The Archivists' Bulldog
1989

THE ARCHIVISTS' Bulldog
Vol. 3, No. 21
12 June 1989

TRACT MAPS Bernie Webb

In assisting a patron to find a particular tract's location on a modern map, the most useful tool is the tract map. Therefore, the first step in helping the patron is to ascertain whether we have a tract map for the county in which he suspects the tract lies. Tract maps are indexed in WordCruncher by county, and a list of the most helpful tract maps is provided below.

There are several ways to help the patron who wishes to locate a tract which lies in a county for which no tract map exists. In the library there are many books which can aid tract researchers. Doug has enumerated some of these in Bulldog (Vol. 3, No. 11), "Preliminary List of Published Sources For Land Tract Research." If the tract in question, or an adjoining tract, is adjacent to a permanent landmark, such as a major river, its general location may be determined.

In explaining the process of locating a tract, an archivist might mention that until 1961 official tax maps, which indicate locations of parcels of land, were not required by law to be created. So if there is no tract map, library book, or landmark to help the patron, he must make a title search for the tract from the time for which he has an owner's name to the year 1961 when he can find the location on a tax map. In his search the patron has to utilize probate records, equity records, and land transactions, and this can be an arduous search when the land passes from one generation to another unrecorded in probate. Here the Index to Tracts in Chancery (Indexes 59 and 61 and Chancery Papers on WordCruncher when available) and the Tract Indexes in Land Record Abstracts (see Bulldog, Vol. 1, No. 4) will be of use.

Emphasize to the patron that tracts have existed from the time that land was first patented. Therefore, many tracts are very old. Since the time of its initial patenting a tract may have escheated and later been repatented. Tracts are sometimes divided and resurveyed under a new tract name. Another problem in locating tracts is the significant change over centuries of magnetic north. A magnetic compass today points to a different north than did those three centuries ago, and so any tract map is merely an approximation of reality. To prove where land is exactly located today a surveyor must be employed.

ALLEGANY COUNTY

SHAFER. Allegany county west of Cumberland. Gives no libers or patentees. 1898. G 1427-394.

DEAKINS. Military lots, tracts, and escheats west of Ft. Cumberland. Gives no libers or patentees. G 1427-773.

DEAKINS. Same as above for Allegany and Garrett counties. G 1427-900.

W.A.H. Same as above for Allegany (west of Cumberland) and Garrett counties. 1935. G 1427-394.

ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY

DORSEY. Original land grants on the south side of the Severn River, Maryland. Includes index to libers and patentees. G 1427-192

HAMMOND. Some Plantations in Anne Arundel and Baltimore Counties, 1650-1667. G1779 Moss Collection, Superoversize [original of map found and indexed in James E. Moss, Providence, Ye Lost Town at Severn in Maryland]

HAMMOND. Providence, Ye Towne at Severne, Seated 1649. G1779 Moss Collection, Superoversize [original of map found and indexed in James E. Moss, Providence, Ye Lost Town at Severn in Maryland]

MOSS, Broad Neck Hundred, Anne Arundel County, Maryland. 1663-1665. Provides year and acreage of patent. G1779 Moss Collection, Superoversize.

BALTIMORE CITY

ANONYMOUS. Baltimore City and Jones Town. Gives no libers or patentees. 1747. G 1427-500.

BALTIMORE COUNTY

HAMMOND. Some Plantations in Anne Arundel and Baltimore Counties, 1650-1667. G1779 Moss Collection, Superoversize [original of map found and indexed in James E. Moss, Providence, Ye Lost Town at Severn in Maryland]

HORVATH. Early patents and roads near Reister's Town. Some tracts are labeled with patentee and date. 1976. G 1427-741.

CARROLL COUNTY

TRACY. Carroll, Frederick, and Washington counties. Alphabetical list of tracts on microfilm M-1039. Each listing provides date, patentee, liber, folio, a description of the location, and a pair of coordinates keyed to the tract maps found in G 1427-284.

CALVERT COUNTY

ANONYMOUS. Tracts along Patuxent River. Gives liber and folio. G 1427-320.

CHARLES COUNTY

ANONYMOUS. Tracts along Patuxent River. Gives liber and folio. G 1427-320.

FREDERICK COUNTY

See TRACY, listed under Carroll County.

GARRETT COUNTY

SHAFER. Military lots, tracts, and escheats. Gives no libers or patentees. 1898. G 1427-431.

W.A.H. same as above. 1935. G 1427-609.

other maps listed under Allegany County.

HOWARD COUNTY

DORSEY. Original land grants superimposed on topographical map. Gives liber, folio, and patentee. 1968. G 1427-302.

KENT COUNTY

RUTH. Colonial Quaker Neck tracts granted by the Lords Baltimore near the Chester River. Provides patentee, date of patenting, and acreage. 1967. G 1427-234.

PRINCE GEORGES COUNTY

ANONYMOUS. Tracts along Patuxent River. Gives liber and folio. G 1427-320.

ST. MARY'S

ANONYMOUS. Tracts along Patuxent River. Gives liber and folio. G 1427-320.

ANONYMOUS. Tracts along Potomac and Upper Marlboro. G 1427-319.

MENARD. Provides the tract name, the tract's hundred, and the decade the tract was surveyed. G 844 (2).

SOMERSET COUNTY

BENSON. Provides year of survey and acreage for each tract. Delicate. 1942. G 1427-499. Indexed in Ruth Dryden, Land Records of Somerset County.

WASHINGTON COUNTY

See TRACY, listed under Carroll County.

WORCESTER COUNTY

BENSON. Provides year of survey and acreage for each tract. G 1427-437. Indexed in Ruth Dryden, Land Records of Worcester County.
 
 
 

THE ARCHIVISTS' Bulldog
Vol. 3, No. 22
19 June 1989

Record Series of the Week Pat Melville

Baltimore County and Baltimore City Chancery Papers

Baltimore County Court (Chancery Papers) COAGSER 295, 1815-1851, and Baltimore City Superior Court (Chancery Papers) COAGSER 168, 1851-1870, contain a wealth of information and offer substantial potential for research. Now that the inventories of all these case files are incorporated into Wordcruncher, BA-BCPAP, the potential can be realized more easily by searching for names of individuals, firms, and institutions, names of tracts and streets, and topics such as copper mining, slaves, and mills. Access is also available through (Chancery Docket, Index) and (Chancery Docket).

Chancery proceedings are heard by a judge who can base his or her decision on precedent set by former cases, but whose priority is to give a verdict on what is fair and equitable. Types of cases include settlement of a decedent's estate, administration of a trust estate, divorce, mortgage foreclosure, tax sale, insanity hearing, adoption, and land title dispute. In Maryland the Chancery Court heard most cases prior to 1815 at which time the county courts were given concurrent jurisdiction. The Chancery Court ceased existence in 1853 and thereafter all equity proceedings were handled by the county circuit courts and the BC courts. Note that the terms chancery and equity are used interchangeably.

The equity court system for BA and BC underwent considerable expansion and change during the 19th century. Until December 1, 1851, BC was part of BA; thus suits involving residents of BC were heard by the BA Court. The Constitution of 1851 established a separate court system for BC and assigned equity jurisdiction to the Superior Court. In 1853 the General Assembly created the Circuit Court to handle equity cases concurrently with the Superior Court. The Constitution of 1867 removed this jurisdiction from the Superior Court and gave it exclusively to the Circuit Court. In 1888 the General Assembly established a second equity court, called Circuit Court No. 2.

The chancery papers of the BA court and BC Superior Court contain 6340 cases. The series unit inventories itemize each case. The date of a file refers to when a case was instituted or was transferred from another jurisdiction, such as the Chancery Court or BC Circuit Court. The series unit description lists the case number, names of petitioners or plaintiffs and defendants, subject of the case, accession number, and location. If applicable, the description also lists tract names and lots and notes the existence of plats. The case number is not unique to each file because the letter C and number actually refer to a drawer in which all files received the same designation. The numbering system apparently was imposed after the fact since the lowest numbers appear on the latest cases. The names of the parties are based on the initial bill of complaint or petition and thus does not include those added later, such as heirs of someone who dies before the case is completed.

The subject descriptions are standardized into thirty-nine categories which in broader terms are placed into sixteen groups. In the following analysis the number in parenthesis shows the percentage of cases represented by each group in the record series.

Mortgage foreclosures (28.2%) are the most common equity cases. They are instituted because mortgage payments have fallen in arrears. Although involving mostly land and/or houses, the cases concern a wide variety of other properties. These include slaves, factories, taverns, inns, mills, quarries, slaughterhouses, retail operations, museums, ships, and churches.

Petitions (12.7%) comprise a group of eight categories that are adhesive only because the word petition appears in the description. Many cases involve heirs who cannot do something because some are minors or cannot be located or named. Most cases are petitions to sell, usually land and/or houses. Other properties include blacksmith shops, breweries, quarries, inns, factories, ships, retail stores, slaves, stocks, cemetery plots, and the Antietam Iron Works in WA. Several petitions request the partition of property, largely land, among entitled parties. Other petitions ask the court for permission to lease real estate; to record deeds, leases, or mortgages; to release mortgages; to correct recorded deeds, leases, or mortgages; and to mortgage real estate. A few cases are petitions to discover something unknown to the plaintiffs, usually related to business operations. The unknown matter may involve ownership of goods or bank drafts, amount of accounts or rent payments, removal of brandy from a customs house, or how a violin was broken.

Trust estate cases (10.8%) involve the administration of trusts established for individuals or by businesses. In a trust for individuals real or personal property is transferred to a trustee who administers it for the benefit of the beneficiaries. In a trust for businesses, solely owned, partnership, or corporations, assets are transferred to a trustee who is authorized the manage the business or sell the assets, often in order to pay debts. In other words, the businesses are usually in financial straits. The types of operations represented is extensive - taverns, groceries, shipping, factories, dry goods stores, tanyards, drug stores, race course, mills, slaughterhouses, banking, millineries, coal yards, hotels, breweries, and quarries. Some of the more prominent firms include Bank of Maryland, Warren Manufacturing Co., Baltimore Hotel, Maryland & Virginia Steamboat Co., Baltimore Shot Tower Co., and Eastern Shore Steamboat Co. The number of trust estate cases increase substantially after 1853, which may simply reflect the assignment of such cases to the Superior Court rather than the Circuit Court.

Estate cases (9.9%) involve the settlement of a decedent's estate. The properties dealt with include land, houses, and other assets such as factories, mercantile firms, trading companies including a stage coach firm transporting the U.S. mail, taverns, mills including Monocacy Mills in FR, retail stores, slaves, ships, slaughterhouses, and warehouses.

Contract cases (9.6%) encompass a group of seven categories that pertains to disputes involving compliance with an agreement to perform some action. Most cases involve contracts to purchase real estate and often personal property such as patents, mills, shipyards, slaves including instances where free blacks are the intended purchasers, warehouses, factories, ships, stocks, merchandise, taverns, shops, kilns, quarries, Baltimore Republican, school, church, and coal and iron mines in AL. Contracts to lease involve real estate, hotels, taverns, tobacco inspection warehouses, and post offices. Contracts to build pertain mostly to houses, but do include shops, churches, schools, steam engines, railroad tracks and bridges, and furniture. Contracts to assign involve the transfer of income producing documents such as promissory notes, military pensions, mortgages, leases, and damage claims from harm done to ships during the War of 1812. Contracts to sell allege the sale of property from the plaintiff(s) to the defendant(s) and cover coffee, dry goods, glassware, lottery tickets, ships, stocks, livestock, and coal. Contracts to operate or manage pertain to the operation or management of businesses such as ships, mercantile firms, farms, marine railway, grocery, and restaurant.

