St. Mary's County, Maryland Genealogy

Guide to St. Mary's County Maryland ancestry, family history, and genealogy. Birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

United States  Maryland   St. Mary's County

St. Mary's County Maryland Courthouse
Clerk Circuit Court has marriage and land records. Register of Wills has probate records. The 1830 Census Missing.

St. Mary's County Maryland History


The county is named after The Virgin Mary. It was the "first county named in a colony intended to be a haven for Catholics."

The settlement of Lord Baltimore's Maryland began with the arrival of passengers from England at St. Clement's Island in the Potomac River in what is now southwestern St. Mary's County on March 25, 1634 (the anniversary of this landing being annually celebrated as Maryland Day). The passengers arrived in two vessels, the Ark and the Dove, which had set sail from the Isle of Wight on November 22, 1633. The county is also home to the first Catholic Mass celebrated in the original thirteen colonies.

Parent County

 * Created 24 January 1637 from the Colonial lands

Variant Spellings

 * Saint Mary's

Boundary Changes
For animated maps illustrating Maryland county boundary changes, "Rotating Formation Maryland County Boundary Maps" (1637-1997) may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website.

Record Loss
St. Mary's has suffered substantial record loss. For a list of record loss in Maryland counties see: Maryland Counties with Burned Courthouses


 * Lost census: 1890

Town

 * Leonardtown

Neighboring Counties


Maryland counties:


 * Calvert
 * Charles
 * Dorchester
 * Somerset

Virginia counties:


 * Northumberland
 * Westmoreland

Census
Federal Census reports available 1790-1930, including slave and veterans schedules. Exception-1830 census is missing.

Church
Maryland State Archives' Guide to Maryland Religious Institutions identifies all churches known to have existed in St. Mary's County, Maryland. It covers all denominations and includes record descriptions.

Protestant Episcopal

 * 1833-1859 - Poole, Martha Sprigg. "St. Andrew's Parish Register of Baptisms, Marriages and Deaths 1833-1859," Chronicles of St. Mary's, vol. 5, no. 2: Feb. 1957 (Abell to Craigg); vol. 5, no. 6: Jun. 1957 (Craig to Greenwell); vol. 5, no. 9: Sep. 1957 (Greenwell to Hutchins); vol. 6, no. 1: Jan. 1958 (Hutchins to Mareman); vol. 6, no. 5: May 1958 (Mareman to Payne); vol. 6, no. 10: Jun. 1958 (Payne to Stone); vol. 7, no. 1: Jan. 1959 (Tabbs to Watts); vol. 7, no. 3 Mar. 1959 (Watts to Wise); vol. 7, no. 4: Mar. 1959 (Wise to Wooton).

Family Histories
It is anticipated that this bibliography will eventually identify all known family histories published about residents of this county. Use this list to:


 * Locate publications about direct ancestors
 * Find the most updated accounts of an ancestor's family
 * Identify publications, to quote Elizabeth Shown Mills, about an ancestor's "FAN Club" [Friends, Associates, and Neighbors]

For ancestors who lived in St. Mary's County in the 1600s, a Harvard graduate has probably studied your family. See Dr. Lois Green Carr's Biographical Files of 17th and 18th Century Marylanders (courtesy: Maryland State Archives).

Immigration
The New Early Settlers of Maryland database is a great place to start searching for immigrants who had arrived in the colony by the 1680s. The database "comprises 34,326 entries from Gust Skordas' Early Settlers of Maryland and Carson Gibb's Supplement to the Early Settlers of Maryland." Available online, courtesy: Maryland State Archives.

Other St. Mary's County immigration resources include:


 * [http://www.pricegen.com/immigrantservants/search/advancedResults.php?surname=&givenName=&varientSurnameSpellings=&gender=&dateOfBirthDay=&dateOfBirthMonth=&dateOfBirthQuantifier=&dateOfBirthYear=&placeOfBirthParish=&placeOfBirthTown=&placeOfBirthCity=&placeOfBirthCounty=&placeOfBirthColony=&placeOfBirthNation=&occupations=&religions=&orphan=&familyPosition=&immigrationYearQualifier=&immigrationYear=&portOfDepartureTown=&portOfDepartureCity=&portOfDepartureCounty=&portOfDepartureNation=&placeOfArrivalTown=&placeOfArrivalCounty=&placeOfArrivalColony=&shipName=&convict=&yearOfIndentureQualifier=&yearOfIndenture=&lengthOfIndentureYears=&lengthOfIndentureMonths=&yearOfFreedomQualifier=&yearOfFreedom=&placeOfIndentureTown=&placeOfIndentureCity=&placeOfIndentureCounty=St.+Mary%27s&placeOfIndentureColony=Maryland&agentSurname=&agentGivenName=&agentTitle=&masterSurname=&masterGivenName=&masterTitle=&residenceParish=&residenceTown=&residenceCity=&residenceCounty=&residenceColony=&residenceNation=&landowner=&literate=&spouseSurname=&spouseGivenName=&spouseMarriageDateDay=&spouseMarriageDateMonth=&spouseMarriageDateQualifier=&spouseMarriageDateYear=&spouseMarriageLocationParish=&spouseMarriageLocationCounty=&spouseMarriageLocationColony=&spouseMarriageLocationNation=&deathDateDay=&deathDateMonth=&deathDateQualifier=&deathDateYear=&deathLocality=&deathCounty=&deathColony=&deathState=&testate=&proofServantStatus=&proofConvictStatus=&headright=&preServitudeSources=&postServitudeSources=&comments=&family=&sourceCitations=&interestedResearchers= List of imported servants and convicts from Europe] who served labor terms in Colonial St. Mary's County, Maryland (work in progress), courtesy: Immigrant Servants Database. [Includes Richard J. Cox's abstracts of Maryland Gazette runaways.]

