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State of Maryland
Good Tips for Maryland Genealogy Research
The State of Maryland is relatively small, but it is packed with a tremendous amount of history. It has links to the country’s Native American heritage, it is tied to the colonial era, the Revolutionary War period, the Civil War, and much more. This means that there is a large amount of interest in everything relating to genealogy as well, and the state offers a lot of readily accessible archives and materials.
How to Begin Looking for Maryland Genealogy Information
Where do you find these materials? There are “online” and “offline” resource in all locations. Because the modern era is one of electronic information, many places have started to digitize their collections when possible. This means when you begin looking for Maryland genealogy materials you will be able to start from a computer in order to get some facts and even order copies of documents.
When resources are not online, you will still be able to look for Maryland genealogy data on the Internet before heading to an actual location to obtain what you need. It is important to spend time identifying any such resources for Maryland genealogy in order to learn which are going to be your online tools and which cannot work in that way.
Good Resources for Maryland Genealogy Data
Any genealogist quickly learns that their search tends to begin with public records. These are also among the most common of online tools for Maryland genealogy too. They fall under the following categories:
- Vital Records – these are always going to include birth, marriage, divorce and death records from county, state, and national archives. They might also contain newspaper items, military records, immigration and naturalization details, cemetery or obituary information, census records, and passenger lists and records as well. These tend to be available as online or offline resources for Maryland genealogy.
- State Records – from probate information to surname lists, state census information, private manuscripts, newspapers, military or veterans information, marriage details, maps, land records, genealogical folders, estate information, deeds, death records, cemetery information, birth certificates and more, such records are available as online and offline resources for Maryland genealogy.
- Local Records – state research will often start in a county clerk’s office or website, and then consider small local libraries, historical societies, local genealogical societies, and school or college libraries for Maryland genealogy materials. These are items that are usually offline and viewable by appointment or special arrangement.
Targeted Resources for Maryland Genealogy Materials
Where are the actual resources found? Below is a list of the primary resources for information for Maryland genealogy research:
- Division of Vital Records,
Department of Health and Mental Hygiene,
6550 Reisterstown Road,
P.O. Box 68760, Baltimore, MD 21215-0020; Website: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/w2w/maryland.htm. This is where will need to go in order to get birth, death, marriage and divorce records via a written request or even through an online form.
Additional state and local records can be found at the:
- Maryland State Archives, 350 Rowe Boulevard, Annapolis, MD 21401; Website: http://guide.mdsa.net/viewer.cfm?page=genstart. This is a tremendously useful site with lessons in basic genealogy as well as instructions for using their digital and traditional archives. They have databases relating to military records, probate, maiden names, land records, immigration and more.
Also, consider using the Maryland Genealogical Society Page at: http://www.mdgensoc.org/.
Also, these three websites give researchers a tremendous amount of state-specific details for those in search for Maryland genealogy data.
- The USGenWeb Project - http://www.mdgenweb.org/;
- State census records at Genealogy Research Guides - http://www.researchguides.net/census/state.htm; and
- Genealogy Today - http://www.genealogytoday.com/genealogy/states/maryland.html
List of Maryland Counties
Select a county from the table below to to view more information on genealogical information & records pertaining to each county.