The seventh contract category is a miscellaneous grouping of a variety of disputes over agreements. Many involve security transactions and debt payments. Others allege contracts to ship merchandise such as cotton during the War of 1812, perform in a circus, establish a museum, hunt seals, quarry stone, manufacture carpet, work on the C & O towpath, mine copper and zinc, manumit a slave, form the American Telegraph Co., and supply cattle to the U.S. Army during the Civil War.

Divorce and alimony cases (8.3%), of course, relate to the legal resolution of marital disputes. After local courts obtained jurisdiction over divorce proceedings in 1842, few petitions for only alimony were filed. After abolition of the Chancery Court in 1851, the number of divorce cases increase substantially.

Although not exclusive to this group, a set of three categories of cases relates to individuals and partnerships experiencing financial troubles (6.8%). The insolvent estate cases involve those who voluntarily or involuntarily have been declared bankrupt and thus unable to pay debts with existing assets. Dissolutions concern disputes over the terminations of partnerships. Defraud of creditors involves allegations that the defendants have acted in ways that prevent creditors from receiving money due them. The variety of assets and businesses found in this group of cases is again extensive--mills, slaughterhouses, slaves, land, shipping, taverns, factories, glassware, tanneries, patents, kilns, shops, quarries, fisheries, blacksmiths, hotels, Kanawha Canal in VA, breweries, Canton Iron Works, dairies, ship building, foundries, fire companies, procurement of military substitutes, and Maryland Savings Institution.

Injunction cases (6.5%), consisting of seven categories, involve attempts to prevent an action. Injunctions against execution of judgment are petitions to prevent property from being sold because of an unpaid judgment against a person in a civil proceeding. The affected properties include real estate, pottery, inns, taverns, liquor, coal, dry goods, iron in South America, brickyards, groceries, tanyards, shoe stores, and jewelry stores. Injunctions against removal attempt to stop the removal of timber, sand, or walls from the plaintiff's property, copper from a mine, body from a cemetery, and money from a bank. Injunctions against obstruction try to stop the blockage of streets, alleys, roads, railroad tracks, mill races, and windows. Injunctions against sale attempt to prevent the sale of ships, real estate, flour, groceries, wheat, tanyards, dry goods, iron, and blacks into slavery. Injunctions against use or operation try to stop the use or operation of a printing press, wharf, blacksmith shop, right of way, quarry, railway, slaughterhouse, mill, ten-pin alley, and oyster and fruit packing plant. Injunctions against obstruction try to prevent the building of verandas, dams, fire stations, race tracks, slaughterhouses, roads, privies, walls, fences, and houses. The miscellaneous

category of injunctions concern petitions against digging around a house, grading and paving streets, opening roads and streets, destroying houses and commercial buildings, foreclosing on mortgages, mining ore, establishing a paint factory, quarrying stone, diverting water from a mill, collecting taxes, electing directors and officers of the Baltimore & Susquehanna Railroad Co., drawings for lotteries for the benefit of Washington College and St. Johns College, and interfering with religious worship.

Ratifications of sales (2.1%) are filings to obtain court approval for sales of property ordered by justices of the peace for satisfactions of judgments. The affected properties include mostly real estate, but also tanyards, saw mills, carpenter and blacksmith shops, foundries, and grocery stores.

Title cases (1.4%) are disputes over ownership of property, mostly real estate. Other property includes slaves, mills, stocks, ground rents, ships, factories, shops, churches, taverns, furniture, riparian rights on Patapsco River, railroad switches, and funds of the Southern Orphan Relief Fund.

Appointment of trustee cases (.9%) are petitions to have trustees appointed for persons who are mentally incapacitated and/or unable to manage their assets.

Lien and claim cases (.7%) involve respectively charges against real or personal property for satisfaction of debts or work performed and demands for something due the plaintiffs. Liens were filed against land, ships, houses, Warren Factory, Fountain Inn, Shot Tower, Baltimore Museum, quarries, and book stores. Claims were filed against the Maryland Penitentiary and insurance companies.

Validity cases (.6%) involve questions about the correctness of certain actions which include street extensions, condemnation of land for a market, mortgages, deeds, leases, insurance claims, tax sale, rights of a congregation to sell a church, and rights of stockholders to elect officers of BC Passenger Railroad Co.

Illegal sales of lottery tickets (.2%) involve suits brought by the state against persons changed with the wrongful sale of lottery tickets that had been authorized by the General Assembly.

Several cases (1.2%) do not fit into of the above categories and were described uniquely. Several concern money matters such as settlements of accounts, embezzlement of bank funds, disbursements made for the University of Maryland, fee and tax collections, Tidewater Canal lottery funds, railroad bonds, stocks, and dividends. Other cases involve annulments, child support, separation agreements, right to use a marine railway, compliance with the grain inspection law, and dower rights.

Some cases (.2%) have no description because the key documents are not extant.

Many research endeavors can benefit from a perusal of equity cases. Likely topics include genealogy, churches, social interactions, family relationships, prominent individuals, title searches, historic buildings and sites, transportation, free blacks, and business operations whether corporate, partnership, or individual.
 
 
 

THE ARCHIVISTS' Bulldog
Vol. 3, No. 23
26 June 1989

Record Series of the Week Pat Melville

BALTIMORE COUNTY AND BALTIMORE

CITY LAND COMMISSION PAPERS

Related to and originally filed with BA Court/BC Superior Court (Chancery Papers) are BA Court (Land Commission Papers) 349, 1785-1851, and BC Superior Court (Land Commission Papers) 203, 1851-1908. Some files, especially the early ones, do not have case numbers. The ones that do have numbers have the preface C and a number which refer to all cases filed in a drawer. Land commissions are proceedings of commissioners to divide or sell land, determine boundaries of land, lay out roads, or condemn land. Commissioners are appointed by the court or by a state or local legislative body and then supervised by the court.

The series unit listings for land commission papers contain the following information: date the case was instituted; case number, if any; names of petitioners, commissioners, or plaintiffs and defendants; subject matter of the case; name or description of the land; existence of plats; accession number; and location. There are eight categories of case descriptions which can be reclassified into five groups. In the following analysis the number in parenthesis refers to the percentage of the total of 496 case files.

Condemnation cases (48.2%, 99.4% after 1851), 1820-1908, involves the taking of land for public use. One category concerns the condemnation of land for railroad tracks, depots, and yards. The companies include Baltimore & Susquehanna, Baltimore & Ohio, Baltimore & Port Deposit, Northern Central, Baltimore & Potomac, Union, Western Maryland, and Baltimore Belt. The other category involves condemnation of land for other purposes, such as improvement of Jones Falls, grading streets, private railways, Patapsco River Bridge, Richmond Market, Clifton Park, and a water system.

Petitions to partition estates (31.7%), 1791-1850, are requests to divide land among heirs or to sell the land and divide the proceeds.

Road cases (12.9%), 1785-1837, fit into three categories. For the laying out of roads, including a railway, there are both petitions and returns of commissions. The third category consists of petitions to straighten, widen, or close roads.

Petitions and commissions to establish boundaries (6%), 1796-1846 and 1882, are designed to determine the lines of adjoining properties. Usually past surveys do not provide conclusive evidence. Thus the property owners want the court to establish firm boundaries. One commission return differs from the others; it establishes the boundary between CR and BA in 1841.

Petitions and commissions to assess damages (.1%), 1796-1846, due landowners after an action occurs involve extensions and openings of streets and a survey of the BC coastline.

Because all land commissions concern land in some way, a high proportion of the files (30%) contain plats.
 
 

THE ARCHIVISTS' Bulldog
Vol. 3, No. 24
3 July 1989

Record Series of the Week Ben Primer

ADJUTANT GENERAL (Service Record Requests Register) 1865-1880, STAGSER 336

ADJUTANT GENERAL (Service Record Requests) 1865-1880, STAGSER 938

These two series can be used together to trace the Adjutant General's response to requests from Civil War veterans and their kin regarding soldiers' service records. There are two volumes of registers: MdHR 4518 which consists of a number of entries from 1864 regarding service on the Ship Allegheny and then a smaller number of entries dating from 1876-1880 and MdHR 4519 which runs from 1865-1874. For each of these alphabetical volumes there are columns for the date of the request for information, the applicant (soldier's) name, the company and regiment, the information sought, the attorney representing the applicant, the current residence, the date the Adjutant General forwarded the request to Washington for more information, the date information was received, the nature of the information and the date forwarded to the applicant.

In the second book there are two additional columns to note: the number of the incoming letter which is found at the beginning of the left hand page and the number of the response from Washington which is found at the beginning of the right hand page. These numbers can be used to go directly to the files which are called (Service Record Requests). Both requests for information and replies from Washington are numbered consecutively from 1865 to 1868, then the Adjutant General began a new numbering system starting over with 1 in 1869. There is a gap in the requests running from February 1866 to October 1869. The replies from Washington are more complete, but there are missing numbers throughout both sets of records. At the end of both the requests and the replies there are a few unnumbered items.

The bulk of these requests are from widows and other kin seeking federal or state bounty payments for soldiers who died in combat. In sum, these two series when used together can be used to obtain information about soldier's Civil War service and about their families after the war, including such information as their children, their widow's remarriage, their mobility and their economic status.
 
 

THE ARCHIVISTS' Bulldog
Vol. 3, No. 25
10 July 1989

Library Libations Ben Primer

Books on Marriage

In preparation for the first section on Bulletin 18 which will be on Maryland marriage records, I put together the following list of books on marriages. If you know of any others that should be added to the list, please let me know.

General Reference Books on Marriages:

Barnes, Barnes, Gleanings from Maryland Newspapers, 1727-1775.

Includes Anne Arundel and Baltimore County newspapers.

_____, Gleanings from Maryland Newspapers, 1776-1785.

Includes Anne Arundel and Baltimore County newspapers.

_____, Gleanings from Maryland Newspapers, 1786-1790.

Includes Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Frederick, Talbot and Washington County newspapers and York County, Pennsylvania.

_____, Gleanings from Maryland Newspapers, 1791-1795.

Includes Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Frederick, Kent, Talbot, and Washington County newspapers and York County, Pennsylvania.

_____, Maryland Marriages, 1634-1777.

_____, Maryland Marriages, 1778-1800.

Note: Items listed as in Scharf Papers, Maryland Historical Society, are now at the Maryland State Archives.

Brumbaugh, Gaius Marcus, Maryland Records: Colonial, Revolutionary, County and Church.

Vol. I includes tombstones at All Saint's Parish (FR); Vol. II indexes Scharf Collection ministers' returns for CH, FR, Mo, SM and WA counties. There is information on individual ministers and the churches they served (1777-1804). Also has tombstone records for Trinity Church (SM) and St. Martin's (WO).

