Maryland Records Details and Resources

RECORD HIGHLIGHTS

Don’t assume you’re out of luck for census records before 1790. Maryland took a colonial census in 1776 for most counties. Unlike many other early censuses, this one lists the name, age, and race of each family member for some counties. In 1778, almost all the males 18 years and older took an oath of fidelity. This list has been published in Bettie Stirling Carothers’ Maryland Oaths of Fidelity, two vols. (B.S. Carothers, 1971). Males who did not take the oath were primarily Friends (Quakers) and others who objected on religious basis. Some records survive of adult males who did not take the oath; these have also been compiled by Bettie Stirling Carothers in 1778 Census of Maryland (B.S. Carothers, 1975).

From 1633 to 1683, the Calverts — who originally owned all of Maryland — issued headrights or land grants to encourage immigrants to settle in Maryland. A valuable resource is Gust Skordas’ Early Settlers of Maryland: An Index to Names of Immigrants Compiled from Records of Land Patents, 1633-1680 (Genealogical Publishing Co., 1968). A continuation of this work is Peter Wilson Coldham’s Settlers of Maryland, 5 vols. (Genealogical Publishing Co., 1995-1996).

Birth records in Maryland from 1898 until 1950, and those for Baltimore City from 1875 until 1941, are on microfilm at the Maryland State Archives. Death records begin in 1898 for the state and 1875 for the city of Baltimore, and go through 1982. While birth records for the last 100 years are restricted, you can write to the Maryland State Archives, 350 Rowe Boulevard, Annapolis, MD 21401. The Archives can supply:

• Copies of death records through 1978 for the state and 1942 for the City of Baltimore
• Unofficial transcripts of genealogical information from birth and death records that are restricted
• Copies of restricted birth and death records to individuals who are entitled to them

Marriage records from 1914 to 1950 are also at the archives. Records from the late 1700s through 1919 may be found at the county court clerks’ offices, but the state archives may have what you need. The Family History Library has marriages from the 1850s on microfilm, though it does not have the indexes.

Divorces were not granted before the American Revolution, and after, that they were granted only by the state legislature until 1842. Divorce records can be found at the circuit court in the county where the divorce was granted, or they may be in the state archives.

MAPS

• Atlas of Maryland edited by Derek Thompson (University of Maryland, 1977)
• The Counties of Maryland and Baltimore City from the Maryland State Planning Department (Staff Planning Commission, 1968)
• A Gazetteer of Maryland and Delaware by Henry Gannett (Clearfield Co., 1994)
• Gazetteer of the State of Maryland by Richard Swainson Fisher (J.H. Colton, 1852)
• The Hammond-Harwood House Atlas of Historical Maps of Maryland, 1608-1908 by Edward C. Pappenfuse and Joseph M. Coale (John Hopkins University Press, 1982)
• Historical Atlas and Chronology of County Boundaries, 1788-1980 edited by John H. Long (G.K. Hall, 1984)
• An Illustrated Genealogy of the Counties of Maryland and the District of Columbia as a Guide to Locating Records by Mary R. Brown (French Bray Printing, 1967)
• Maryland A to Z: A Topographical Dictionary by Marion J. Kaminkow (Magna Carta Book Co., 1985)
• Maryland-Delaware Atlas & Gazetteer (DeLorme Mapping, 1993)
• Place Names of the Eastern Shore of Maryland by J. Kenneth Keatley (Queen Anne Press, 1987)
• The Place Names of Maryland: Their Origin and Meaning by Hamill Kenny (Maryland Historical Society)
• The Postal History of Maryland, the Delmarva Peninsula and the District of Columbia: The Post Offices and First Postmasters from 1775 To 1984 by Chester M. Smith (The Depot, 1984)
• Topographic Maps of the United States from the US Geological Survey (National Archives, 1976)

CENSUS RECORDS

• 1776 Census of Maryland compiled by Bettie Stirling Carothers (Family Line Publications, 1989)
• 1778 Census of Maryland by Bettie Stirling Carothers (B.S. Carothers, 1975)

