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Kent County Delaware ~ Levy Court ~ Treasures

Levy Court Commissioners

The act establishing Levy Courts was passed in 1736 under George II. Section 3 provided that the justices of the peace of the respective counties shall meet yearly for the laying of levies together with eight grand jurymen, and the assessors or the majority of them shall meet at the court-house within the county and settle the public debts and charges of the county, and adjust the sums of money to be raised to defray the expenses of building and repairing court-houses, prisons and work-houses, for destroying wolves, crows and black-birds, with such other uses as may redound to the public service and with power to make good deficiencies and to collect and enforce collections.

In 1757 a supplement to this act was passed, authorizing the Levy Court to appoint county treasurers, and on the 14th of June, 1793, the act was amended, which provided that the Levy Court and Court of Appeals should be composed of commissioners to be elected by the people. Nine were to be elected for Kent County, two from each hundred of Duck Creek and Mispillion, and one for each of the other hundreds, Little Creek and St. Jones.

An amendment February 9, 1796, provided that every freeman over twenty-one years of age shall be rated, in addition to his amount of other tax.

An amendment January 19, 1797, authorizes the court to raise money to maintain the poor and build poor-houses, for laying out and repairing, amending and erecting bridges, causeways and public roads.

The Levy Court records of Kent County are not to be found in continuous record until 1851. A few of the members are here given:

John Marim, 1798
John Pleasanton, 1708
John Stewart, 1798
Nimrod Maxwell, 1798
Major Anderson, 1798
Jonathan Hunn 1798
Caleb Sipple 1798
Benjamin Burrows 1798

 The following list is from the Levy Court records. The members in office in 1851 were as follows:

John Bell, 1851
William Collins, 1851
James Knight, 1851
Samuel McGonigal, 1851
Daniel George, 1851
James Longfellow, 1851
John Hopkins, 1851
John Thompson, 1851
John Reynolds, 1851

From this date the names of the members elected every two years are given.

Henry Pratt, 1853
Philemon O. Carter, 1853
Thomas H. McIlvaine, 1853
Wm. H. Powell, 1863
John B. Bell, 1856
John Eaton, 1855
Andrew N. Harper, 1865
Chas. M. Wharton, 1866
Clement L. Sharp, 1865
John C. Pennewill, 1867
Ambrose Broadaway, 1857
William O. Brown, 1857
Llewellyn Tharp, 1857
John M. Voshell, 1859
Thomas H. Denny, 1859
John Slay, 1859
S. M. Collins, 1859
Robert Hill, 1861
Thomas Pestles, 1861
Wm. Slay, 1861
Robert W. Reynolds, 1861
John Booth, 1861
Stephen M. Collins, 1863
Henry Pratt, 1863
Wm. Duhamel, 1863
John M. Voshell, 1863
David S. Wilds, 1865
Wm. Duhamel, 1865
James D. Kimmey, 1865
Richaball Allaband, 1866
Samuel D. Roe, 1865
Thomas Dorman, 1865
Presley Spruance, 1867
John W. Fennimore, 1867
James Virdin, 1867
John S. Herrington, 1867
J. Frank Denney, 1869
James G. Waples, 1869
Wm. Goodin, 1869
Edmund Bailey, 1869
Robert H. Smith, 1869
David Reese, 1871
Wm. H. Hobson, 1871
James Williams, 1871
John S. Herrington, 1871
Charles H. Register, 1873
Wm. G. Postles, 1873
George H. Gildersleeve, 1873
James K. Burnside, 1873
Wm. L. Morten, 1873
Nathaniel H. Griffin, 1876
Henry M. How, 1875
Philemon Scotten, 1875
James A. Marlin, 1875
Joseph Moore, 1877
Ezekiel C. Frazier, 1877
John Harrington, 1877
Zebulon Hopkins, 1877
Charles H. Register, 1877
Peter E. Lowber, 1879
Daniel V. Hutchins, 1879
Silas T. Jenkins, 1879
David S. Wilds, 1879
John Farrell, 1881
George W. Collins, 1881
Joseph S. Burchenal, 1881
John P. Curtis, 1881
Peter K. Meredith, 1881
D. M. Clouds, 1883
B. C. Cubbage, 1883
J. W. Kirby, 1883
D. S. Wilds, 1883
John Farrell, 1885
Wm. Fisher, 1885
Peter K. Meredith, 1885
Charles C. Case, 1886
Jacob S. Graham, 1886
Thomas A. Rees, 1887
David M. Clouds, 1887
Hezekiah Masten, 1887
Charles C. Case, 1887

Treasurers

John David, Feb., 1744
Wm. Betts
Charles Ridgely, 1769-79
Benj. Vining. 1774
Wm. Jordan, 1780
John Baning, 1784
Joseph Taylor 1788
Ebenezer Blackiston, 1797-1800
Gideon Cullen, 1809
Wm. Keith 1863
George M. Manlove, 1856
Wm. Satterfield, 1867
Wm. Satterfield, 1869
Henry Whitaker, 1861
Martin Harrington, 1863
Whitely W. Meredith, 1866
A. J. Wilson. 1867
John M. Voshell, 1869
Robert Wilson, 1871
Wm. C. Brown, 1873
Thomas H. Dorman, 1875
Wm B. Hall, 1877
Benj. C. Cubbage, 1879
David Rees, 1881
James R. Powell, 1883
Eben Hughes, 1886
Wm. R. Dickson, 1887

Kent County

Source: History of Delaware, 1609-1888, Volume I, by J. Thomas Scharf, L. J. Richards & Company, Philadelphia, 1888.

 
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