Washington DC City Guide

Between 1776 and 1800, Congress met in temporary locations in New York City and Philadelphia. When it came time to pick a permanent US capital, however, the Northern and Southern states couldn’t agree. So who ultimately chose the location for our nation’s capital, Washington, DC?

George Washington, of course. In 1791, Maryland and Virginia donated 100 square miles straddling the Potomac. Nov. 21, 1800, almost a year after Washington’s death, Congress met in the new capital for the first time. Today, the Washington, DC, metro area extends far beyond the original territory, and the local economy revolves around the federal government and tourism. Home to major repositories such as the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the Library of Congress (LOC) and the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Library, DC is a genealogist’s dream—and one of the nation’s roots research capitals.

Diamond in the rough

To create the District of Columbia (then called the Territory of Columbia), Maryland ceded to the federal government parts of Montgomery County (including Georgetown) and Prince George’s County, and Virginia gave up part of Fairfax County plus the town of Alexandria. The territory was then divided into two counties: Washington County east of the Potomac and Alexandria County west of the Potomac. The city of Washington was incorporated in 1802.

In 1846, Alexandria County went back to Virginia. Alexandria city resumed its independent existence (not tied to a county) in 1870, and the rest of Alexandria County became Arlington County in 1920. On a modern map, the District of Columbia resembles a diamond with a bite taken out of it. The “bite” is Arlington County and part of Alexandria.
Records of early DC settlers might be in Maryland or Virginia. Virginia kept custody of Alexandria’s records, and until the late 1800s, Georgetown’s deeds and wills were registered in Montgomery County, Md. In 1871, the city of Washington annexed Georgetown, and Washington and the District of Columbia became coterminous. Today, residents generally say “Washington” when referring to the metropolitan area, and call the city “DC” or “the District.”

District championship

In 1663, English settlers received the first land grants in what’s now the District of Columbia (at the time, Charles County, Md.). In 1751, Scottish immigrants founded Georgetown, which flourished as a tobacco port, thanks in large part to the black slaves who labored there.

Georgetown was the District’s port of entry, but most passenger ships landed in Baltimore or Philadelphia. Arrivals were mostly people from throughout the country who moved to Washington to work for the government.
In the 1860s, DC’s population more than doubled. Runaway and abandoned slaves flooded the capital after slavery was abolished there; after the Civil War, African-Americans made up a third of the city’s population.

Use these records to track your Washington, DC, kin:

Remember that in 1790, anyone living east of the Potomac in what’s now DC, would’ve been a Maryland resident. Check the schedules for Prince George’s and Montgomery counties. The 1790 Virginia census, which covered the area west of the Potomac, is missing.

Vital records: Districtwide registration of births and deaths began in 1874; marriage records date to 1811. To order copies of birth and death certificates, contact the Vital Records Division of the Department of Health. You’ll need to contact the Marriage Bureau Section of the Superior Court of DC for marriage records. Note that birth records become public 100 years after the birth occurred; and death records, 50 years after the death. Only immediate family members can obtain these records in the interim.

Some vital records are indexed on FamilySearch.org. The FHL has microfilm copies of some birth (1874 to 1897) and death (1855 to 1965) records, plus DAR transcriptions of marriage records from 1811 to 1858. It also has cemetery records from 1847 to 1938, and marriage and death notices that appeared in the area’s first major newspaper, the Daily National Intelligencer, between 1806 and 1858.

Court records: The majority of the District’s court records reside at the Washington National Records Center in Suitland, Md.; the FHL has some microfilm copies.

Land records: Contact the recorder of deeds for land records. The FHL has microfilm copies covering 1792 to 1886 and a grantor/grantee index for 1792 to 1919. The FHL also has copies of deeds for Alexandria County (1783 to 1865; indexed 1793 to 1870), as well as Prince George’s County (1696 to 1851; indexed 1696 to 1884) and Montgomery County (1773 to 1868; indexed 1773 to 1933). Remember, Georgetown wills and deeds were registered in Montgomery County until the late 1800s.

For historical maps, look to NARA, LOC, the District of Columbia Public Library (DCPL) and the Historical Society of Washington, DC.

Capital stops

Washington, DC, is a must-visit for any roots researcher, especially someone with ties to the capital city. Here’s a look at some of the major repositories:

• DAR Library: Founded in 1896, the library has an enormous collection of biographies; genealogies; cemetery, Bible and church records; city directories; manuscripts; and membership applications with supporting files.
• District of Columbia Archives: Part of the Office of Public Records, the archives holds birth, marriage and death records; wills and probates; indentures of apprenticeship; and other records.
• DCPL: The Washingtoniana Division has city directories dating from 1822, newspapers, cemetery records and photos. The Black Studies Division has a wide range of historical materials, as well.
• Historical Society of Washington, DC: The society has 100,000 photographs from the 1860s to the present; more than 400 maps; histories of neighborhoods, families and businesses; and more.
• Loc: The Local History and Genealogy Reading Room has more than 50,000 genealogies, 100,000 local histories and a huge collection of city directories.
• NARA: Records of interest for African-American research include slave emancipations and manumissions (the FHL has some of these on microfilm). NARA also has naturalizations from 1802 to 1906, Civil War service and pension records, WWI draft registration cards and more.