Abstracts from Port Tobacco Times and Charles County Advertiser

In 1898, The Port Tobacco Times and Charles County Advertiser merged with the La Plata Crescent, providing county democrats with a steady and vigorous expression of their business and social views and tendencies for another 93 years. This volume of abstracts, the last in a series, takes the original Times newspaper up to the date of its consolidation with the Crescent. The merging of the two weeklies found many Charles County people still reeling and bitter over the outcome of the courthouse removal controversy. In 1896 the new courthouse in La Plata went into active service while the old one in Port Tobacco was marked only by piles of rubble, hidden by overgrowth and undergrowth. The Baltimore and Potomac Railroad remained a prime mover of goods and services until well after World War I, remaining pivotal in the lives of most Charles County people. Strong, heartfelt feelings about the relocation of the county seat would last until the Great Depression. In addition to colorful local history, the chronological abstracts in this volume offer an abundance of genealogical material concerning births, marriages, deaths, property sales, election results, probates of wills and a few sensational court cases.