BIOGRAPHIES FROM: HISTORY OF HARFORD COUNTY, MARYLAND FROM 1608 (The YEAR of SMITH's EXPEDITION) TO THE CLOSE OF THE WAR OF 1812 BY WALTER W. PRESTON, A. M. BEL AIR, MARYLAND 1901 Press of Sun Book Office Baltimore, Md. < BACK TO BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX > A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z WILLIAM PACA, the second son of John Paca, was born near Abingdon, in what is now Harford county, Oct. 31, 1740.  He was educated at the College of Philadelphia, where he graduated June 8, 1759, and on Jan. 14, 1762, he was admitted as a student of law at the Middle Temple, London.  After completing his studies there he entered the office of Stephen Bordley, and on Apr. 11, 1764, he commenced the practice of  his profession at Annapolis.  He, however, retained his connection with his native county, and represented Harford in the State Convention of 1788, which ratified the constitution of the United States.  His colleagues from Harford in that convention were Luther Martin, William Pinkney and John Love.  In 1771 he was elected a member of the provincial Legislature, and was election to the first and second Continental Congresses.  He was a signer of the Declaration of Independence July 4, 1776.  On the adoption of the first State constitution he was made a Senator for two years.  In 1778 he was appointed chief judge of the first State constitution he was made a Senator for two years.  In 1778 he was appointed chief judge of the Superior Court of Maryland, which office he held until 1780, when he became chief judge of the Court of Appeals in prize and admiralty cases.  In 1782 he was elected Governor of Maryland.  In 1786 he was appointed judge of the United States Court for Maryland, which position he held at the time of his death, in 1799.  He married a daughter of Samuel Chew as his first wife.  His second wife was Anna Harrison, of Philadelphia.  His portrait hangs over the judge's seat in the courtroom at Bel Air, and he and Governor Augustus W. Bradford were, in point of public service, the most distinguished men ever born in Harford. Source: History of Harford Co., Maryland - by Walter W. Preston, A. M. Bel Air, Maryland - 1901 - Page 198