African American Resources for Maryland

Records of Slaves. The first step in researching slave records is to find the slave owner and his family. Historical research shows that 85% of the former slaves did not take their former master’s surname. This means you probably will not find the slave owner from your ancestor's surname. Other difficulties may also limit the success of finding the name of the slave owner.

To do research, follow the lives of the slave owner’s family as a guide to places and events that affected the slave. Because a slave was not regarded as a person but as property of the slave owner, look for slaves in records that list property. The slaves are listed under the name of the slave owner. The slave owner's tax records may name each slave and give his or her monetary value. The slave owner's church records may list the names of his slaves. The slave owner's will and estate records may indicate how his property and slaves were distributed at his death. Some slave owners freed their slaves in their will. Also check to see if the slave owner ever freed his slaves by manumission or gave them a certificate of freedom.

Many state and local laws governed slaves and slavery. Check city, county, and state court indexes because court records mention slaves by name. For a better understanding of Maryland slavery laws, see:

Finkelman, Paul. State Slavery Statutes: Guide to the Microfiche Collection. Frederick, Maryland: University Publications of America, 1989. (Family History Library book 975 F23s.) Pages 168–207 pertain to Maryland and cover the years 1789–1865.

Number of Slaves in Maryland^[1]

County	1860	1850	1840	1830	1820	1810	1800	1790
Allegany	666	724	812	818	795	620	499	258
Anne Arundel	7332	11249	9819	10347	10301	11693	9760	10130
Baltimore	5400	6718	7595	10653	11077	11369	9673	7132
Calvert	4609	4486	4170	3899	3668	3937	4101	4305
Caroline	739	808	752	1177	1574	1520	1865	2057
Carroll	783	975	1122	0	0	0	0	0
Cecil	950	844	1352	1705	2342	2467	2103	3407
Charles	9653	9584	9182	10129	9419	12435	9558	10085
Dorchester	4123	4282	4227	5001	5168	5032	4566	5337
Frederick	3243	3913	4445	6370	6685	5671	4572	3641
Harford	1800	2166	2643	2947	3320	4431	4264	3417
Howard	2862	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Kent	2509	2627	2735	3191	4071	4249	4474	5433
Montgomery	5421	5114	5377	6447	6396	7572	6288	6030
Prince George's	12479	11510	10636	11585	11185	9189	12191	11176
Queen Anne	4174	4270	3960	4872	5588	6381	6517	6674
Saint Mary's	6549	5842	5761	6183	6047	6000	6399	6985
Somerset	5089	5588	5377	6556	7241	6975	7432	7070
Talbot	3725	4134	3687	4173	4768	4878	4775	4777
Washington	1435	2090	2546	2909	3201	2656	2200	1286
Worcester	3648	3444	3539	4032	4551	4427	4398	3836
Total	87189	90368	89737	102994	107397	111502	105635	103036

Records of "Free People of Color". Ten percent of all the African Americans living in the South were free. To research records of free African Americans during this period, use the other record types described in this outline. Also look for additional sources that name "free people of color."

For more information about employment opportunities for African Americans in the 1800s, see:

Afro-American directory and employees purchasing guide, 1895. - [Baltimore]: Afro-American Employees' Pub. Co., c1895. (Family History Library microfilm 1404258)

Number of Free People of Color in Maryland^[1]

County	1860	1850	1840	1830	1820	1810	1800	1790
Allegany	467	412	215	222	195	113	101	12
Anne Arundel	4864	4602	5083	4076	3382	2536	1833	804
Baltimore	29911	29075	21453	17888	12489	7208	4307	927
Calvert	1841	1530	1474	1213	694	388	307	136
Caroline	2786	5788	1720	1652	1390	1001	602	421
Carroll	1225	974	898	0	0	0	0	0
Cecil	2918	2623	2551	2249	1783	947	373	163
Charles	1068	913	819	851	567	412	571	404
Dorchester	4684	3848	3987	3000	2496	2661	2365	528
Frederick	4957	3760	2985	2716	1777	783	473	213
Harford	3644	2777	2436	2058	1387	2221	1344	775
Howard	1395	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Kent	3411	3143	2491	2266	2067	1979	1786	655
Montgomery	1552	1311	1313	1266	922	677	262	294
Prince George's	1198	1138	1080	1202	1096	2929	648	164
Queen Anne	3372	3278	2541	2866	2138	2738	1025	618
Saint Mary's	1866	1633	1393	1179	894	636	622	343
Somerset	4571	3483	2646	2239	1954	1058	586	268
Talbot	2964	2593	2340	2483	2234	2103	1591	1076
Washington	1677	1828	1580	1082	627	483	342	64
Worcester	3571	3014	3073	2430	1638	1054	449	178
Total	83942	74723	62078	52938	39730	33927	19587	8043

