St. Mary's County, Maryland Genealogy

United States

Maryland

St. Mary's County

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

Maryland Online Genealogy Records

County Facts County seat: Leonardtown Organized: January 24, 1637 Parent County(s): Colonial lands Variant Spellings: Saint Mary's Neighboring Counties Calvert  • Charles  • Dorchester  • Somerset  • Northumberland (VA)  • Westmoreland (VA) See County Maps Courthouse Location Map Adoption This page is available for adoption

County Information

Description

Michaelangelos Pieta.jpg

St. Mary's County was named for Mary, the mother of Jesus. The County is located in the southwest area of the state.

County Courthouse

St. Mary's County Courthouse
41605 Courthouse Dr.
Leonardtown, MD 20650
Phone: 301-475-7844
St. Mary's County Website

Clerk of the Circuit Court has marriage and land records.
Register of Wills has probate records.

St. Mary's County, Maryland Record Dates

Information for this chart was taken from various sources, often containing conflicting dates. This information should be taken as a guide and should be verified by contacting the county and/or the state government agency.

Known Beginning Dates for Major County Records
Birth*	Marriage	Death*	Court	Land	Probate	Census
1898	1827	1898	1827	1827	1658	1790
Statewide registration for births and deaths started in 1898. General compliance by the 1910s.

Record Loss

St. Mary's has suffered substantial record loss. Missing census: 1830 Lost census: 1890 1831--The courthouse was destroyed by fire. Some deeds were re-recorded back to 1781, and abstracts of deeds sent to Annapolis beginning in 1784 also make up for some of the records that were destroyed. For suggestions about research in places that suffered historic record losses, see: Burned Counties. By Michael John Neill. Online at: Family History Circle. When the Records are Gone. By Arlene Eakle. Online at: Tennessee Genealogy Blog. Burned Counties Research in the FamilySearch Research Wiki.

Boundary Changes

Created January 24, 1637 from Colonial lands. County seat: Leonardtown 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.

Populated Places

For a complete list of populated places, including small neighborhoods and suburbs, visit Hometown Locator. The following are the most historically and genealogically relevant populated places in this county:

Towns
Leonardtown (county seat)
Unincorporated communities
Abell Avenue Beachville-St. Inigoes Beauvue Bushwood Callaway Chaptico Clements Coltons Point	Compton Dameron Drayden Great Mills Helen Hollywood Loveville Maddox Morganza	Oakville Park Hall Estates Ridge St. Inigoes St. Mary's City Scotland Valley Lee
Census-designated places
California Charlotte Hall Golden Beach	Lexington Park Mechanicsville Piney Point	St. George Island Tall Timbers

Resources

Cemeteries

Cemeteries of St. Mary's County, Maryland online and in print
Tombstone Transcriptions Online	Findagrave.com USGenWeb MDGenWeb Archives Tombstone Project MDInterment Billion Graves
Tombstone Transcriptions in Print (Often more complete)	Family History Library WorldCat
List of Cemeteries in the County	Findagrave.com Billion Graves FamilySearch Places
See Maryland Cemeteries for more information

 

All Faith Cemetery All Saints Cemetery Charles Memorial Gardens Christ Church Cemetery Ebenezer Cemetery Evergreen Memorial Gardens Galilee Cemetery

Holy Face Cemetery John Wesley Cemetery Joy Chapel Cemetery Mount Zion Cemetery New Saint Aloysius Cemetery Old Saint Aloysius Cemetery Old Saint Josephs Cemetery

Our Lady's Chapel Cemetery Point Lookout Confederate Cemetery Queen of Peace Cemetery Saint Andrews Cemetery Saint Francis Xavier Cemetery Saint Georges Cemetery Saint Georges Cemetery

Saint Johns Cemetery Saint Josephs Cemetery Saint Michael Cemetery Saint Nicholas Cemetery Saint Paul's Cemetery

Census Records

For tips on accessing St. Mary's County, Maryland Genealogy census records online, see: Maryland Census.

Historical populations
Census	Pop.	%±
1790	15,544	—
1800	13,699	−11.9%
1810	12,794	−6.6%
1820	12,974	1.4%
1830	13,459	3.7%
1840	13,224	−1.7%
1850	13,698	3.6%
1860	15,213	11.1%
1870	14,944	−1.8%
1880	16,934	13.3%
1890	15,819	−6.6%
1900	17,182	8.6%
1910	17,030	−0.9%
1920	16,112	−5.4%
1930	15,189	−5.7%
1940	14,626	−3.7%
1950	29,111	99.0%
1960	38,915	33.7%
1970	48,388	24.3%
1980	59,895	23.8%
1990	75,974	26.8%
2000	86,211	13.5%
2010	105,151	22.0%
Source: "Wikipedia.org".