Cappon, Lester J. and Stella F. Duff, Virginia Gazette Index, 1736-1780.

Marie Dickore, Hessian Soldiers in the American Revolution: Records of their Marriages and Baptisms of their Children in America.

Dobson, David, American Vital Records from the Gentleman's Magazine [London], 1731-1868.

Duff, Jeffrey M., Inventory of Kentucky Birth, Marriage and Death Records, 1852-1910.

Fisher, Charles A., Central Pennsylvania Marriages, 1700-1896.

Harper, Irma Sweitzer, Maryland Marriage Clues, Vols. 1-3.

Covers Talbot, Queen Anne's Caroline and Dorchester Counties. Volume 3 contains list of "Disorderly" marriages found in Minutes of Third Haven Monthly Meeting, Easton, Maryland.

Headley, Robert, Genealogical Abstracts for 18th-century Virginia Newspapers.

Leisenring, Lida, Record of Maryland Marriages, 1777-1804.

Available on microfilm M-361. Principally an index to the Scharf Papers, but also includes licenses issued by Governors Ogle and Sharpe to All Hallows Parish, 1738-1768, includes some Delaware and Pennsylvania marriages, a few deaths and births and some marriages after 1804.

Ljungstedt, Milnor, County Court Note-book and Ancestral Proofs and Probabilities.

Index for each volume.

Martin, George A., Vital Records from the National Intelligencer [District of Columbia], Volume I, 1800-1828.

Meyer, Mary Keysor, Divorces and Names Changes in Maryland by Act of the Legislature, 1634-1854.

Waldenmaier, Inez, Virginia Marriage Records Before 1853.

Wright, F. Edward, Abstracts of South Central Pennsylvania Newspapers, 1785-1790.

_____, Abstracts of the Newspapers of Georgetown and the Federal City, 1789-1799.

_____, Delaware Newspaper Abstracts, 1786-1795. Vol. 1.

_____, Marriages and Deaths of the Lower Delmarva, 1835-1840.

Picks up where Maryland Eastern Shore Newspaper Abstracts leaves off. Covers Dorchester, Somerset and Worcester counties.

_____, Maryland Eastern Shore Newspaper Abstracts, 1790-1834.

8 volumes to date. Volumes 1-4 include all counties with extant newspapers to 1824. Volumes 5 and 7 cover Caroline, Kent, Talbot and Queen Anne's Counties for 1825-1834 and Volumes 6 and 8 cover Dorchester, Somerset and Worcester Counties for the same time period. Index.

_____. Maryland Eastern Shore Vital Records, 1648-1825.

5 volumes to date. Includes some Delaware records. Indexed.

_____, Western Maryland Newspaper Abstracts, 1786-1810.

3 volumes to date.

ALLEGANY COUNTY:

"Allegany County Marriage License Records" in History of Western Maryland, Vol. 2, p. 1348.

Cupler, Margaret D., Allegany County, Maryland Marriage Licenses, August 1, 1791-May 1, 1847. Males and females alphabetical.

_____, The Marriage Diary of Rev. William Shaw of Allegany County,...Methodist Episcopal Church, 1792-1813, ...Early Marriages and Births from Centre Street Episcopal.

_____, and Helen Straw Hinkle, Early Allegany County Records, 1787-1825.

Vol. 1. Indexes licenses 1791-1825.

Gatewood, Gloria V., Marriages and Deaths from the Cumberland Alleganian, 1864-1867.

Kave, Dorothy May and Frances C. Williams, Lutheran Church Records, 1801-1921 from Allegany County, Cumberland, Maryland, and Family Bible Records; Allegany County Cemeteries.

Indexes St. Luke's Lutheran 1836-1901; Zion Reformed (Old German) Lutheran 1802-1921; Trinity Evangelical Lutheran 1811-1900

Wright, F. Edward, Marriages and Deaths from Newspapers of Allegany and Washington Counties, Maryland, 1820-1830.

ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY:

Barnes, Robert, Marriages and Deaths from the Maryland Gazette, 1727-1839.

Brumbaugh, Gaius Marcus, Maryland Records: Colonial, Revolutionary, County and Church.

Vol. II indexes marriage licenses 1777-1820.

Dallam, Edith Stansbury, St. James' Parish - Old Herring Creeke Parish, A History, 1663-1799.

Includes index to parish register.

McPherson, Louisa Catherine Wesley, Records of Deaths and Marriages in Anne Arundel County, 1845-1930.

Available on Microfilm M-210. A chronological record of marriages taken from newspapers, seemingly at random.

BALTIMORE CITY (part of Baltimore County prior to 1851):

Thomas L. Hollowak., Index to Marriages in the (Baltimore) Sun, 1851-1860.

BALTIMORE COUNTY:

Barnes, Robert, Baltimore County Marriage References, 1659-1746.

_____, Baltimore County Marriages before 1730.

Alphabetical for both sexes.

_____, Index to Marriages and Deaths in the Baltimore County Advocate, 1850-1864.

_____, Marriages and Deaths from Baltimore Newspapers, 1796-1816.

_____, Marriages and Deaths from the Maryland Gazette, 1727-1839.

Brown, Helen White, Index to Register, St. John's Parish, Baltimore County, Maryland 1696-1788.

George, Mrs. Thomas Stevens. Marriage Records of Baltimore City and County, 1777-1799.

History Trails, Vol 7, No. 1, Autumn 1972, No. 2, Winter 1972-3.

Record of marriages performed by Rev. Edward Choate of Reisterstown, 1808-1825

Hollowak, Thomas L., Index to Marriages and Deaths in the (Baltimore) Sun, 1837-1850.

Peden, Henry C., Jr., St. John's and St. George's Parish Register, Baltimore and Harford Counties, Maryland, 1696-1851.

Reamy, Bill and Martha, Records of St. Paul's Parish, Vol. 1.

Indexes c.1700-1800.

_____. St. Thomas Parish Register, 1732-1850.

CAROLINE COUNTY:

Clark, Raymond B. Jr. and Sara Seth, Caroline County, Maryland Marriage Licenses, 1774-1825 and a Short History of Caroline County. Index.

F. Edward Wright, Caroline County Marriages-Births-Deaths, 1850-1880.CARROLL COUNTY:

Bates, Marlene, Abstracts of Carroll County Newspapers, 1831-1846.

"Carroll County Marriage License Records" in History of Western Maryland, Vol. 2, p. 798.

Carroll County Public Library, Carroll County, Maryland Marriage Licenses, 1837-1899.

Alphabetical by male and female

Weiser, Frederick S., Maryland German Church Records, Vol. 7: St. Mary's Church, Silver Run, Carroll County, Lutheran Records, 1784-1863, Reformed Records, 1812-1866.

CECIL COUNTY:

Captain Jeremiah Baker Chapter, DAR, Cecil County, Maryland Marriage Licenses, 1777-1840.

Daskam, Faith, Cecil County, Maryland Marriage Licenses Index 1777-1840.

Indexes and corrects the DAR volume.

Gallagher, William J. [Notes from] The Cecil Gazette and Farmer's and Mechanics Advertizer, ...1834-184? [on Marriages and Deaths in Cecil County].

Wright, F. Edward, Newspaper Abstracts of Cecil and Harford Counties, 1822-1830.

Arranged chronologically by letter.

CHARLES COUNTY:

Brumbaugh, Gaius Marcus, Maryland Records: Colonial, Revolutionary, County and Church.

Vol II indexes marriage licenses, 1777-1804

DORCHESTER COUNTY:

Arps, Walter E., Jr., Before the Fire: Genealogical Gleanings from the Cambridge (Maryland) Chronicle, 1830-1855.

Marshall, Nellie, Bible Records of Dorchester County, Maryland, 1612-1969 and Baptismal and Marriage Records, 1855-1866, Zion United Methodist Church.

Maryland Original Research Society of Baltimore, Bulletin No. 1.

Indexes Dorchester County marriage licenses, 1780-1789.

FREDERICK COUNTY:

Brumbaugh, Gaius Marcus, Maryland Records: Colonial, Revolutionary, County and Church.Vol. I indexes All Saint's Parish (1727-1781)

Vol. II indexes Evangelical Reformed Church (1763-1864)

"Frederick County Marriage License Records, 1778-1781" in History of Western Maryland. Vol. 1, p. 425

Hinke, William J. and E. W. Reinecke, Records of the Reformed Church in Frederick, Maryland, 1746-1800.

Maryland State Society, DAR, Maryland Genealogical Records "Evangelical Reformed Church of Frederick Marriages, 1756-1759," Vol. 35, p. 59.

Myers, Margaret E., Myersville, Maryland Lutheran Baptisms, 1832-1849, 1861-1897.

Indexes St. John's (Church Hill), St. Mark's (Wolfsville) and St. Paul's (Myersville).

Smith, Dorothy H., Frederick County Marriage Licenses, 1778-1839.

Campbell Index to males.

Weiser, Frederick S., Maryland German Church Records, Vol. 1: Records of Christ Reformed Church, also known as the German Reformed Church (a congregation of the United Church of Christ), Middletown, Frederick County, Maryland 1770-1840.

_____., Maryland German Church Records, Vol. 2: Records of Zion Lutheran Church, Middletown, Frederick County, Maryland, 1781-1826.

_____., Records of Marriages and Burials in the Monocacy Church in Frederick County, Maryland and in the Evangelical Lutheran Congregation in the City of Frederick, Maryland, 1743-1811.

Wright, F. Edward, Marriages and Deaths in the Newspapers of Frederick and Montgomery Counties, Maryland 1820-1830.

HARFORD COUNTY:

Peden, Henry C., Jr., St. John's and St. George's Parish Register, Baltimore and Harford Counties, Maryland, 1696-1851.

F. Edward Wright, Newspaper Abstracts of Cecil and Harford Counties, 1822-1830.

HOWARD COUNTY:

Col. Thomas Dorsey Chapter, DAR, Marriage Licenses in the Howard District of Anne Arundel County, Maryland, 1840-1851.

KENT COUNTY:

Clark, Raymond B., Jr. and Sara Seth, Kent County, Maryland Marriage Licenses, 1796-1850 and lists of Kent County Ministers.

Maryland Original Research Society of Baltimore, Bulletin No. 1.

Indexes Kent County marriage licenses 1796-1802.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY:

Bowman, Tressie Nash, Montgomery County Maryland Marriages, 1796-1850.

Brown, Helen W. Prince Georges County, Maryland Indexes of Church Registers, 1686-1885. 2 vols.

Vol. II indexes Prince Georges's [Rock Creek] Parish (including MO County - 1791-1845)

Malloy, Mary Gordon and Marian W. Jacobs, Genealogical Abstracts: Montgomery County Sentinel, 1855-1899.

Montgomery County Marriage License Records, 1798-1800, in History of Western Maryland, Vol. 1, p. 664.

Wright, F. Edward, Marriages and Deaths in the Newspapers of Frederick and Montgomery Counties, Maryland, 1820-1830.

PRINCE GEORGES COUNTY:

Brown, Helen W., Index of Marriage License, Prince Georges County, Maryland, 1777-1886.

