The Maryland State Archives is offering a one-day workshop on Saturday, November 18, 2000, on Tracing Overseas Origins at the Maryland State Archives and elsewhere. The purpose of the workshop is to help participants know how to begin to trace their overseas origins. 

The all-day workshop begins at 8:30 and ends about 3:00. The $50.00 registration fee includes lunch, morning beverage and pastries, and materials.

The workshop leader is Reference Archivist Robert Barnes. For more information about the workshop contact bobb@mdarchives.state.md.us or mimic@mdarchives.state.md.us. The registration form is available online. 

The St. Thomas Church, Garrison, Collection MSA SC2656] contains registers and vestry minutes usually associated with Protestant Episcopal parishes. The institution and its records date from the mid 18th century. At first the parish encompassed almost all of northern Baltimore County. By the early 20th century its boundaries
extended to Falls Road on the east; Liberty and Deer Park roads on the west; Old Court, or Joppa, Road on the south; and on the north by a line from Liberty Road at the Patapsco River to Timber Grove Station to Ridge Meeting House on Falls Road. 

In 1903, the rector was Hobart Smith, a man also interested in history and genealogy. In December 1803, the vestry had ordered a census of church members, an endeavor never completed. Rev. Smith liked the idea of a religious census and convinced his congregation to support it. He expanded the parameters to include all white inhabitants, regardless of religious affiliation, in the parish area and hired a theology student, James Luther Martin, to conduct the census during the summer of 1903 and to prepare maps showing residences. Robert D. Livingston volunteered to copy the census data into a form book, and, after his death on December 1903, Rev. Smith completed the work. This form book is the record that has survived and is available on film, M11068. 

The census record included a series of maps of St. Thomas Parish. A sketch map showed the boundaries of the parish and major roads and communities within the area. In addition, the parish was mapped out in sections of one square mile each. Noted on these maps were the residences, each marked with the name of the head of the household, of all the families listed in the census. Sometimes ownership of land was indicated. Other features included major tracts of land and their owners,
public roads, private roads and driveways, 

The initial census data collected in the summer of 1903 was supplemented by information accumulated during the next several months. Rev. Smith summarized the census figures as of Easter 1904. "The lists ... contain the record of 643 families embracing 2810 names; of whom 2514 have been baptized and 1009 are communicants in some Christian body. There are 620 who profess themselves attached to the Protestant Episcopal Church; 1276 are Methodists; 299 belong to the Roman Church; 183 are Lutherans; 117 are Presbyterians; 104 are Baptists; while 99 are attached to no church and 346 never attend church." 

Each page in the census book was divided into sections to handle information about four different families. The family line listed the surname of the head of the household. Residence included coordinates keyed to the square mile maps and names of post offices or communities, such as Owings Mills, Gwynnbrook, Brooklandville, Cronhardt, Garrison, Stevenson, Randallstown, and Pikesville. 

Church information usually denoted the denomination and often the name of the parish. Some families expressed an affiliation with a denomination, but never attended church. Others, as noted by Rev. Smith, exhibited no preferences. One husband and wife said they were Baptists, but attended All Saints Protestant Episcopal Church. Sometimes family members attended churches according to individual preferences or frequented more than one church. 

The name column listed the first names of all members of the household, and the full names of those with different surnames. Husbands and wives were marked with the letters H and W, respectively. The relationship of subsequent names was not

usually indicated. Apparently they were assumed to be children, unless otherwise stated. Sometimes the initial data included only the number of children, and was later supplemented by the actual names. As seen in the federal censuses, other family members often resided in a household and their relationships usually were indicated. The data could be quite specific, identifying a female child as the daughter of the wife by her first husband. Another girl was described as an adopted child. Following the names were columns to be checked if an individual had been baptized or confirmed or was a communicant. 

McDonough School was located with the boundaries of St. Thomas Parish, and on its campus lived the principal and some of the teachers, including a household of four unmarried men. For a boarding house in Pikesville the census named the husband, wife, and children, but not the boarders themselves. Despite statements to the contrary a few African American families were included in the census. 

The remarks column was used to record miscellaneous information, such as the year the household was visited, movement within or without the parish area, operation of a business, births or ages, marriages, and deaths. In 1904 the Spring family moved away, and the Bosleys moved into the house they left. The Wright family moved in 1904 and the house remained vacant until Rev. Goodwin, a retired clergyman, and his family took over occupancy.  J.T. French, a single man, operated a store at Delight and his parents lived with him. 

In the Nelson household, the husband died in 1904 and a daughter got married, but the date and husband were not shown. Other entries were more complete, listing both parties and the date of

The census ended with a summary list arranged alphabetically by the first letter of the family names. Each entry included the name of the head of the household, map coordinates, number of family members, number baptized, number confirmed, religious affiliation, and post office address. 

The church census conducted by Rev. Smith can be used to supplement the federal census, particularly for tracking families between census years and locating their residences. 

MSA SC 5200:  Maryland State Law Library Collection of Martenet Maps, n.d. Maps, consisting of several of the wall maps produced by Simon J. Martenet. 

MSA SC 5201:  Ashley Collection, 1860. Map, J.G. Strong, Map of Queen Anne's County. Restricted. 

MSA SC 5202:  Jacobsen Interview Collection, 1999. Video taped interview with Phebe Jacobsen as she describes the Duval-Duvall Collection [MSA SC 625], as conducted by Lee Watkins and Chris Haley. 

MSA SC 5205:  Beginning Genealogy Workshop Online Collection, 1999. Electronic files relating to the Beginning Genealogy Workshop offered by the Maryland State Archives, including most frequently asked questions, workshop handouts and transparencies, and digitized video tape. Files created by intern Lee Watkins by scanning workshop handouts and digitizing video tape of workshop presentations. 

MSA SC 5206:  Williams Collection, 1771-1873. Genealogical information from the Williams family bible. Includes information on the Miller and Hoffman families. 

MSA SC 5207:  Jane Revell Moss Collection, var. d. Working notes of Jane Revell Moss, concerning conservation work done on materials from other institutions while she was a conservator at the Maryland State Archives, then the Maryland Hall of Records. 

MSA SC 5208:  William Hupp Sands, Jr. Collection, 1866-1910. Ledgers and miscellaneous papers of Dr. Jacob Wirts DuBois (1836-1906) of Millersville, MD. Collection includes 6 ledgers as follows: 1868-1871; 1876-1888; 1893-1902; 1866, 1868, 1882-1885, 1888; 1902-1888; and 1866. Collection also includes miscellaneous correspondence, receipts, bills, inventories, lists of patients, etc. Dr. DuBois was the father of Christine DuBois Sands, wife of Dr. William H. Sands (1873-1918).