Infornation on wills follows: Historical Background During Maryland's colonial period, the settlement of the estates of deceased persons was under the jurisdiction a central probate court called the Prerogative Court. The presiding officer of the court was known as the Commissary General. He appointed a deputy commissary in each county to handle the routine details in settling estates. The first Maryland constitution and the Generally Assembly of 1777 provided for a Register of Wills and an Orphans' Court for each county and abolished the Prerogative Court. Probate business thereafter, a county function, and it has remained so until this day. General Information When a person dies, that person's estate becomes the subject of a series of governmental procedures. The documents of the proceedings are known collectively as the probate records. Basic records of the orphans' court may include, in addition to the will, inventories (lists of debts and inventories of personal property and real estate), distributions (records showing how the estate was distributed), indentures, guardian bonds, and more. Obtaining Probate Records The Maryland State Archives has the probate records for Cecil County from the date the County was established to 1850. Click here, to connect with an inventory of Register of Wills materials at the archives. Starting with 1851, the original records are located in the Register of Wills office at the Cecil County Courthouse. To have the Cecil County Register of Wills' office to check its records, you should direct written correspondence to R. Sandra Tamargo, Register of Wills, Room 307, Cecil County Courthouse, Elkton, MD. 21921. When requesting a document from the office, be sure to include the name and year of death and indicate what files you are looking for (the entire file, the will, disbursements, etc.) The Register's office charges fifty cents a page for photocopying documents. They will bill for their services. If you need assistance to determine what documents you want from a file, you may phone them at 410.996.5330 ----- Original Message ----- From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Sent: Thursday, February 27, 2003 4:01 PM Subject: [MDCECIL] Wills Courthouse I am new to this list. Can anyone give me the address for the Cecil County Courthouse. Does anyone know what they charge to make a copy of a will . Do they still have the wills for the 1790's.