Land
Through a Joint eGovernment Service of the Maryland Judiciary and the Maryland State Archives, free images and indexes of the complete series of St. Mary's County Deed Books (1781-present) have been uploaded to their website: MDLandRec.Net: A Digital Image Retrieval System for Land Records in Maryland. (Requires free registration.)


 * 1637-1799 - St. Mary's County Land Ownership: 1637-1799 at St. Mary's Families - free.

Maps
St. Mary's County Tract Map: 1705 by Dr. Russell Menard identifies early settlers and land locations.

Revolutionary War

 * A Census of Pensioners for Revolutionary or Military Services: With their Names, Ages, and Places of Residence, as Returned by the Marshalls of the Several Judicial Districts, Under the Act for Taking the Sixth Census]. 1841. Digital version at Google Books. 1967 reprint: 973 X2pc 1840. [See Maryland, St. Mary's County on page 127.]

War of 1812

 * List of Pensioners on the Roll, January 1, 1883; Giving the Name of Each Pensioner, the Cause for Why Pensioned, the Post-Office Address, the Rate of Pension Per Month, and the Date of Original Allowance... Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1883. 973 M2Lp v. 5; digital versions at Google Books and Internet Archive. [See Vol. 5, Maryland, St. Mary's County, pp. 154-155. Identifies War of 1812 veterans living in this county in 1883.]

Newspapers

 * St. Mary's County newspapers are identified in "Guide to Maryland Newspapers," available online, courtesy: Special Collections, Maryland State Archives.

Periodicals
Chronicles of St. Mary's is published by the St. Mary's County Historical Society. A subject and author index is available on their website.

Probate

 * 1638-1800 - St. Mary's County Will Abstracts, 1638-1800 at St. Mary's Families - free.


 * Probate Records, Colonial Index, 1634-1777 online at Maryland State Archives website - free

Research Guides

 * Reno, Linda. “Research in St. Mary’s County.” Maryland Genealogical Society Journal 50, no. 1 (2009): 119-125.

Taxation

 * [1678, 1681] 1678 and 1681 Saint Mary's County tax lists, available online, courtesy: MDGenWeb.

Marriage

 * Maryland Marriage References by Robert Barnes - free.
 * Marriage Records - Maryland State Archives


 * 1640-1820 - St. Mary's County, Maryland, Marriages: 1638-1820 at St. Mary's Families - free. "The marriage database contains 10,096 marriages, most of which occurred in St. Mary's County, Maryland between 1637 and 1820. Source records include County Court Records (marriage licenses), wills, deeds, extant church records (St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, and St. Inigoes Catholic Church, including marriage and baptisms) and Prerogative Court Records (compiled by V.L. Skinner, Jr.)."


 * 1794-1864 - Brumbaugh, Gaius Marcus. Maryland Records: Colonial, Revolutionary, County and Church from Original Sources. Vol. 1. Baltimore, Md.: Williams &amp; Wilkins Company, 1915. Digital version at Google Books. "Marriage Licenses of St. Mary's County, 1794-1864 (7533 Persons)," is available online, see pages 313-405 and index.

Death

 * Maryland Death Certificate Index 1898-1944, available online, courtesy: Vital Records Indexing Project, Maryland State Archives.

St. Mary's County Maryland Genealogy Societies and Libraries
The Society of the Ark and the Dove was founded in 1910. It was formed to fellowship those that trace their descent from Lord Baltimore and those that arrived on the Ark and the Dove in 1634 to settle Maryland. This society is multifaceted, encouraging research of early Maryland history and promoting and supporting Museums, Historical Foundations and Societies.

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers
 * Lexington Park Maryland Family History Center

St. Mary's County Maryland Genealogy Websites

 * St. Mary's County, MD History, Records, Facts and Genealogy (Genealogy Inc)
 * FamilySearch Catalog for St. Mary's County.
 * "St. Mary's Co.," in Genealogical Sources in Periodicals at The Maryland State Archives.
 * The St. Mary's County MD GenWeb Project, a member of The MDGenWeb Project, an affiliate of The USGenWeb Project
 * The USGenWeb Archives Project for St. Mary's County.
 * The USGenWeb Archives Project for St. Mary's County. (Backup site)