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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 Annapolis, Maryland’s colonial capital. 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 just completed the eighteenth volume in a series based upon this important source for Maryland genealogists, entitled Abstracts of the Testamentary Proceedings of the Prerogative Court of Maryland. In compiling the series, Mr. Skinner has worked primarily from microfilm copies of the Prerogative Court records; however, he has also traveled to the Maryland State Archives to work directly with the original manuscripts in order to resolve problems associated with 18th-century handwriting or limitations of the microfilming process.

The series is arranged, volume by volume, chronologically by court session. Volume XVIII consists of abstracts of the records for the period 1727-30, as found in the remainder of Liber 28 and the first 64 pages of Liber 29. In all, the latest book in this remarkable series refers to an additional 8,500 inhabitants of the Province of Maryland in the years just prior to 1730. For the most part, the transcriptions state the names of the principals (testators, heirs, witnesses, administrators, and so forth) as well as details of bequests, names of slaves, appraisers, and more.

Following is a representative abstract from Volume XVIII:

“Robert Tyler (sheriff, PG) to render attachment to William Williams one of heirs of Peter Cox & his wife (PG) to take LoA. Said Williams exhibited a letter from Henry Cox, son of said Peter, stating that said Williams is not the proper heir, & that said Peter left no estate.”

See also the other volumes in this series:
Volume I: 1658-1674
Volume II: 1670-1674
Volume III: 1675–1677 and 1703–1704
Volume IV: 1677-1682 and 1702-1704
Volume V: 1682-1686
Volume VI: 1686-1689 and 1692-1693
Volume VII: 1693-1697
Volume VIII: 1697-1700
Volume IX: 1700-1703
Volume X: 1704–1707
Volume XI: 1703-1704 and 1708-1709
Volume XII: 1709-1712
Volume XIII 1712-1716
Volume XIV: 1716-1719
Volume XV: 1719-1721
Volume XVI: 1721-1724
Volume XVII: 1724-1727
Volume XIX: 1730-1734
Volume XX: 1734-1736
Volume XXI: 1736-1739