_____., Prince Georges County, Maryland Indexes of Church Registers, 1686-1885. 2 vols.

Vol. I indexes King George's [Piscataway, St. John's] Parish (1689-1801; 1797-1878) and Queen Anne Parish (1686-1777)

Vol. II indexes St. Paul's Parish at Baden (1831-1885) and Prince Georges's [Rock Creek] Parish (1711-1798; MO County - 1791-1845)

Brumbaugh, Gaius Marcus, Maryland Records: Colonial, Revolutionary, County and Church.

Vol. I indexes marrige licenses 1777-1800.

Vol. II indexes Prince George's [Rock Creek] Parish (1796-1808)

Hienton, Louis Joyner, Prince Georges County, Maryland Piscataway or St. John's Parish (now called King George's Parish), Index to Register 1689-1878.

Indexes Piscataway 1689-1801, St. John's 1797-1878.

Toaping Castle Chapter, DAR, Index to Registers of St. Matthew's Parish, Hyattsville, Prince George's County, Maryland, 1834-1926.

QUEEN ANNE'S COUNTY:

Major Samuel Turbutt Wright Chapter, DAR, 1151 Marriage Records, 1817-1838 from Court House Records at Centreville, Queen Anne's County, Maryland.

No index. Ends in 1829.

SAINT MARY'S COUNTY:

Brumbaugh, Gaius Marcus, Maryland Records: Colonial, Revolutionary, County and Church.

Vol. I indexes marriage licenses 1794-1864.

Fresco, Margaret K., Marriages and Deaths, St. Mary's County, Maryland, 1634-1900.

_____. Additions and Corrections to Marriages and Deaths...1634-1900.

SOMERSET COUNTY:

Brown, William Coulbourn, Book of Births, Marriages and Deaths of the Persons of Coventry Parish, 1747.

Dryden, Ruth T., Parish of Somerset.

Records of St. Andrew's Episcopal, Princess Anne; St. Stephen's Church, Potatoe Neck; All Saint's Church, Monie; Grace Church, Wicomico Parish. Indexes 1751-1893

_____., Stepney Parish Records of Somerset County, Maryland.

Indexes c. 1720-1838. Includes St. Mary's and St. Bartholomew's Church 1884-1889.

Pollitt, Roy C., Somerset County Maryland Marriage Records, 1796-1871.

Alphabetical by male and female.

Powell, Lorenzo Q., Abstracts of Somerset Parish Records of Somerset County, Maryland.

Indexes marriages 1714-1852

_____., A Book of the Births, Marriages and Deaths of the Persons of Coventry Parish, 1747.

Verbatim copy of William Coulbourne Brown volume with index covering 1703-1834.

[_____?.], Marriage Licenses Issued by the Clerk of the Circuit Court for Somerset County, 1831-1865.

Roughly alphabetical for males.

TALBOT COUNTY:

Abstracts of Vital Statistics Taken from the Easton Star Republican, 1802-1822. 2 vols. Index.

Carter Braxton Chapter, DAR, The Marriage Licenses of Talbot County, Maryland from 1794-1810.

Alphabetical for males only.

WASHINGTON COUNTY:

Brown, Helen W., Marriages and Deaths, 1830-1837, Washington County, Maryland recorded in the Republican Banner. Index.

Clark, Linda B. An Index to Hagerstown Newspapers, 1790-1815. Continuing series of volumes begun in 1982.

Maryland State Society, DAR, Maryland Genealogical Records "Presbyterian Church of Hagerstown, Maryland, 1863-1902," Vol. 35, p. 193.

_____., Williamsport, Maryland, Congregation of the Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1791-1853; Ledgers of Samuel Weisel, M.D., 1848-1872.

Indexes Marriages 1822-1851.

Wright, F. Edward, Marriages and Deaths from Newspapers of Allegany and Washington Counties, Maryland, 1820-1830.

WORCESTER COUNTY:

Brumbaugh, Gaius Marcus, Maryland Records: Colonial, Revolutionary, County and Church.

Vol. I indexes marriage licenses 1795-1799.

Record Series of the Week Connie Neale

Colonial Censuses of Maryland

A letter came this week enclosing a "Schedule of Colonial, Territorial and State Census Records" which lists nine censuses for Maryland, pre-dating the Federal Census of 1790. Needless to say, the writer was a genealogist wanting to know what information they contain and where they can be found. My research turned up the following information, which I am sharing at Ben's suggestion.

The earliest census records for colonial Maryland have been found among the papers of the Board of Trade and the Public Records office in London. Their usefulness is chiefly demographic rather than genealogical, since the original lists of names have been lost or destroyed and all that remain are totals, listed by counties. Six censuses fall into this group:

1. 1697: Lists taxables in Maryland

2. 1701: A list of inhabitants, taxables and untaxed

3. 1708: Inhabitants of Maryland (Men, women, children, white servants and slaves)

4. 1708: A list of Papists, taken by the sheriffs (Not really a census, but interesting)

5. 1710: Numbers of white men (masters and taxables), women, children and Negroes

6. 1712: Same as 1710

The source for all of these is Archives of Maryland, vol.25, pp.257-259.

Also included in the printed list of nine is a census dated 1755. This one originally appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine of that year and has been reprinted in Historical Statistics of the U.S., vol.2, p.1169 [Library: 13-2-5]. Gentleman's Magazine was published in London from 1731-1868 and contained "news, essays, poetry, parliamentary debates, book reviews....", and so on. Of interest to genealogists are the columns listing births, marriages and deaths for people living in the colonies. An index to these is published and in our library (David Dobson's American Vital Records from the Gentleman's Magazine)

However, while all of this is fun to know, it is really irrelevant as the Census of 1755, like the earlier ones, contains no names, and is therefore not included in his book.

A census listed for 1762 defeated me. My first thought was that this might refer to a tax list - but I can find nothing from that date which seems to fit the bill.

The last two censuses on our patron's list are the ones from 1776 and 1778, both well known to all of us. These are indexed at the Archives and fully described in Bulldog articles.
 
 

THE ARCHIVISTS' Bulldog
Vol. 3, No. 26
31 July 1989

Record Series of the Week Ben Primer

ADJUTANT GENERAL (Maryland Guard Register)

1861 MdHR 5585 STAGSER 329

This is a record of individuals serving in Companies B through G of the Maryland Guard in 1861. All listed seemingly are from Baltimore City.

The entries are arranged alphabetically by first letter of last name. The register includes the individual's name, rank, company, age, residence, place of business, date of entry into service. There is information on leave status, resignations, transfers and expulsions.
 
 
 

THE ARCHIVISTS' Bulldog
Vol. 3, No. 27
7 August 1989

Index of the Week Ben Primer

Index 82 - ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY REGISTER

OF WILLS (Orphans Court Proceedings - Index), 1777-1816.

This index to the orphans court proceedings of Anne Arundel County was compiled by Mr. and Mrs. Emmett Radcliffe using the WK film which in and of itself is a major accomplishment. The film, unfortunately, is not complete for all of our holdings for the 1777-1816 time period that the Radcliffe's indexed, so there are significant gaps in the index.

The index cards are arranged alphabetically for every name in the volumes that were indexed. The card provides the accession number and page for each entry, a brief summary of the nature of the entry (e.g. order to sell property; appointment of guardian), and the date of the proceeding. The indexing does include docket entries in volumes accessioned as orphans court dockets.

The proceedings provide information about administration of estates, marriages of widows, apprenticeships, slave ownership, ages of deponents, Revolutionary War soldier's disabilities, deaths, and administration and care of guardians and their estates. They often provide helpful information about family relationships that can be found in no other place.

The following volumes are indexed:

MdHR 9524, 1777-1779

MdHR 4843-1-1, 1782-1784 [indexed as MdHR 4843-1]

MdHR 4799-1, 1784 [indexed as MdHR 4799]

MdHR 4800-1, 1788-1790 [indexed as MdHR 4800. Only pp. 1-235 of this volume are indexed; the indexing stops in the middle of the 1790 docket. Minutes for 1791-1797 are not indexed]

MdHR 4801, 1797-1805 [indexed as MdHR 4802 by mistake; the 1797-1805 entries in MdHR 4802 can be found using the dates in the index, but the page numbers do not correspond.]

MdHR 4799-2, 1805-1807 [indexed as MdHR 4799]

MdHR 4799-3, 1815-1816 [indexed as MdHR 4799]

The following items that also cover periods encompassed by the index are not indexed:

MdHR 4843-2-1, 1794

MdHR 4843-3-1, 1794-1819

MdHR 4802-1, 1795-1805 [see MdHR 4801 above]

MdHR 4843-4, 1800-1813

MdHR 4843-1-2, 1805-1807

MdHR 4802-2, 1807-1811

MdHR 4843-5-1, 1809-1811

MdHR 4803, 1811-1820

MdHR 4804, 1816-1821

REFERENCE STAFF MINUTES Ben Primer

A plan to have patrons receive either 6-month or daily passes to park in our lot was discussed. This is only means to get DGS to tow. Staff agreed to try for a time. Ben will check with all library assistants before proceeding.

Nancy will work on arranging a CPR course.

Please note that a restricted record with nothing more than a fuzzy stamp on it was found in modern court records this week. It should, of course, have been in a sealed envelope. The episode points up the need to review modern court records, especially when requests for copies are made. Any material found like this should be brought to Pat's attention.

Please make sure you put full dates on all PD orders made in search room just as you do for the mail program. All forms must be initialed before they are sent to the lobby.

On demand xerox that is retrieved after the register closes out front may simply be given to the patron. Generally we need not collect for less than four copies.

Columbus Day now follows the federal holiday schedule, so the calendar we prepared last fall is in error. We will be closed Monday, October 9, not Thursday, October 12. Ben will post a sign that Lynne is preparing.

The (Death Record, Counties, Index) covering the 1924-1934 gap is now available thanks to the good work of Les and the photo lab.

Shashi and her intern Jimmy have produced a guide to the DNR topic file which is behind circulation. Ben will work with her to get it into WordCruncher as well. Interesting information on chipmunks, skunks, etc.

Rick circulated information on the Maryland Mutual Consent Adoption Registry. It will be located in the Primer. He also circulated an article on "Dealing with State Bureaucrats"

which he urged all staff to read since it points up our need to be public oriented. The copy will be available at circulation.
 
 
 

THE ARCHIVISTS' Bulldog
Vol. 3, No. 29
21 August 1989

Index of the Week Ben Primer

Index 83 - Frederick County Register of Wills (Orphans Court Proceedings--Index) 1777-1808.

This index provides name access to all names recorded in the surviving proceedings of the Orphans Court of Frederick county from 1777 to 1808. There are a few gaps for which no proceedings exist. The index includes names, year, nature of action taken by the court and a citation.

The index provides information on administrations of estates (including distributions to heirs), marriages of widows, apprenticeships (including trades and ages), slave ownership (slaves' names are indexed), Revolutionary War soldiers' pensions for disabilities, deaths, administration and care of orphans and their estates by guardians.

The following records are indexed. Note that the index covers a longer time span than the current Guide to Finding Aids says.