IMMIGRATION RECORDS

• Citizens of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, 1659-1750 by F. Edward Wright (Family Line Publications, 1986)
• Colonial Maryland Naturalizations by Jeffrey A. Wyand and Florence L. Wyand (Genealogical Publishing Co., 1986)
• Copies of Lists of Passengers Arriving at Miscellaneous Ports on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts and at Ports on the Great Lakes, 1820-1873 from the US Bureau of Customs (National Archives, 1964)
• A Guide to the Acadians in Maryland in the 18th and 19th Centuries by Gregory A. Wood (Maryland Acadian Studies, 1995)
• Index (Soundex) to Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving At Baltimore, 1897-1952 from the US Bureau of Customs (National Archives, 1956)
• Indexes to Naturalization Petitions to the US Circuit and District Courts for Maryland: 1797-1951 from the US Circuit Court (National Archives, 1982)
• The King’s Passengers To Maryland And Virginia by Peter Wilson Coldham (Family Line, 1997)
• Maryland in Africa: The Maryland State Colonization Society, 1831-1857 by Penelope Campbell (University of Illinois Press, 1971)
• Maryland Naturalization Abstracts, Vol., 2. by Robert A. Oszakiewski (Family Line Publications, 1996)
• Marylanders to Carolina: Migrations of Marylanders to North and South Carolina Prior to 1800 by Henry C. Peden (Family Line Publications, 1994)
• Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving At Baltimore, 1820-1921; Quarterly Abstracts of Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving At Baltimore, 1820-1869 from the US Bureau of Customs (National Archives, 1956, 1959, 1969)

LAND RECORDS

• The Early Settlers of Maryland by Gust Skordas (Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1995)
• Land Office and Prerogative Court Records of Colonial Maryland by Elisabeth Hartsook and Gust Skordas (Clearfield Co., 1968, 1996
• Land Records at the Maryland State Archives (Maryland State Archives, 2002)
• Patents Series: of the Maryland Land Office from the Hall of Records, Annapolis, Maryland (filmed by the Family History Library, 1947)
• Old Manors in the Colony of Maryland, 2 vols., by Annie Middleton Sioussat (Allen County Public Library, ca. 1980)
• Settlers of Maryland, 1679-1783, 5 vols., by Peter Wilson Coldham (Genealogical Publishing Co., 1995-1996)

MILITARY RECORDS

• The British Invasion of Maryland: 1812-1815 by William M. Marine (Genealogical Publishing Co., 1977)
• Colonial Soldiers of the South, 1732-1774 by Murtie June Clark (Genealogical Publishing Co., 1983)
• Colored Volunteers of Maryland Civil War, 7th Regiment, United States Colored Troops, 1863-1866 by Agnes Kane Callum (Mullac Publishers, 1990)
• Compendium of the Confederate Armies: Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, the Confederate Units and the Indian Units, 10 vols., by Stewart Sifakis (Facts on File, ca. 1992-1995)
• Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Maryland from the US Record and Pension Office (National Archives, 1960)
• Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Maryland from the US Record and Pension Office (National Archives, 1962)
• Dartmoor Prison by Thomas V. and Joanne M. Huntsberry (J. Mart Publishers, 1984)
• German Regiment of Maryland and Pennsylvania by Henry J. Retzler (Family Line Publications, 1996)
• History and Roster of Maryland Volunteers, War of 1861-5 by L. Allison Wilmer (Family Line Publications, 1987)
• Index to Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Maryland from the US Adjutant General’s Office (National Archives, 1962)
• A List of Invalid Pensioners from the Maryland Treasurer’s Office (J. Hughes, Printer, 1822)
• Loyalists in the Southern Campaign of the Revolutionary War by Murtie June Clark (Genealogical Publishing Co., 1981)
• Maryland in the Civil War, 2 vols., by Thomas V. and Joanne M. Huntsberry (J. Mart Publishers, 1985)
• Maryland and District of Columbia Volunteers in the Mexican War by Charles J. Wells (Family Line Publications, 1991)
• The Maryland Line in the Confederate Army, 1861-1865 by William W. Goldborough (Olde Soldier Books, 1987)
• The Maryland Militia in the Revolutionary War by S. Eugene Clements (Family Line Publications, 1987)
• Maryland Militia, War of 1812, 8 vols. by F. Edward Wright (Family Line Publications, 1979-92)
• Maryland Muster Rolls, Fort Cumberland, 1757-58 (filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1949)
• Maryland Revolutionary Records by Harry Wright Newmand (Genealogical Publishing Co., 1993)
• Maryland Revolutionary War Pensions, Revolutionary, 1812, and Indian Wars by Lucy K. McGhee (Library of Congress Photoduplication Service, 1987)
• Maryland in the World War I, 1917-19. Military and Naval Service Records, 2 vols., (Maryland War Records Commission, 1933)
• Maryland, World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 from the US Selective Service System (National Archives, 1987-1988)
• Marylanders in the Confederacy by Daniel D. Hrtzler (Family Line Publications, 1986)
• Marylanders Who Served the Nation by Gerson G. Eisenberg (Maryland State Archives Publications, 1992)
• Muster Rolls and Other Records of Service of Maryland Troops in the American Revolution, 1775-1783 from the Maryland Historical Society (Genealogical Publishing Co., 1972)
• Revolutionary Records of Maryland by Gaius Marcus Brumbaugh (Clearfield Co., 1996)
• Roster of the Soldiers and Sailors Who Served in Organizations from Maryland During the Spanish-American War (Family Line Publications, 1990)
• A Short History of the Maryland Line in the Continental Army by John Dwight Kilbourne (Society of the Cincinnati of Maryland, 1992)
• Westward of Fort Cumberland Military Lots Set Off for Maryland’s Revolutionary Soldiers by Mary K. Meyer (Pipe Creek Publication, 1993)

