BIRTH RECORDS AT THE MARYLAND STATE ARCHIVES (Part II)
by Heather Ravanbakhsh
In 1874 the Baltimore City Mayor and City Council passed an ordinance for the registration of births in the city (No. 86, Ordinances of 1874). Even after 1898 when the state Board of Health began regulating birth registration for the 23 counties, Baltimore City continued to maintain its own records until 1972.
The earliest certificates resulting from the ordinance contained the sex, race, and number (birth order) of the child, date and place of birth, names and birthplaces of the parents, occupation of the father, and name and address of the medical attendant. In 1903 the city's Bureau of Vital Statistics revised the form to add a line for the child's name. However, the certificates do not routinely include the name of the child until 1911. Another revision of the form took place in 1910, adding the residence, race, age, and occupation of each parent and the number of children previously born to the mother. In 1949, confidential medical information was added to the form.
The certificates are arranged numerically by certificate number, making them roughly chronological. To perform an efficient search, a researcher should check the birth index first to obtain a certificate number. The only exception to this arrangement occurs for the year 1972. Those records are arranged chronologically by month and then alphabetically by the child's name. The Baltimore City birth index covers 1875 through 1941. It is a vowel index, arranged by the first letter and first vowel of the parents' surname. Each entry gives the parents names (occasionally the mother's maiden name), the date of birth, and the certificate number. The child is not named. Although the index is open to the public, please note that the birth certificates themselves are restricted for 100 years after the date of birth.
The Maryland State Archives holds the Baltimore City birth records in the following series:
In 1898, the General Assembly passed a law that initiated the registration of births in the 23 counties (Chapter 312, Acts of 1898). The law declared that "the secretary of the State Board of Health shall be the State Registrar of Vital Statistics for Maryland; he shall. . . prepare the necessary methods, books, and forms for accurate registration of births. . .; and shall supply the local registrars, health officers, ministers, physicians, undertakers, midwives and other persons. . . the proper blanks, forms and books of record." The law did not affect the city of Baltimore, because its Health Department had been registering births since 1875.
At first, compliance with the law on the local level was incomplete. As the State Board of Health gradually increased its control over the local boards, registration became more reliable. Researchers should keep in mind, however, that as late as 1914 the Board of Health was still working to increase compliance with the law, and some births went unrecorded.
The 1898 law dictated that "the record of a birth shall state the date and place of its occurance, name in full, sex and color, and the number of the child, whether living or still born, and the names, color, occupation, birth place and residence of parents, name and address of the physician, midwife or attendant at the birth." In 1970, the only change to county birth certificates took place when confidential medical information was added. The certificates are arranged chronologically by year and month, then alphabetically by the name of the county, and finally alphabetically by the name of the child. Because of this arrangement, one can find a birth certificate by knowing the name of the child or the child's parents, and the month, year, and county of birth.
The Archives also has indexing from 1875 through 1950. The early index, 1875-1919, is arranged alphabetically by the surname of the child (or by the parents' surname, if the child's name is not given). The index provides the child's name (if given), the names of the parents, the date of birth, and the county. The later index, 1920-1950, is in Soundex order by the surname of the child; within the Soundex classification it is alphabetical by the father's first name. When no father's name is given, the card is filed at the beginning of the Soundex class. Children of unmarried couples are listed twice, under the names of both parents. This later index provides the names of the child and the parents, the date and county of birth, and the child's race and birth order. Although these indexes are open to the public, please note that the birth certificates themselves are restricted for 100 years after the date of birth.
The Maryland State Archives holds the following birth records for the 23 counties:
On July 1, 1972 the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Division of Vital Records took over the responsibility of registering Baltimore City births from the Baltimore City Health Department, Bureau of Vital Statistics. The separate series maintained by the two agencies became a single series of records covering both Baltimore City and the 23 counties:
The certificates include the name and sex of the child; date and place of birth; name, birthplace, race, age, residence, and occupation of each parent; number of children previously born to the mother; name and address of the medical attendant; and confidential medical information. They are arranged, like the earlier county certificates, chronologically by year and month, then alphabetically by jurisdiction, and finally alphabetically by the name of the child. The index for these birth records is in electronic format and is accessible only to authorized staff.
REFERENCE REPORT
by Pat Melville
As usual during the first quarter of a fiscal year, especially for July and August, genealogy was the predominant theme for research at the Archives. On September 16 a milestone was reached - patron #50,000 was registered, a man doing a title search. We began our current system of registration when the Hall of Records Building opened in August 1986.
Topics relating to transportation included the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad, Solomons Island Road, Generals Highway, Northern Central Railroad, and railroads in Annapolis. Other studies involving Annapolis concerned Mark Twain's visit, natural history of West Annapolis and Wardour, Hillsmere Farm Manor House, Civil War, West Street area, Clay Street area, historic properties, and Colonial Players.
Studies with religious themes pertained to Monocacy Church, Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Chestertown, Great Awakening in Maryland and especially in Anne Arundel and Cecil counties, and St. Martin's Church. Locally based research included Waldorf, Oakland Mill, Wellsview Village, Fairfield, Bloodsworth Island, and Sotterley Plantation. Economic and/or environmental topics concerned iron industry in Maryland, Smucks Dump in Glen Burnie, bogs in Anne Arundel County, and Blackwater Wildlife Refuge.
Medical themes involved Maryland mental institutions, medicine in Maryland from 1790 to 1910, occupational diseases, and nurses and hospitals during the Civil War. Other subjects pertained to diaries and letters of American women, Coode's rebellion, 1st Maryland Cavalry, CSA, U.S. Marshalls in Maryland, maritime labor in the 19th century, and Stringfellow Barr.
LIBRARY ACCESSIONS
by Shashi Thapar
Anderson, Elizabeth Ella, Descendants of Abraham Clark
Baxter, John William, Strohneiers of New Orleans
Chance, Jane, The Lord of the Rings: The Mythology of Power
Chiles, Rhea, 700 North Adams Street
Coale, Joseph M., III, Middling Planters of Ruxton, Maryland, 1694-1850
Collins, Carolyn Huebner, Grandfather was a Gentleman: The Ancestry of Michael Matthew Dooley, M.D. and Anna Elizabeth Whaten Dooley of Loogootee, Indiana
Cook, Eleanor M.V., Guide to the Records of Montgomery County, Maryland, revised
Corner, Helen Childs, et al, The Childs Family
Cushing, John D., First Laws of the State of Maryland
Davis, Harold Dean, The Fitzhugh Family of Dorchester County, Maryland, 1684-1992, 3 vols.
Dorsey, John, Guide to Baltimore Architecture, 3rd ed.
Dove, Milton Harold, Dove Trails: The History and Genealogy of the Dove and Related Families
Dryden, Ruth T., The Powell Family
Dryden, Ruth T., Cemetery Records of Worcester County, Maryland>
Dryden, Ruth T., Lower Eastern Shore Maryland Marriages including Counties of Somerset, Worcester, and Wicomico, 1865-1906
Dryden, Ruth T., 1920 Census: Worcester County, Maryland
Dryden, Ruth T., 1920 Census: Wicomico County, Maryland
Dryden, Ruth T., 1920 Census: Somerset County, Maryland
Dyer, Linda,
Fields, Cynthia Carrie Ross, The Gunter-Ross Family: A Pictorial History
Fleming, Paula Richardson, North Amerrican Indians in Early Photographs
Foster, Janet, British Archives: A Guide to Archive Resources in the United Kingdom, 3rd ed.
Garitee, Jerome R., The Republic's Private Navy
Gibb, James G., Archaeology of Wealth: Consumer Behavior in English America
Goodman, Jordan, Tobacco in History: The Cultures of Dependence
Guyther, J. Roy, Charlotte Hall: The Village, 1797-1997
Hamilton, Lamar, Alexander Hamilton of "Spy Park": The First Hamiltons of Portobacco (Maryland)
Hamilton, Lamar, The Hamiltons of Nanjemoy (Charles County, Maryland): John Hamilton and Elizabeth Burdit and Their Descendants
Hearn, Chester G., Six Years of Hell: Harpers Ferry during the Civil War
Heise, David V.,, Orphans Court Proceedings, 1777-1792 and 1811-1823, Somerset County, Maryland, vol. 1
Heise, David V., Orphans Court Proceedings, 1823-1838, Somerset County, Maryland, vol. 2
Heise, David V., Orphans Court Proceedings, 1838-1852, Somerset County, Maryland, vol. 3
Hervey, Donald G., Mayflower to the Moon: Herveys and Gables
Hiatt, Catherine C., A Partial View of the Beasman-Baseman Family of Maryland
Higgs, Barbara Bassford, Death Index of St. Mary's, Charles and Calvert Counties, Maryland, 1898-1923
Hooper, Debbie, Abstracts of Chancery Court Records of Maryland
Lioi, Andrew A., Rosaria's Family: The Family of Bruno and Rosaria Lioi
Lomax, John B., Thomas Lomax and His Descendants
Love, William R., Sr., Love
Matthews, Harry Bradshaw, Family Legacy of Anthony Johnson: From Jamestown, Virginia to Somerset, Maryland, 1619-1995, rev. ed.
McCurley, James B., Jr., Dehoff (or De Ho(o)ff) of Pennsylvania (1742), vol. 2
McElroy, Dorothy E., History and Roster of the First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) of Baltimore, Maryland, 1810-1996
Merryweather, Melanie Ayres, The Fassitt Family
Moylan, Charles E., Jr., The Third Generation: Richard McElfresh (1724-1808): Beginnings of the Westward Migration
Moylan, Charles E., Jr., Gorsuch-Lovelace Ancestry of Grace, Edith, Agnes and Alfred Gorsch of Westminster, Maryland, Part 1
Moylan, Charles E., Jr., An English Exodus: Dr. John Gorsuch (1607-1647) and Anne Lovelace (1611-1652)
New, M. Christopher, Maryland Loyalists in the American Revolution
Orrell, Reverdy Lewin, III, Descendants of Herman F. Kirmes and Annie Lange of Germany and Baltimore, Maryland
Orrell, Reverdy Lewin, III, Descendants of George W. Henrickle, Sr. and Ellen Jane Gill of Baltimore, Maryland
Orrell, Reverdy Lewin, III, Descendants of Gottlieb Friedrich Eckert and Caroline Zimmermann of Germany and Baltimore, Maryland
Orrell, Reverdy Lewin, III, Descendants of Richard Cheney of Anne Arundel County, Maryland
Oszakiewski, Robert Andrew, Maryland Naturalization Abstracts, Vol 2: County Courts of Maryland, 1779-1851 and U.S. Circuit Court for Maryland, 1790-1851, except Baltimore City and County
Phillips, Christopher, Freedom's Port: The African American Community of Baltimore, 1790-1860
Pippenger, Wesley E., Marriage Licenses, Register I: 1811-1858, District of Columbia
Pippenger, Wesley E., Probate Records: Will Books 1-6, 1801-1852 and Estate Files, 1801-1852, District of Columbia
Porter, Frank William, II, Quest for Identity: The Formation of the Nanticoke Indian Community at Indian River Inlet, Sussex County, Delaware, (Dissertation, PH.D.)
Prall, Richard Dwight, The Crabb Family, 2 vols.
Schlef, Gary W., History of the Canton Railroad Company, 1906-1996
Schnath, Esther, Ancestors of Carl Service Cleveland, III, D.C.
Schwarz, Robert Devlin, 150 Years of Philadelphia Still-Life Painting
Seymour, Helen E., The Register of Baptisms of Talbot Circuit, Easton District, Philadelphia Conference of Methodist Episcopal Church, 1842 to 1875
Sheads, Scott Sumpter, Baltimore during the Civil War
Sherrill, M. David, An Ancestry of Edward Mason Knight
Smith, Ralph D., Abraham Lemaster (1638-1722) of Charles County, Maryland and His Descendants, Vol. 1
Society of Colonial Wars in Maryland, Genealogies of Members, 1940-1994 and Record of Services of Ancestors, vol. 2 and vol. 3
Speck, Frank G., The Nanticoke Community of Delaware, Reprint of 1915 edition
Stringfellow, Helena V. Alwood, The Alwood Family Tree, 3rd ed.
Tantaquidgeon, Gladys, A Study of Delaware Indian Medicine Practices and Folk Beliefs, Reprint of 1942 edition
Wallis, Guy, Boyer Family of Kent and Cecil County, Maryland and Tompkins County, New York
Warhus, Mark, Another America: Native American Maps and the History of Our Land
Washington County Free Library, Index to Hager's-town Newspapers, 1830-1834
Witkey, Lucile Schreiber, The Brooke Family Lineage with Many Related Families
Zimmerman, Kenneth Edwin, Guide to Research in Howard County, Maryland