GM#1, 1777-1784, MdHR 12290

GM#2, 1784-1800, MdHR 12291

GM#3, 1801-1805, MdHR 12292

RB#1, 1805-1808, MdHR 12293

Record Series of the Week Ben Primer

ADJUTANT GENERAL (Civil War Muster Rolls and Service Records), 1861-1865

This record series (consisting of 39 oversize boxes) is probably the most valuable of our Civil War era holdings, but it is not easy to use and their is limited name access. In addition, all of the muster rolls are folded and many of the company and regiment level rolls are in terrible condition due to constant use and folding over the years.

The series is arranged by regiment. For each regiment there are muster in and muster out rolls for commissioned officers at the beginning of the regimental records. These are followed by regimental reports (annual returns of alterations and casualties, quarterly returns of deceased, field and staff lists and monthly returns).

Then for each regiment there are company level muster rolls of various kinds for which a company could not be identified (but note that many of these rolls actually have a company given somewhere on the roll). Finally there are company level rolls (muster in rolls, muster in and descriptive rolls, muster out rolls) which are arranged alphabetically by company. Full company and detachment rolls are first. These are followed by rolls applying only to one or two individuals (these are arranged alphabetically by name in most cases, but when there are two or more names, they could be under any of the names).

Some detail about what is in each of these rolls helps one understand their value:

Muster-In Rolls - provide name, rank, age, when and where mustered, period of enlistment, travel allowance.

Muster-In and Descriptive Rolls - provide name, rank, place of birth, age, occupation, when and where enlisted, period of enlistment, eye and hair color, complexion, height, when and where mustered, last pay, residence when enlisted, bounty if any

Muster-Out Rolls - these are arranged into four sections: those still in service; previous discharges; deaths; desertions. Within each section names are arranged by rank and then alphabetically. Includes name, rank, age, when joined and enlisted, when mustered into service, last pay, allowances and bounties, remarks (including promotions, discharges, sickness, AWOLs, POWs).

Regimental Annual Return of Alterations and Casualties - provide lists of all officers in regiment, gains and losses in forces during previous year, where those gains/losses occurred as to place and company; lists of wounded and killed; discharges; major activities of the regiment during the previous year.

Quarterly Return of Deceased - regimental report of quarterly losses by name, place.

Monthly Returns - provide list of officers, total troop strength, lists of absences, POWs, incarcerations, sicknesses, deaths during the month.

Field and Staff Lists - lists of regimental officers.

Records exist for the following regiments (note that some muster rolls contain names from several companies or regiments; there seems to be no rationale for their organization and there are no cross references):

Public Guard Regiment/Camp Hoffman

1st Regiment Infantry - Cos. A-F, H

4th Regiment Infantry - Cos. A-K

5th Regiment Infantry - Cos. A-C, E-I, K

6th Regiment Infantry - Cos. A-E

7th Regiment Infantry - Cos. A-K

1st Potomac Home Brigade Infantry - Cos. A-I, K

2nd Potomac Home Brigade Infantry

3rd Potomac Home Brigade Infantry

Eastern Shore 1st Regiment Infantry

Patapsco Guards Independent Company

Baltimore (Dix) Light Infantry - Cos. A-I

Cole's Cavalry

1st Regiment Potomac Home Brigade Cavalry - Cos. A-M

3rd Regiment Potomac Home Brigade Cavalry

1st Regiment Cavalry

1st Regiment Light Artillery - Batteries A,B,D

Baltimore Battery Light Artillery - Batteries A,B

1st Regiment Heavy Artillery

2nd Regiment, U. S. Artillery?

1st Regiment Infantry, United States Colored Troops (USCT)

2nd Regiment Infantry, USCT

3rd Regiment Infantry, USCT

7th Regiment Infantry, USCT

8th Regiment Infantry, USCT

9th Regiment Infantry, USCT

10th Regiment Infantry, USCT

19th Regiment Infantry, USCT

30th Regiment Infantry, USCT

39th Regiment Infantry, USCT

1st Brigade Band, USCT

1st Regiment Light Artillery, USCT

2nd Regiment Light Artillery, USCT

14th Regiment Heavy Artillery, USCT

1st Regiment Cavalry, USCT

2nd Regiment Cavalry, USCT

10th Regiment Cavalry, USCT

The only way for most patrons to gain access to these records is to use our index to the History and Roster of Maryland Volunteers and then to find the company and regiment in which an individual may have served. Even then access may be problematic since the History and Roster is not by any means complete for all of these rolls.
 
 
 

THE ARCHIVISTS' Bulldog
Vol. 3, No. 30
28 August 1989

Index of the Week Ben Primer

INDEX 84 - Washington County Register of Wills (Orphans Court Proceedings - Index), 1786-1805.

This is an index to the first three volumes of Washington County Orphans Court Proceedings. Cards are arranged alphabetically by name (there are a few subjects like newspapers). The index provides a date, type of information found in the record and a citation.

The index provides information on administrations of estates (including distributions to heirs), marriages of widows, apprenticeships (including trades and ages), slave ownership, Revolutionary War soldiers' pensions for disabilities, deaths, administration and care of orphans and their estates by guardians.

SERENDIPITOUS NEWS

In answering a letter about the locations of St. Mary's County hundreds in the early nineteenth-century, I consulted Lois Carr who put me on to a map showing the hundreds during that period which appears in Bayly Marks' dissertation "Economic and Society in a Staple Plantation System: St. Mary's County, Maryland, 1790-1840." The map appears on page 145; the dissertation is located in the library at 21/2/6. Bayly based the map upon work done by Chris Allan for an earlier period and upon a close reading of descriptions of the boundaries in laws and court minutes.
 
 

THE ARCHIVISTS' Bulldog
Vol. 3, No. 31
5 September 1989

Library Libations Ben Primer

Library Holdings on Other States

Over the course of the next few weeks I hope to comment on a few of the more interesting items in our collection of Historical Records Survey volumes found in the library in ranges 4 and 5, and other holdings for nearby states.

For Delaware the WPA workers completed a guide to Lutheran and Protestant Episcopal Church records that is comparable to the PEC volume for Maryland. In addition, there is a Delaware Church directory which includes an index to churches and their affiliated organizations, to ministers and to the churches in each town. There is also a guide to the records of New Castle County which of course would be helpful for understanding the records of the other two Delaware counties, Kent and Sussex.

In the Delaware section in Range 6 we have calendars of Kent, New Castle and Sussex wills from 1680-1800 and Raymond Clark's more recent indexes to wills and administrations for the same counties and time period. Clark's volumes include county maps showing hundreds. We also have Ed Wright's volume on vital records of Kent and Sussex counties which includes Quaker, Episcopal and Presbyterian church records 1686-1800. We have the Wilmington City directory of 1814, Delaware Archives which focus primarily on military records, Court Records of Kent County, Delaware, 1680-1705, and a book on historic houses and buildings in Delaware.

From the Delaware State Archives we have two preliminary inventories on older records and fugitive records of the state, annual reports, monthly accession lists, newsletters, the Governor's Appointment Register, 1674-1851. There are annual reports and the guide to manuscripts of Eleutherian Mills/Hagley Foundation, a guide to tracing Sussex county ancestors, a Delaware history bibliography and the recent directory of the historical records in Delaware repositories.
 
 
 

THE ARCHIVISTS' Bulldog
Vol. 3, No. 32
11 September 1989

Library Libations Ben Primer

For the State of Pennsylvania we have Historical Survey guides for 16 counties: Adams, Beaver, Berks, Blair, Delaware, Eire, Fayette, Forest, Greene, Lancaster, Lawrence, Luzerne, Warren, Washington, Wayne and Westmoreland. In addition the WPA workers also compiled calendars for the Joel R. Poinsett Papers at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Pierre Eugene DuSimitiere Papers at the Library Company of Philadelphia and a general guide to Manuscript Collections in Pennsylvania. Finally, there is an interesting Bibliography of American Literature which indexes magazine holdings and literary biographies written by the WPA at the University of Pennsylvania. All literature appearing in a number of magazine articles, book reviews and critical essays is indexed.

For our other Pennsylvania holdings there are a number of guides to the State Archives published since 1960 including several for microform holdings, maps, manuscripts, record groups. The Historical Records State Assessment for Pennsylvania is also in this area.

For the genealogist there see Pennsylvania Area Key and Genealogical Sources at the Pennsylvania State Archives. We also have books on Early Pennsylvania Births, 1675-1875, Central Pennsylvania Marriages, 1700-1896, an 1800 Pennsylvania census index, German Settlers of Pennsylvania, Lutheran Baptisms and Marriages, Southeast Pennsylvania Probate and Orphans Court Records of Snyder County, and a guide to the Court of Common Pleas records of Chester County. We also have works on Pennsylvania and the Civil War, Writings on Pennsylvania History, and Philadelphia County Political Subdivisions, the Pennsylvania-Maryland boundary dispute and Pennsylvania Archives.

Guides to the following institutions are available: United States Army Military Research Collection, Carlisle Barracks; St. Andrew Society; Temple University; Moravian Archives; Friends Historical Library and Peace Collection at Swarthmore; David Library of the American Revolution; Historical Society of Pennsylvania; the City and County of Philadelphia; INA Corp.
 

TOURS

Rick Blondo has prepared the following guide to records available to show to various tour groups. A separate printed version of the document will be distributed to your box.

In FY 89 the Archives hosted 72 groups comprised of 1,334 individuals, most of whom received tours. I thought it would be helpful to provide a list of records I often use for tours so that other staff members who have the opportunity to give a tour may have material readily cited. Please suggest other records of particular interest you have come across so that this list can be expanded. My thanks to all the staff members through the years who have pointed out most of these records to me.

COLONIAL MARYLAND

Governor and Council (Proceedings) 1637-1650 [MdHR 3820; 2-26-1-1]

This is the oldest record at MSA. Specially boxed, it demonstrates our box making capability as well.

General Assembly (Laws) 1640-1692 [MdHR 1; 2-19-2-3]

This early law book is the first accessioned item at MSA. Page one records "An Act Concerning Religion" which made it a capital offense to blaspheme God's name or deny the existence of the Trinity. One can use the law books in this section, original portfolio laws in ranges 10 through 24, and the most current laws we have at this writing (1988) located at 2-14-2-11 to illustrate not only how recordation format changed over time but also almost any topic since laws have been passed on a multitude of subjects over the years.

MILITARY RECORDS

Adjutant General records contain a wealth of information largely unexplored by researchers.

Series of note include Militia Appointments (1794-1910) beginning 2-6-5-10; Civil War Muster Rolls and Service Records (1860-1867) beginning 2-5-4-9, especially interesting is the record of the United States Colored Troops 30th regiment, Maryland Volunteer Infantry Company K [MdHR 50055-50; 2-6-3 at bottom of range (portfolio)]; War of 1812 Papers (1812-1824) beginning 2-5-2-77; Naval Papers (1893-1905) beginning 2-6-4-41, and many more.

Special Collections (Forbes Collection) [MdHR G182; see card index finding aid at 303-1-1]

Prints, lantern slides and original negatives of Annapolis and the Naval Academy c. 1890-1930.

REVOLUTIONARY WAR ERA

Maryland State Papers (Series J) [MdHR 4878; 1-7-3-23 shelved following 1-7-3-26]

Letter from George Washington to the Maryland Senate President and House Speaker thanking them for the vote of praise Washington received from the General Assembly for his Revolutionary War services, November 1781.

CIVIL WAR ERA

Governor (Letterbook) 1854-1865 [MdHR 5207; 2-26-2-32]

This type of book was the xerox machine of its time. Within its pages can be found the justification in Governor Hicks' own words for keeping Maryland in the Union. It contains marvelous material documenting the period such as letters from Southern governors imploring Hicks to join the Confederacy. I understand this book has been published (or at least the letters from the War years.)

Maryland State Papers (Series A) Executive Papers beginning at 1-7-5 and wrapping around to 1-8-1 for the Civil War years contains largely unexplored material related to the war.

20TH CENTURY MARYLAND

Constitutional Convention of 1967 (Mace) [MdHR 18,285; RB], 1967

This is one of two maces created for use during the convention. This mace is creatively boxed with its staff poking through a small hole cut into the edge of a clamshell. The other mace is on permanent display in the Great Seals of Maryland exhibit at the State House. The mace is pictured in the con-con index and guide we sell.

BLACKS IN MARYLAND

Land Office (Patents) 1 [MdHR 17,332-1; 1-23-1-2], p. 166 Mathias Zause (de Sousa), 16 August 1650, transported 1633/34.

A record of the first black in Maryland.

Baltimore County (Land Records) HWS IA [MdHR 4898; 2-12-10-38], pp. 58-59 Indenture of Robert and Benjamin Bannaky (Banneker), 11 March 1737.

A record of the land owned by Benjamin Banneker. His father had young Benjamin listed as joint-owner of the property.

Special Collections (Dodge Collection) [MdHR G564; 0-9-6-3]

These materials contain references to Frederick Douglass. It includes materials from the family who owned Douglass, the papers of the Anthony family of Caroline and Talbot Counties, 1664-1895, including Frederick Douglass' book, My Bondage and My Freedom with marginal comments by Anthony's great-grandaughter. G564-71 is an inventory of negroes from Aaron Anthony's estate including Frederick Douglass, 19 December 1826. G 564-93 is My Bondage and My Freedom with notes by Lucretia Anthony (very fragile) and G 564-94 is a ledger of Aaron Anthony showing births of slaves, including Frederick Augustus (Douglas) in 1818 on page 164. For more information see the lists for the Dodge & Hall Collections.

INDIANS IN MARYLAND

Provincial Court (Land Records) EI 8 [MdHR 17,258; 1-16-2-16], pp. 8-11 Indian Treaty with the Six Nations (of NY) who claimed rights to areas along the Potomac and Susquehanna, 16 November 1744

This item is of particular interest because it has the marks used by the Indian representatives such as a deer, an ox next to a stream, etc. We have numerous Indian Treaties on file and Phebe has a folder with citations. Until that becomes available for general use many others can be found in volume 5 of the Black Books [MdHR 4628; 1-6-3-24]

UNUSUAL ITEMS IN SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

Special Collections (Dowsett Signal Flag Collection) [MdHR D1998; 0-11-7], c. 1813.

Contains hand colored and uncolored manuscript renderings of the distinguishing flags of the ships Revenge, Patapsco, Comet, Wasp, and various signals used by the U.S. Navy in the Chesapeake and port of Annapolis.

Special Collections (Sasscer Collection) [MdHR G1374-1; 0-10-4-12], late 18th century surveyor's compass and early 19th century surveyor's chain.

Can be used effectively with the Mason and Dixon letter as chains and links are mentioned in it. Compass tripod is G 1374-2 at 0-10-4-lower shelf.

Special Collections (Rochlitz Collection of Survey Instruments) [MdHR G 1986; 0-11-11], surveyor's transit and tripod.

Special Collections (Maryland Forests and Parks Collection) [MdHR D1178-47; 0-10-2-8], male and female rattlesnake rattles removed from two snakes sunning themselves near a CCC camp site at Sang Run, Garrett County, July 1935.

This is a small (but noisy) part of a large collection of Civilian Conservation Corps memorabilia, documents, and photographs.

Special Collections (Pittman Collection) [MdHR G1157-4; 0-10-1-15], Copper Jury Selection box, n.d.

A large rotating device.

Special Collections (Elm Tree Section) [MdHR G1467; 0-10-6-18], a section of the elm tree at Cambridge, MA under which George Washington became commander in chief of the continental army, 3 July 1775.

Large hunk of tree with plastic caption in a file folder.

Special Collections (American Clan Gregor Society) [MdHR G254-4; 0-9-2-superoversize], Genealogical chart of Alexander Magruder.

Very large rolled chart approx. 15' long when flat. Traces family back to Odin, father of Thor!

Special Collections (Harper's Weekly Engravings) [MdHR P1579; 0-10-10], Civil War Era views.

BOUNDARY RECORDS

Maryland Provincial Papers (Boundary Papers, North and East) 1720-1767 [MdHR 40114; 1-6-3-7], letter from Mason and Dixon to Governor Sharpe reporting on their survey progress. Includes references to Indian troubles, their mile post location, and "chains" and "links" units of measure, 22 October 1767.

This record can be used in conjunction with some surveying materials in special collections. See section above for details.

UNUSUAL ITEMS IN COAGSER

Baltimore City Circuit Court #2 (Equity Papers A) 16613 A [MdHR Transer 56, 602-003-012; case at 3-24-5 box 1581; exhibit at 3-18-6-11 box 2403], 29 December 1929

This case is a dispute between the American Pastry Products Corporation (American Cone Company) and the Maryland Baking Company featuring a case of ice cream cones entered as an exhibit. The cones are rectangular to be filled with ice cream sliced from a block.

Baltimore City Circuit Court #2 (Equity Papers A) 16694 A [MdHR Transer 56, 602-003-012; case at 3-24-5 box 1587; exhibit at 3-18-6-1 box 2393], 1935

This case is a dispute between clothing manufacturers of early 20th century underwear in which 2 examples of underwear were entered as evidence to demonstrate that one company stole the design of the other. One item has a May Company (Baltimore Department Store) price tag stapled to it (65 cents).

UNUSUAL ITEMS IN STAGSER

Land Office (Certificates of Survey, Patented) Worcester County #1474 (Portfolio) [MdHR 40,02401474; 1/30/1], "Lady's Resort to the Ocean," patented 15 January 1869

This is the land patent survey for what is now Ocean City comprising 280 acres. The last line of the description notes that "there are no improvements on said vacancy."

Secretary of State (Motor Vehicle Applications) # 1555 [MdHR 50,267-4; 2-29-5-45], 24 February 1906

Under the provisions of Chapter 518 of the 1904 Laws of Maryland any motor vehicle which was operated in Maryland (even vehicles just passing through registered in other jurisdictions) were required to register with the Secretary of State. The cited reference is for a registration obtained by the Coca-Cola Company of Baltimore for their 10 horsepower Cadillac vehicle number 2051. The first registration in this series can be construed as the first drivers license issued in Maryland. Many early registrations are from embassies in Washington.

MARYLAND CONNECTIONS TO OTHER AREAS:

WASHINGTON, DC

Chancery Court (Record) 51 [MdHR 17,764; 1-35-2-1], beginning with page 1 re: the estate of John Davidson who died in 1794 leaving his land which was in PG county and became part of "the Territory of Columbia and City of Washington" containing numerous plats of what is now Thomas Circle (shown in its entirety) and parts of Dupont and Scott circles, 1801.

See the Dennis Griffith map of Maryland and Washington, DC on exhibit in the Where is Watkins Point? exhibit.

FRANCE

While we do not have an original of the "Frenchman's Map" we have it reproduced in at least three publications available for reference use. This map is a "Plan of the Harbour and City of Annapolis with the Encampement of the Light Troops under Major General Marquis de la Fayette's Command" and it is available to see in color on the back of a free handout we produced in 1983 entitled Bicentennial Celebrations: Annapolis, Maryland December 23, 1983 - January 14, 1984, copies of which are available from the Publications Office. Black and white reproductions are seen in Figure 47 page 42 of the Hammond-Harwood House Atlas of Historical Maps of Maryland, 1608-1908 and plate 83 of The American Campaigns of Rochambeau's Army, 1780-1783, volume II [2222.R1; Lib 13-2-6] with a related description on page 155.

CHINA

Special Collections - See G1143, G1309, G1457, G 1476, G 1625.
 
 
 

THE ARCHIVISTS' Bulldog
Vol. 3, No. 33
18 September 1989

Library Libations Ben Primer

The WPA Guides for the District of Columbia include calendars for the Peter Force letters on the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence in the Loomis Collection, the Alexander Graham Bell correspondence in the Volta Bureau, the Frederick Douglass Papers at the Frederick Douglass Memorial House in Anacostia. A Directory of Churches indexes churches, organizations, ministers and there is the well known Episcopal Church Directory that Phebe has on her shelves.

Our other D.C. holdings in Range 6 include books on art in the Capitol, the sesquicentennial of Holy Trinity Parish, Georgetown, and the Free Negro in the District of Columbia, 1790-1846 (Letitia Woods Brown). Bibliographic works include a Guide to the location of papers of members of the House of Representatives, a Senate bibliography and a Bibliographic Tour of Washington. Single copies of the Howard Review and a Society of the Cincinnati annual report exist.

Of interest to genealogists will be Eleanor Cook's Guide to the Records of Your District of Columbia Ancestors, Blacks in the Marriage Records of the District of Columbia, 1811-1870 (2 vols.), and a reprint of the Washington Directory of 1822. Also of interest are Vols. 13, 20, 42-43, 53-56 of the Columbia Historical Society's journal (much like Maryland Historical Magazine) and an index to illustrations in the first 43 volumes of that journal.

Finally, there are short pieces on Colonial Taverns of Georgetown, Historical Fort Washington, and "Naming the Capitol and the Capital."

SERENDIPITOUS NEWS

Mame Warren would like to amend Rick's "ice cream cone" article to let everyone understand that the glass lantern slides and negatives in the Forbes Collection cannot be shown on a tour. The prints from this collection are what can be used for slides of Annapolis and the Naval Academy.
 
 
 

THE ARCHIVISTS' Bulldog
Vol. 3, No. 34
25 September 1989

Library Libations Ben Primer

The Historical Records Survey holdings for West Virginia may be some of the most useful for our genealogists. Located in LIB/5/3/3, they include a general book on West Virginia County Formations and Boundary Changes which is a review of laws related to county boundaries and survey books for the following counties: Gilmer, Grant, Lincoln, Marion, Mineral, Monroe, Pendleton, Pocahontas, Putnam, Randolph, Ritchie, Roane, Taylor and Upshur.

There are cemetery readings for the Fairmont, Grant, Lincoln and Paw Paw Magisterial Districts in Marion County and for the Gideon Magisterial District in Cabell County. These name indexes probably include close to 10,000 cemetery inscriptions; relationships if listed on the tombstones are given.

Also of interest are the inventories of Public Vital Statistics and Church Vital Statistics which are arranged by county, town and church. The Church Records inventories include a general bibliography to church records in West Virginia, and listings of holdings for the Presbyterian and Protestant Episcopal churches.