PROBATE RECORDS

• Abstracts of Chancery Court Records of Maryland, 1669-1782 by Debbie Hooper (Family Line Publications, 1996)
• Abstracts of the Inventories and Accounts of the Prerogative Court of Maryland by Vernon L. Skinner (Family Line Publications, 1988-91)
• The County Courthouses and Records of Maryland, Part Two: The Records by Morris Leon Radoff, et al. (Hall of Records Commission, 1963)
• Courts of Admiralty in Colonial America: The Maryland Experience, 1634-1776 by David R. Owen and Michael C. Tolley (Maryland Historical Society)
• First Laws of the State of Maryland (Scholarly Resources, 1787, 1981)
• Index To Chancery Notes, Chancery Dispositions And Testamentary Proceedings by William F. Cregar, from the Maryland Historical Society (filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1949)
• Index to Inventories of Estates, 1718-1777 (Hall of Records Commission, 1947)
• Index to Wills of the Colonial Period, Books 1-41, 1634-1777 by Jane Baldwin Cotton (Hall of Records Commission, 1947)
• Judgements and Decrees from the Maryland Court of Appeals (Hall of Records Commission, 1947)
• Judicial and Testamentary Business of the Provincial Court: 1637-1683 from the Maryland Provincial Court (Maryland Historical Society, 1887-1964)
• The Maryland Calendar of Wills, 16 vols., by Jane Baldwin Cotton (Family Line Publications, 1988)
• Maryland Calendar of Wills: From 1744-1779, 8 vols., by F. Edward. Wright (Family Line Publications, 1988)
• Maryland Probate Records by Jane Baldwin Cotton (Broderbund, 1998. CD-ROM)
• Orderly Book of the “Maryland Loyalists Regiment,” June 18, 1778 to October 12, 1778 compiled by Caleb Jones (Clearfield Co., 1891, 1996)
• Provincial Court Judgements from the Maryland Provincial Court (Hall of Records Commission, 1947)

VITAL RECORDS

• Cemetery Records, 1853-1986 from the Loudon Park Cemetery, Baltimore (filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1986)
• Directory of Maryland Burial Grounds (Family Line Publications, 1996)
• Divorces And Names Changes In Maryland: By Act Of The Legislature, 1634-1867 by Mark K. Meyer (Pipe Creek Pub., 1991)
• Historic Graves of Maryland and the District of Columbia: With Inscriptions Appearing on the Tombstones in Most of the Counties of the State and in Washington and Georgetown edited by Helen West Ridgely (Genealogical Publishing Co., 1967)
• An Illustrated Genealogy of the Counties of Maryland and the District of Columbia as a Guide to Locating Records by Mary Ross Brown (French-Bray Printing Co., 1967)
• Marriages and Deaths from the Maryland Gazette, 1727-1839 by Robert W. Barnes (Genealogical Publishing Co., 1973)
• Maryland Eastern Shore Vital Records: 1648-1825, 5 vols., by F. Edward Wright (Family Line Publications, 1986)
• Maryland Genealogies And Marriages, 1634-1820 (Genealogical Publishing Co., ca. 1998)
• Maryland Marriage Records, 23 vols., by Annie W.B. Bell (Annie W.B. Bell, 1938-39)
• Maryland Records of Deaths, 1718-1777 by Annie W.B. Bell (Annie W.B. Bell, 1936)
• Names in Stone: 75,000 Cemetery Inscriptions from Frederick County, Maryland, 2 vols., by Jacob Mehrling Holdcraft (Genealogical Publishing Co., 1985)
• Vital and Probate Records at the Maryland State Archives (Maryland State Archives, 2002)

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From the Family Tree Sourcebook
Also available: the State Research Guide Book, State Research Guides CD and The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy.