[10] Stafford County Order Book, 1689-1694 (MS bound with order book for 1664-1688, but paginated separately), pp. 175, 177, 180, 189.
[11] "Mills," _VHM_ (Richmond, 1903), vol. 10, pp. 147-148.
[12] John Mercer's Land Book (MS., Virginia State Library).
[13] _JHB, 1742-1747; 1748-1749_ (Richmond, 1909), pp. 285-286.
[14] Stafford County Order Book, 1689-1694, pp. 184, 357.
[15] HENING, op. cit. (footnote 1), vol. 3, pp. 108-109.
THE ACT FOR PORTS OF 1705 AND THE NAMING OF MARLBOROUGH
Nevertheless, the town idea was hard to kill. In 1705 Stafford's port town, along with those in the other counties, was given a new lease on life when still another Act for Ports, introduced by Robert Beverley, was passed. This Act repeated in substance the provisions of its immediate forerunner, but provided in addition extravagant inducements to settlement. Those who inhabited the towns were exempted from three-quarters of the customs duties paid by others; they were freed of poll taxes for 15 years; they were relieved from military mustering outside the towns and from marching outside, excepting the "exigency" of war (and then only for a distance of no more than 50 miles). Goods and "dead provision" were not to be sold outside within a 5-mile radius, and ordinaries (other than those within the towns) were not permitted closer than 10 miles to the towns' boundaries, except at courthouses and ferry landings. Each town was to be a free "burgh," and, when it had grown to 30 families "besides ordinary keepers," "eight principal inhabitants" were to be chosen by vote of the "freeholders and inhabitants of the town of twenty-one years of age and upwards, not being servants or apprentices," to be called "benchers of the guild-hall." These eight "benchers" would govern the town for life or until removal, selecting a "director" from among themselves. When 60 families had settled, "brethren assistants of the guild hall" were to be elected similarly to serve as a common council. Each town was to have two market days a week and an annual five-day fair. The towns listed under the Act were virtually the same as before, but this time each was given an official name, the hitherto anonymous town for Stafford being called Marlborough in honor of the hero of the recent victory at Blenheim.[16]