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

Church Records

• 1668-1995 Maryland, Church Records, 1668-1995 at FamilySearch — index
• Maryland State Archives' Guide to Maryland Religious Institutions is not intended to be a complete listing of all Religious institutions in Maryland. It was originally based upon the churches recorded by the Federal Works Progress Administration during a records survey conducted from 1935 to 1941. It has been expanded by later acquisitions from religious organizations to the Maryland State Archives.

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).

List of Churches and Church Parishes

• FamilySearch Places
  

Emigration and 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 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:

• 1897-1952 - Maryland, Baltimore Passenger Lists Index, 1897-1952 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 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.

Genealogies

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).

• Abell - Abell, William Russell. The Abell Family of St. Mary's County, Maryland and the American Revolution. Des Moines, Iowa: privately published, 1984. Digital version at FamilySearch Digital Library.
• Abington - Berkley, Henry J. "The Abingtons of St. Mary's and Calvert Counties," Maryland Historical Magazine, Vol. 25 (1930):251-255. FHL Book 975.2 H25m v. 25 (1930).
• Addison - Kennedy, Mary Selden. Seldens of Virginia and Allied Families. New York: Frank Allaben Genealogical Co., c1911. Digital versions of Vol. 1 at FamilySearch Digital Library, Google Books, Internet Archive, Vol. 2 at FamilySearch Digital Library,Internet Archive; FHL Book 929.273 Se48k.
• Butler - See de Hinojosa.
• Carvile - See de Hinojosa.
• Chilton - Dorman, John Frederick. "The Chilton Families of Virginia and Maryland," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 11, No. 2 (Apr.-Jun. 1967):71-78; Vol. 11, No. 3 (Jul.-Sep. 1967):121-125; Vol. 11, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 1967):167-174; Vol. 12, No. 1 (Jan.-Mar. 1968):15-18; Vol. 12, No. 2 (Apr.-Jun. 1968):83-86; Vol. 12, No. 3 (Jul.-Sep. 1968):109-113; Vol. 12, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 1968):169-175; Vol. 13, No. 1 (Jan.-Mar. 1969):32-36; Vol. 13, No. 2 (Apr.-Jun. 1969):65-71; Vol. 13, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 1969):177-180; Vol. 14, No. 1 (Jan.-Mar. 1970):15-22; Vol. 14, No. 2 (Apr.-Jun. 1970):75-82; Vol. 14, No. 3 (Jul.-Sep. 1970):123-128; Vol. 14, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 1970):165-168; Vol. 15, No. 1 (Jan.-Mar. 1971):32-41; Vol. 15, No. 2 (Apr.-Jun. 1971):122-124; Vol. 15, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 1971):259-264; Vol. 16, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 1972):301-30. To locate digital pages use search form at American Ancestors ($); first select Virginia Genealogist, The from the Database list. Then select Volume number. FHL Book 975.5 B2vg v. 11-v. 16.
• DeButts - Russell, George Ely. "DeButts Family of Maryland and Virginia," The Genealogist, Vol. 12, No. 2 (Fall 1998):131-188.
• Decosta - Russell, George Ely. "Portuguese and Spanish Colonists in Seventeenth-Century Maryland," The American Genealogist, Vol. 76, No. 1 (January 2001):50-60.
• D'Hiniossa - Hoffman, William J. "Alexander D'Hiniossa, The Last Dutch Director on the Delaware," The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Vol. 73, No. 4 (Oct. 1942):246-250. FHL Book 974.7 B2n v. 73.
• de Hinojosa - Hoff, Henry B. "Alexander de Hinojosa and His Descendants in Maryland," The American Genealogist, Vol. 79, No. 4 (Oct. 2004):260-273.
• Ellyson - Wagner, Douglas W. Ellyson. "The Early Generations of the Ellyson Family," The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 72, No. 1. Reprint: FHL Book 929.273 A1 no. 6718.
• Forrest - Kennedy, Mary Selden. Seldens of Virginia and Allied Families. New York: Frank Allaben Genealogical Co., c1911. Digital versions of Vol. 1 at FamilySearch Digital Library, Google Books, Internet Archive, Vol. 2 at FamilySearch Digital Library,Internet Archive; FHL Book 929.273 Se48k.
• Gerard - Weis, Frederick Lewis and Walter Lee Sheppard. Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America before 1700. Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1992. FHL Book 974 D2w 1992.
• Gray - Russell, George Ely. "Francis Gray of Maryland and Virginia," The Genealogist, Vol. 25, No. 2 (Fall 2011):131-143. FHL Book 929.105 G286n v. 25, no. 2 (fall 2011).
• Guyther - See de Hinojosa.
• Leigh - Hoff, Henry B. "Alexander de Hinojosa and His Descendants in Maryland," The American Genealogist, Vol. 79, No. 4 (Oct. 2004):260-273.
• McFarlane - Finley, Carmen J. "The McFarlings: From Virginia to the California Gold Rush," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 44, No. 1 (Jan.-Mar. 2000):3-12; Vol. 44, No. 2 (Apr.-Jun. 2000):131-145; Vol. 44, No. 3 (Jul.-Sep. 2000):186-195; Vol. 44, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 2000):275-292. To locate digital pages use search form at American Ancestors ($); first select Virginia Genealogist, The from the Database list. Then select Volume number. FHL Book 975.5 B2vg.
• Norris - Diller, Corinne Hanna. "Johns and Thomases: Using Named Farmland to Sort Identities among Norrises of St. Mary's County, Maryland," National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Vol. 86, No. 4 (December 1998):271-282. FHL Book 973 B2ng v. 86 (1998).
• Plater - Lomax, E.L. Genealogy of the Virginia Family of Lomax. Chicago: Rand McNally and Co., 1913. Digital version at Internet Archive.
• Vanswearingen - Daniels, Frances C.T. Some Descendants of Garrett Vanswearingen of St. Mary's, Maryland. Georgetown, Del.: A.B. and R.P. Thompson, 1983. Digital version at FamilySearch Digital Library.
• Walker - Holtzclaw, B.C. "Asbury of Westmoreland County, Virginia," Virginia Genealogical Society Quarterly, Vol. 5, No. 3 (Jul. 1967):55-65; Vol. 5, No. 4 (Oct. 1967):77-87; Vol. 6, No. 1 (Jan. 1968):10-26. Digital version at Ancestry ($).

