History

Baldwin F. Williams

collector of corporation taxes, Ocean City · active 1893

Ocean City's tax collector, named on every corporation tax-sale notice published in the Snow Hill Democratic Messenger through 1893. He levied on and sold town lots to satisfy taxes owed to the Board of Commissioners of Ocean City for the years 1887 through 1892, and a Worcester County Circuit Court order nisi of August 17, 1893 ratified the sale of Lot No. 129. — 1892 FULL PASS, 2026-08-11: Corroborated in detail and pushed back a year. The Circuit Court order nisi of 10 May 1892, published three weeks in the Democratic Messenger, describes him as 'collector of corporation taxes for the town of Ocean City... for the years 1887, 1888, 1889 and 1890', selling lot No. 119 'on the plat of said Ocean City', assessed to George W. Mallen, 'to pay the taxes levied upon said parcel of land... by the commissioners of said Ocean City'. The sale was ratified and the lot conveyed to Cornelius Coffin for $28.00 in November 1892. So the town's tax machinery is documented from the 1887 levy, not only from 1893. — 1897 FULL PASS, 2026-08-11: A second, federal appearance that may be the same man and would be a striking one if it is. The Official Register of the United States for 1 July 1897 lists a 'Baldwin F. Williams', Maryland-born and appointed from Worcester County, as a SURFMAN at the Ocean City life-saving station at $60 a month, first name in the station's block. This record is presently Ocean City's collector of corporation taxes, levying on and selling town lots through 1893. Same distinctive name, same small town, four years apart. Do not merge without a census or payroll check - but if it is one man, the town's tax collector went on the beach patrol, which is the same pattern as Albert C. Carey the councilman and surfman.

In the record (2)

  1. 1892 · 1892-05-10

    A tax-sale notice proves Ocean City had been levying and collecting corporation taxes since 1887 — five years the town's own record had gone silent.

    An order nisi of the Circuit Court for Worcester County, dated May 10, 1892 and published for three weeks in the Democratic Messenger, recites the machinery of a municipal government the campaign had been unable to see: "WHEREAS Baldwin F. Williams, collector of corporation taxes for the town of Ocean City, in Worcester Co., in the State of Maryland, for the years 1887, 1888, 1889 and 1890, did make sale of all that lot and parcel of land lying and being situate at said Ocean City which is described as Lot No. 119 on the plat of said Ocean City... being the same lot of land which is assessed to George W. Mallen on the tax books of said Ocean City to pay the taxes levied upon said parcel of land for the years 1887, 1888, 1889 and 1890 by the commissioners of said Ocean City." The sale was ratified, and on the November 19 deed list the lot changed hands: "Cornelius Coffin from Baldwin F. Williams, collector, lot No. 119 at Ocean City. $28.00." The county levy for 1892 also carried an allowance to D. C. Hudson for "assessing prop[erty] in Ocean City." So there were commissioners, tax books, an assessor and a collector at Ocean City through the whole of the period the newspapers otherwise pass over in silence.

    The Commissioners of Ocean City

    Source · checked 2026-08-11

  2. 1893

    The town sells lots at auction for six years of unpaid corporation taxes, and the notices name Ocean City's tax collector and its Board of Commissioners.

    Through the first half of 1893 the Democratic Messenger carried, week after week, collector's sale notices signed "BALDWIN F. WILLIAMS, Collector of Corporation Taxes for Ocean City." The first ran from March 4 against Lot No. 129, seized for taxes owed "to the Board of Commissioners of said Ocean City" for the years 1887, 1888, 1889, 1890, 1891 and 1892 — six consecutive years unpaid. The lot is described as being "on the North Corner of Caroline Street and Philadelphia Avenue, and is described as Lot No. 129 on the plat of said Ocean City filed among the land records of said Worcester County with the deed from Stephen Taber and wife to Hilary B. Pitts, B. Jones Taylor and George W. Purnell as Trustees" — the founders' 1876 purchase, still the town's root of title. A Circuit Court order nisi of August 17, 1893 ratifying the sale records the lot as assessed to Edward W. LeCompte "(and alleged to be the property of the heirs of James A. Stewart, deceased)" at Liber I.T.M. No. 4, folio 538. A second round of notices ran from April 29 against Lots 81 and 194 for 1890–1892 taxes, sold on the premises May 27, and a third against Lot 183, assessed to Manners, Fisher & Co., sold July 22.

    The Commissioners of Ocean CityGeorge W. PurnellDr. Hilary R. PittsB. Jones TaylorStephen Taber

    Source · checked 2026-08-06