Page:Augustine Herrman, beginner of the Virginia tobacco trade, merchant of New Amsterdam and first lord of Bohemia manor in Maryland (1941).djvu/105

 back fugitive slaves and servants he had the right to detain them until their masters paid him a fee of four hundred pounds of tobacco. Notwithstanding this somewhat generous emolument, it appears that Herrman’s task in tracking down vagrants and fugitives gave him more trouble and expense than that amount of tobacco was worth; for in 1671 we find him complaining to the General Assembly for not receiving ample fees for his official duties. However, the Maryland General Assembly did not see fit to increase the amount of the fee and Herrman refused to act longer in that capacity.

Cecil County was set apart as a separate county from Baltimore prior to the publication of Herrman’s map, as it is so named thereon. As one of the leading citizens of that county he was a justice of the peace and when Cecil County came into being he assumed the same office. In 1674 he was one of the gentlemen Justices and later Gentleman of the Quorum. From 1678 to 1680 he was commissioner for the Peace in Cecil County.

As late as 1678 the Indians were quite numerous in Cecil County. Herrman, as one of the leading men, was looked upon by the people as their natural protector from the onslaughts of the savages. In that year he was empowered by the Provincial Council to treat with the Indians by whatever means he saw fit. What means he did use to keep them quiet and peaceful we do not know, but no further trouble arose from that source until 1683 when Herrman, growing too old, could no longer use his influence to keep them pacified. In the above year he