Finally, there are calendars for holdings in several West Virginia repositories of the early governors: Francis Harrison Pierpont (governor of the reorganized state of Virginia, 1861-1863); Arthur I. Boreman (1863-1867, then Senator to 1896); William E. Stevenson (1869-1871); John J. Jacob (1871-1877); Henry Mason Mathews (1877-1881; Attorney General prior to 1877; important for major strikes in coal fields and in railroad in 1870s).

Our other holdings on West Virginia are located at LIB/7/1/4. These include Carol McGinniss, West Virginia Genealogy: Sources and Resources, Annual Reports of the Department of Archives and History (later Department of Culture and History); Annual Reports, monthly accessions lists and Guide to the Manuscripts and Archives in the West Virginia Collection at West Virginia University (Morgantown); and State Papers and Public Addresses for Governors MAtthew Mansfield Neely (1941-1945) and Clarence W. Meadows (1945-1949).

Index of the Week Ben Primer

Index 62 - CHANCERY COURT (Petitions-Index), 1713-1851

This is an index to Chancery Papers petitions. All names listed here are also found in Index 60. Most of the petitions are for insolvent debtors which may be its only current value until the Chancery Papers project gets on WordCruncher. Only the first 6000 cases are indexed.

The laws relating to the Chancery Court seem to use the terms bill and petition somewhat interchangeably. The chief difference seems to be that a bill [of complaint] is a written statement of the plaintiff's cause of action or complaint against another party whereas a petition is an application to the court to redress a wrong or grant a favor where there are no parties in opposition.
 
 

THE ARCHIVISTS' Bulldog

Vol. 3, No. 35

2 October 1989

Library Libations Ben Primer

Our holdings for the Historical Records Survey for Virginia include county guides for Amelia, Brunswick, Chesterfield, Dinwiddie, Isle of Wight, Middlesex, Powhatan, Prince George and Southampton Counties.

Of particular value to genealogists in the Virginia HRS materials are three indexes to religious newspapers: Marriage Notices in the Southern Churchman, 1835-1941 (2 vols. of the state Protestant Episcopal journal with over 7000 names); Index to Obituary Notices in the Religious Herald, 1828-1938 (19,000 names in the Southern Baptist journal); and Index to Marriage Notices in the Religious Herald, 1828-1938 (2 vols. covering 20,000 names in this Southern Baptist journal).

Also of interest are guides to holdings in the Dover [Richmond] Baptist Association (84 Southern Baptist churches) and Negro Baptist Churches in Richmond (64 black churches). Each book contains an extensive review of Virginia laws relating to churches, the historical structure of each denominational group and a bibliography. Finally there are two volumes on Federal Archives in the States covering the holdings of the Virginia federal courts and the Department of Agriculture units in Virginia.

Our holdings in the Virginia section of the library 7/1/3-5 are extensive. This week I will review those works likely to be of help to genealogists, with the rest to follow in coming weeks. Two general guides are Genealogical Research in the Virginia State Library and Virginia Genealogy: A Guide to Resources in the University of Virginia Library.

On Virginia probate see Clayton Torrence, Virginia Wills and Administrations, 1632-1800 and Judith McGhan, Virginia Will Records. For land records see George Cabell Greer, Early Virginia Immigrants, 1623-1666, Gertrude E. Gray, Virginia Northern Neck Land Grants, 1694-1742, 1742-1775 (2 vols.) and Neil Marion Nugent, Cavaliers and Pioneers: Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents and Grants, 1623-1800 (3 vols. to 1732 and supplement for 1690-1692).

For Virginia deaths see Duane Lyle Borden, Tombstone Inscriptions: Toms Brook and Vicinity, Shenandoah County and Tombstone Inscriptions: Strasburg and Vicinity, Shenandoah County; H. R. McIlwaine, Index to Obituary Notices in the Richmond Enquirer and the Richmond Whig, 1804-1838; and Lucy Fitzhugh Kurtz and Benny Ritter, Roster of Confederate Soldiers Buried in Stonewall Cemetery, Winchester, Virginia. A related work is W. Mac. Jones, The Douglas Register, Being a Detailed Record of Births, Marriages and Deaths...Kept by the Rev. William Douglas from 1750 to 1797. Also of interest is William R. M. Houston and Jean M. Mihalyka, Colonial Residents of Virginia's Eastern Shore Whose Ages were Proved before Court Officials of Accomack and Northampton Counties.

Index of the Week Ben Primer

Index 63 - Chancery Court (Trustees-Index), 1713-1851.

This is an index to names of individuals named as trustees in Chancery Papers. The entries seem to be taken directly from the information written on the folders in which the Chancery Papers were kept before the recent project to flatten the papers. Unlike Index 62, this index covers all cases. Most trustees are named for cases involving insolvent debtors, estates and lunacy.

The index cards are arranged alphabetically by name, include the name of the party for whom the trustee is appointed if appropriate, the date and the case number. Kathy Jones tells me that the Chancery Papers project only includes trustees if named in the bill of complaint, so many names in this index may not appear in the final product of the Chancery Papers project. She also notes that tract names found on the old folders and in Index 61 are also not included if not found in the bill of complaint.
 
 
 

THE ARCHIVISTS' Bulldog
Vol. 3, No. 36
10 October 1989

Library Libations Ben Primer

In addition to the genealogical holdings for Virginia discussed last week, the Archives has a number of other works related to our neighbor to the south. For the State Library and Archives we have annual reports and accessions lists; guides to pre-1904 court records and church records; inventories/calendars for Continental Congress Papers and Virginia Land Office holdings; a Directory of Depositories in Virginia; a records management manual and a report on records keeping procedures in Virginia courts; and William Seale's book on Virginia's Executive Mansion.

We have a guide to manuscript holdings of the Virginia Historical Society; annual reports for the Menno Simons Library and Archives at Eastern Mennonite College and the Mt. Vernon Ladies' Association; and exhibit catalogs for the College of William and Mary and the Valentine Museum.

For Colonial Williamsburg we have annual reports, a guide to manuscript collections and a number of books: Eighteenth Century Williamsburg Imprints; The Williamsburg Collection of Antique Furnishings; Proceedings of the Presentation of the Williamsburg Award to Sir Winston Churchill; Antiques at Colonial Williamsburg; The Printer in Eighteenth-Century Williamsburg; J. A. Osborne, Williamsburg in Colonial Times.

For Virginia records see Martha W. Hiden, How Justice Grew: Virginia Counties: An Abstract of their Formation; Henrico Parish and the Parishes Descended Therefrom; Index to Virginia Court Records in Pennsylvania (District of West Augusta); County Court Records of Accomack-Northampton, Virginia, 1632-1640; John Harvey Creecy, Virginia Antiquary, Princess Anne County Loose Papers, 1700-1789; Virginia Records in the British Public Record Office; Committees of Safety of Westmoreland and Fincastle: Proceedings of County Committees, 1774-1776; Proclamation for Settling the Plantation of Virginia, 1625; Public and Private Records Repositories in Virginia: A Needs Assessment; Fairfax County in Virginia: Selections from Some Rare Sources; Virginia Court Records in Southwest Pennsylvania (Parts 2 and 3).

For the University of Virginia we have Historical Collections in the University of Virginia Libraries (1931-1950, including extensive indexes) and guides to microfilm publications for Lee Family Papers (1742-1795), Hammond Papers (1766-1825), Carter Family Papers (1659-1797), Ingram's Poe Collection; the Virginia Gazette Daybooks (1750-1766) and the R. M. T. Hunter Papers (1817-1887).

The Marine Corps Museum has registers for the following individuals: Henry Clay Cochrane (1841-1949); McLane Tilton (1861-1914); George C. Reid (1898-1960); Samuel Miller (1814-1856); Levi Twiggs (1834-1850) and the Frank Keeler Journal (1898).

Finally there are a number of monographs that may be of interest for particular subjects: Charles E. Hatch, Jr. The First Seventeen Years: Virginia, 1607-1624; F. Griffith Dodson, Speakers and Clerks of the Virginia House of Delegates, 1776-1955; C. Clement Samford and John M. Hemphill, II, Bookbinding in Colonial Virginia; John G. Gwathney, Historical Register of Virginians in the Revolution; Stratford: Colonial House and Plantation; The Minor Bartlow House, 1744-1970; Hubert H. Humphrey, Revolution and Politics: The Legacy of Independence; Thomas Jefferson and his Unknown Brother Randolph; Inventory of Economic Research Studies in the Fifth Federal Reserve District, Richmond (4 vols.).

Record Series of the Week Ben Primer

(Federal Direct Tax) 1798

These are actually assessment records made pursuant to Chapter 87 of the Laws of the United States for 1798, "An act to provide for the valuation of lands and dwelling houses, and the enumeration of slaves within the United States. The law divided states into districts (7 divisions for Maryland) which were further subdivided by the commissioners for the divisions. The records include minutes of the commissioners acting together in each state and assessments made of all dwelling houses, lands and slaves on October 1, 1798. The law also provided lists and abstracts be transmitted to the Secretary of the Treasury and that a surveyor of the revenue also be appointed to receive and preserve the lists and keep them updated on a regular basis.

The actual tax levied based upon this assessment was detailed in Chapter 92 of the Laws of the United States for 1798. Each state was given a quota, and collectors of internal revenues were to collect the tax based upon a set formula which could be reduced should the formula provide more revenue than a state's quota.

There are two basic kinds of lists, general (which are county wide and less detailed) and particular (which are for specific hundreds and quite detailed). The general lists are valuable as a means to get to the particular lists since they are alphabetical, indicate the hundred, and usually have a cross reference to how the name is numbered on the particular list. There are also summary lists (called abstracts) for each of the three types of assessments which are usually included among the general lists.

For the general and particular lists there is a further breakdown into three types of assessments. The first list relates to dwellings (with outbuildings) of more than $100 in value on lots not exceeding two acres. For each dwelling in this category the lists indicate name of occupant, name of owner, location and dimensions of the dwelling and outbuildings, building materials used, number of stories and windows and value.

The second type of list deals with lands, lots, wharves, and buildings not included under the first category. This list also shows each occupant of land, lot, wharf or building; owner of same; number and dimensions of dwellings and outbuildings; number and description of all other buildings and wharves; location and name of adjoining proprietors; acreage; value.

The third type of list is for slaves showing superintendent or owner of slaves, total number owned, number exempt from the tax due to disability and number subject to the tax (between the ages of 12 and 50).

As you can see this record series has immense value, both for the genealogist and the historian. It can be used as a proxy for the census in areas of Maryland for which the 1800 United States Census has been lost. It has enormous information about wealth and slaveholding. Above all it contains the best picture available about late eighteenth-century buildings in Maryland.

The Archives has microfilm [M-3468 - M-3481] for the following counties: Anne Arundel; Baltimore City; Baltimore County; Caroline; Charles; District of Columbia (Montgomery and Prince George's); Harford; Prince George's; Queen Anne's; Saint Mary's; Somerset; Talbot. Except for Prince George's, there are the general lists for dwellings, lands, and slaves described above. In addition there is a miscellaneous reel at the end of the series containing a few particular lists which are not identified by county (but could easily be identified by a careful researcher) and a record book of annual duties on carriages throughout Maryland organized by county, owner, and type of carriage for the years 1794 to 1798 (as provided by Chapter 45 of the Laws of the United States for 1794. Copies of all these laws are available in the topic file.

Index of the Week Ben Primer

Index 68 - (Federal Direct Tax - Index to Anne Arundel County Tracts and to Tenants and Tracts) 1798

This is an index to the Federal Direct Tax of 1798 for Anne Arundel County which is available on microfilm [M-3468]. This index has two sections. The first is an alphabetical index to all tracts of land named in the Federal Direct Tax particular lists for Anne Arundel County (see discussion of these lists in this week's Record Series). The second part is an alphabetical index by owner for the same lists.

This index seems to have begun as an index to Annapolis and Middle Neck Hundreds for which there are typed cards with no designation that they are for those areas. The work done for Annapolis and Middle Neck Hundreds does not include the particular list of slaves, so these typed cards are not as complete an index as are the rest of the cards for hundreds beyond Annapolis. At a later point handwritten cards were done for the rest of the county, with a coding system for each area as follows:

SRH -Severn River Hundred and South River Hundred

PMH -Patapsco Hundred and Maggothy Hundred

RR - Upper and Lower Rhode River Hundred

WR -West River and Herring Creek Hundred

UFH -Upper Fork Hundred and Bear Creek Hundred

EH -Elkridge Hundred and Elkridge Landing Hundred

LCH -Lyon Creek Hundred and Herring Creek Hundred

PH -Patuxent Hundred and Huntington Hundred

BHN -Broad Neck Hundred and Town Neck Hundred

The cards for tracts include name of tract, owner, a citation, and sometimes acreage and location of adjoining properties. The cards for owners include names of tenants, description of the property and dwellings (including size and type) and assessed value. Cards for slaves indicate total number of slaves, the number exempt from state taxation and the number subject to taxation (those between 12 and 50).

The index does not cover the Anne Arundel County general lists which are also available on film which are for the entire county.

The value of these records is discussed under the series description for the Federal Direct Tax.
 
 

THE ARCHIVISTS' Bulldog
Vol. 3, No. 37
16 October 1989

Index of the Week Ben Primer

Index 66 - (Assessment of 1783 - Index to Tracts), 1782-1783. Arranged by county.

This is an alphabetical index to names of all tracts listed in the assessment. The index cards are first arranged by county and then alphabetically by tract name. The index cards include county, hundred, name of tracts and name of owner.

The Archives has assessments for the following counties and hundreds. Most of the originals are in the Scharf Papers, although some are in the boxes of assessments at the end of the series.

AA - Annapolis, Broad Neck, Elkridge, Elkridge Landing, Herring Creek, Huntington, Lyons Creek, Magothy, Middle Neck, Patapsco, Patuxent, Road River, Severn, South River, Town Neck, Upper Fork and Bear Ground, West River

BA - Back River Lower, Baltimore East, Delaware Lower and Upper, Deptford, Gunpowder Upper, Middle River Lower, Middle River Upper and Back River, Middlesex, Mine Run, North, Pipe Creek

CV - First, Second, Third Districts

CA - Lower Choptank, River, Upper Choptank Districts

CE - First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth Districts

CH - First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh Districts, both General and Land except for Sixth which is Land only

DO - Lower, Middle and Upper Districts, both General and Land

HA - Broad Creek, Bush River Lower, Bush River Upper and Eden, Deer Creek Lower, Deer Creek Middle, Deer Creek Upper, Gunpowder Upper and Lower, Harford Lower, Harford Upper, Spesutia Lower, Spesutia Upper, Susquehanna

KE - First (Lower Langford Bay and Eastern Neck), Second (Chestertown and Upper Langford Bay), Third (Chester and Worten), Fourth (Morgans Creek and Lower South Sassafras), Fifth Districts, both land and property for each.

MO - Linganore and Sugar Loaf; Lower Newfoundland, Rock Creek and North West (general and land); Middle Potomac, Lower Potomac and Georgetown (general and land); Sugarland and Upper Potomac; Upper Newfoundland and Seneca; Upper Potomac

QA - Corsica, Island, Tuckahoe (Wye and Tuckahoe Hundreds), Upper (Eton and Chester Hundreds) Districts

SO - Dividing Creek, Great Annamessex, Little Annamessex, Monokin, Monye, Nanticoke, Pocomoke, Princess Anne, Rewastico, Wicomico

TA - First (Bay and Mill), Second (Island, Tuckahoe and Kings Creek), Third (Bolingbroke and Third Haven) Districts, both general and land for each

WA - Cumberland and Upper Town; Fort Frederick, Linton, Upper Antietam and Jerusalem; Lower Antietam and Sharpsburg; Marsh; Salisbury and Conocheague; Wills Town, Sand Creek, Skipton, Murleys Run and Elizabeth

WO - Acquango, Boquenorton, Buckingham and Worcester, Mattapox, Pitts Creek, Pocomoke, Queponco, Snow Hill, Wicomico

THE ARCHIVISTS' Bulldog

Vol. 3, No. 38

23 October 1989

Index of the Week Ben Primer

Index 67 - St. Anne's Parish--Anne Arundel County (Tax List-Index), 1764-1766.

This index provides access to the tax lists found in the Galloway/Maxcy/Marcoe Papers at the Library of Congress which are available on microfilm [MdHR M-1171]. The tax list is believed to have been prepared by John Galloway for St. Anne's Parish. There are two tax lists, one for 1764 which is Volume I on film, but labelled A in the index and one for 1765-1766 which is Volume II or B in the index. Citations are to volume letter, then page, then to position on the page. For example B116-2 reference to the Volume II, page 116, second citation on the page. Most names in the index are usually followed by another name in parentheses; the name in parentheses is the name of the account under which the first name appears. Two abbreviations are frequently used, insol. for insolvent and sy. for security.

I frankly have no idea what these two volumes are. I consulted with everyone at the Archives on Saturday who might know (including Greg Stiverson and Robert Barnes), but came up dry. I look forward to a dissertation from Dr. Papenfuse as to the function and usefulness of these volumes.
 
 

THE ARCHIVISTS' Bulldog
Vol. 3, No. 40
20 November 1989

Index of the Week Ben Primer

Regarding Index 67, the Galloway Tax List for St. Anne's Parish described in the Bulldog, Vol. 3, No. 38, Phebe tells me John Galloway was a sheriff and this is his account book in which he collected fees due the church and other people in the area. I still await a Papenfusian desideratum on this subject.
 
 
 

THE ARCHIVISTS' Bulldog
Vol. 3, No. 41
27 November 1989

Index of the Week Ben Primer

Index 70 - Annapolis (Land Records-Index to Individuals), 1699-1817

Index 71 - Anne Arundel County (Land Records-Index to Individuals), 1653-1725

Index 72 - Anne Arundel County (Land Records-Index to Individuals), 1724-1759

Index 73 - Anne Arundel County (Land Records-Index to Tracts), 1653-1759

Index 74 - Anne Arundel County (Land Records-Index to Subjects), 1653-1759

Index 75 - Anne Arundel County (Land Records-Index to Individuals), 1759-1784

Index 76 - Anne Arundel County (Land Records-Index to Tracts), 1759-1784

Index 77 - Anne Arundel County (Land Records-Index to Subjects), 1759-1784

These eight indexes were presumably done by Historic Annapolis to aid their research. Index 70 pertains only to names of individuals found in the Anne Arundel County (Land Records) and in Liber B of the Annapolis Mayor's Court (Land Records) pertaining to Annapolis tracts. There are also a few marriage licenses and manumissions included in this index. This index is quite comprehensive regarding information found in the land records for the period after about 1750. For earlier dates there is only a brief citation.

Indexes 71, 72 and 75 are amazingly detailed indexes regarding virtually any name appearing in the Anne Arundel County land records from 1653 to 1784. Included are names of witnesses, indentures, individuals providing bills of exchange, names of adjoining land owners, consignees, persons providing testimony, individuals registering cattlemarks, deponents, ship's commanders, etc. Information about births, previous marriages and deaths is frequently provided. In sum, for Anne Arundel County land records prior to 1784, patrons should be directed to these indexes rather than to Index 115, both because these indexes are arranged alphabetically and cover many libers at once and because they are much more comprehensive.

Indexes 73 and 76 provide access to tract names for the same 1653-1874 period. Again, I think this is the place for patrons to go because it is arranged strictly alphabetically and covers broad time periods, but it provides little more information than is found in Index 115.

Finally, Indexes 74 and 77 are subject indexes that include information about a host of topics found in the land records, ranging from occupations (looking for accountants in colonial Anne Arundel County, you get a list of people) and religion (all people identified as Quakers are found under that subject) to places of residence outside the county, types of houses, and the existence of dams, roads or ferries. The final drawer of Index 74 contains cards that were apparently to be filed, some presumably into this index given their content, but others seem to have been destined for the individual or tract indexes. These merit a more thorough investigation and ought to caution one about whether the individual and tract indexes are complete, although my random sampling found them so.
 
 
 

THE ARCHIVISTS' Bulldog
Vol. 3, No. 42
4 December 1989

Index of the Week Ben Primer

Index 69 - Anne Arundel County (Judgment Record - Index to Subjects), 1703-1721 [2 file drawers]

Index 69 - Anne Arundel County (Judgment Record - Index to Individuals), 1703-1792 [38 boxes in stacks at 1/36/6]

These two indexes which are numbered the same provide subject and name access to the Anne Arundel (Judgment Record) and to Anne Arundel County (Court Minutes), 1725-1775, which are on microfilm, CR 11,668. The original of the latter is located at the Garrett Library of Johns Hopkins University. For some reason, the first three boxes of Index 69 in the stacks are labelled 79A; do not be confused, this is Index 69.

The topic index, which probably was created during the Historic Annapolis work, provides access to such subjects as disease, occupations, transportation, criminal activity, places, governmental offices and officials.

The name index is mentioned in the WPA guide for Anne Arundel County which states it covered only 1702-1704 and was part of a much larger Anne Arundel County index which included wills (1777-1820), insolvent debtors (1788-1804), certificates of freedom (1810-1844), ejectments (1807), land commissions (1791-1805), levy list (1911-1837) and manumissions (1797-1866), all of which have now been segregated into several different indexes. Presumably the Archives and Historic Annapolis added to this index over the years to extend coverage to 1792.

The name index provides access not only to litigants (which is what the current Guide states) but also to pleadings, executors of estates, bonds, witnesses, custody of minors, constables, bail, marriages, support of orphans, officers of the court, indictments, depositions, licenses, probate, jurors and summonses. One should note that there are significant gaps in the (Judgment Record), most notably 1723-1734 and 1773-1783.
 
 

THE ARCHIVISTS' Bulldog
Vol. 3, No. 43
11 December 1989

Index of the Week Ben Primer

Index 81 - Calvert County (Land Transactions-Index), 1676-1699?

This is an index that consists of less than 75 cards providing access to transactions involving Calvert County lands found in a single volume of Provincial Court (Land Records), namely WRC#1. Its only value is that it does identify the county, which our other indexes to these records do not. Since this is a county whose land records were destroyed by fire, this is of help. Pat and I have decided to remove this index, however, and replace it with a WordCruncher version that will be part of a new WordCruncher file known as MISCELL which will have a variety of miscellaneous short databases.

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