited Acts to the said 
Newport Town, shall remain and be, to all Intents and Purposes, as fully, clearly and 
absolutely held and enjoyed by the Inhabitants of the said Town, or Owner or Owners of 
Lots therein, as if the same had been laid out at first, or by Virtue of either of the aforesaid 
Acts.

Provided always, That the several Matters and Things to be done by
Virtue of this Act, be finished and compleated at some Time on or before the First Day of 
May, which shall be in the Year of our Lord God, One thousand seven hundred and forty 
nine.

June 7th 1748
Read and Assented to by the Lower House of Assembly
Signed 'p Order M. Macnemara Ct lo. ho.
June 7th 1748
Read & Assented to by the Upper House of Assembly
Signed 'p Order J Ross Ct Up. Ho.
On behalf of the Right Honourable the Lord Proprietary of this Province I will this be a 
Law.
Sam: Ogle
the Great Seal in wax appendant