Land and Property Records

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: 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.

Maps and Gazetteers

Click a neighboring county
for more resources

• FamilySearch Places:Cities and Towns- How to Use FS Places

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

Military Records

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: FHL Collection 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. FHL Collection 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.

Civil War

Regiments. Service men in St. Mary's served in various regiments. Men often joined a company (within a regiment) that originated in their county. Listed below are companies that were specifically formed in St. Mary's:

• 1861-1865 Maryland, Civil War Service Records of Confederate Soldiers, 1861-1865 at FamilySearch — index
• 1861-1865 Maryland, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865 at FamilySearch — index

World War II

• 1940-1945 - Maryland, World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1940-1945 at FamilySearch — index and images

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 Records

Online Probate Records

• 1634-1777 Probate Records, Colonial Index, 1634-1777, Maryland State Archives
• 1635-1743 Maryland Calendar of Wills 1635-1743 at Ancestry — index and images ($)
• 1635-1777 Maryland Wills and Probate Records, 1635-1777 at Ancestry — index and images ($)
• 1638-1800 St. Mary's County Will Abstracts, 1638-1800 at St. Mary's Families.
• 1796-1940 Maryland Probate Estate and Guardianship Files , 1796-1940 at FamilySearch images

Tax Records

• 1678, 1681 1678 and 1681 St. Mary's County tax lists, available online, courtesy: MDGenWeb.

Vital Records

Marriage

• 1640-1820 - St. Mary's County, Maryland, Marriages: 1638-1820 at St. Mary's Families. "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.)."
• 1658-1940 Maryland County Marriages, 1658-1940 at FamilySearch — index
• 1666-1970 Maryland Marriages, 1666-1970 at FamilySearch — index
• 1794-1864 Brumbaugh, Gaius Marcus. Maryland Records: Colonial, Revolutionary, County and Church from Original Sources. Vol. 1. Baltimore, Md.: Williams & 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.
• Maryland Marriage References by Robert Barnes.
• Marriage Records, Maryland State Archives

Death

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

Research Facilities

Family History Centers

Family History Centers provide one-on-one assistance and free access to premium genealogical websites. In addition, many centers have free how-to genealogy classes.

• For current information about a center near you, go to the Family History Center Map

• Lexington Park Maryland Family History Center

Libraries

• St. Mary’s County Library Branches:
  37600 New Market Rd
  Charlotte Hall, MD
  Phone: 301-884-2211
  
  23250 Hollywood Rd
  Leonardtown, MD
  Phone: 301-475-2846
  
  21677 FDR Blvd.
  Lexington Park, MD
  Phone: 301-863-8188
  Website

Societies

• St. Mary’s County Genealogical Society, Inc.
  SMCGS
  P.O. Box 1109
  Leonardtown, MD 20650
  Email: smcgs@mindspring.com
  Website
• St. Mary’s County Historical Society
  SMCHS
  Tudor Hall
  41680 Tudor Place
  Leonardtown, MD
  Phone: 301-475-2467
  Email: membership@stmaryshistory.org
  Website
  
• 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.

Websites

• St. Mary's County, Maryland Genealogy, History and Facts (Genealogy Inc)
• "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)
• FamilySearch Catalog - The FamilySearch catalog contains descriptions and access information for all genealogical materials (including books, online materials, microfilm, microfiche, and publications) in their collection.  Use Historical Records to search for specific individuals in genealogical records

Research Guides

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