The Family History Library may have records of African Americans in Maryland. To find, search in FamilySearch Catalog in the Subject Search under:

MARYLAND - MINORITIES

MARYLAND - PUBLIC RECORDS

MARYLAND - VITAL RECORDS

History[edit | edit source]

Resources[edit | edit source]

Biographies[edit | edit source]

Cemeteries[edit | edit source]

Census Records[edit | edit source]

Church Records[edit | edit source]

Court Records[edit | edit source]

Fugitive Slave Law Court Records - Maryland - National Archives Catalog

Emancipation Records[edit | edit source]

Commissioner of Slave Statistics - Maryland State Archives Anne Arundel,Carroll, Dorchester, Frederick, Howard, Kent, Montgomery, Prince George's and St. Mary's counties.
Trish Surles. Kent County, Maryland Commission of Slave Statistics, 1864: includes civil War enlistments. Gambrills, Maryland: T. Surles, 2002. FHL 975.234 U3s
Agnes Kane Callum. Slave Statistics of Saint Mary’s County, Maryland, 1864. Baltimore, Maryland: Mullac Publishers, 1993. FHL 975.241 H6c
Jerry M. Hynson Maryland freedom papers Westminster, Maryland : Family Line, 1996-c2001. FHL 975.2 P48h

Funeral Homes[edit | edit source]

Genealogies[edit | edit source]

Land and Property[edit | edit source]

Plantation[edit | edit source]

While plantation records are a valuable source for slave research, there are many road blocks to a successful search. Many slaves never lived on a plantation. Determining which plantation a slave lived on is often difficult or impossible. Many plantation records no longer exist. Many slave owners owned more than one plantation. Some plantation records carefully identified each slave by name, while others did not. Without a central repository for plantation records, finding the records you need can be a difficult task.

To make plantation records more accessible for research, University Publications of America has begun a major microfilming project. This company has been microfilming plantation records from repositories around the country. Kenneth M. Stampp has produced special guides for each series of films. These records are sometimes called the Stampp Collection. The guides provide valuable information about the records.

Records for a Maryland plantation may not be in a Maryland repository. Someone living many states away may have donated the records to a repository elsewhere. To determine if the plantation records you need are a part of this project, you must carefully study the guide for each series of films. To find these guides, look in the Author Search of the microfiche version of the catalog under Stampp, Kenneth M. Currently, the Family History Library has series "A" through "N." Series "I" is a special set of slave records of Ante-Bellum Southern Industries. These records include slaves who were owned by major companies instead of a slave owner. To find the guide for the plantation records available at the Maryland Historical Society, see:

Stampp, Kenneth M., ed. A Guide to Records of Ante- Bellum Southern Plantations from the Revolution through the Civil War: Series D, Selections from the Maryland Historical Society. Frederick, Maryland: University Publications of America, 1985–. (Family History Library book 975 H2sm ser. D) The Family History Library has microfilms of the records described in the guide (on 14 Family History Library films beginning with film 1534260).

Oral Histories[edit | edit source]

Other Records[edit | edit source]

Military Records[edit | edit source]

Patriots of Color is a free database at Archives.com. Includes details about 100 black Marylanders in the Revolutionary War.^[2]

Newspapers[edit | edit source]

Probate Records[edit | edit source]

Inventory books often provide lists of enslaved persons in an estate, sometimes with their age, skillset and notes about their health.

Maryland: Charles County Enslaved Persons and Slaveholders 1858-1864

Reconstruction Records[edit | edit source]

After the Civil War, African Americans appear in the other types of records described in this outline. Use those records first. In addition, there may be other records in the Locality Search of the FamilySearch Catalog under MINORITIES. A Subject or Keyword Search may also be helpful under: AFRICAN-AMERICAN. The sources listed below may also help you find records of African American ancestors.

Freedman’s Bank[edit | edit source]

An excellent source is the Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company (visit the African American Freedman's Savings and Trust Company Records page to learn more). This company was created to assist African American soldiers of the Civil War and freed slaves. Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company signature cards or registers from 3 March 1865 to 25 July 1874 may list the name of the depositor, date of entry, age, birthplace, residence, complexion, name of employer or occupation, wife or husband’s name, death information, children’s names, name of father and mother, brothers’ and sisters’ names, remarks, and signature. Early books sometimes contained the name of the former master or mistress and the name of the plantation. Copies of death certificates were sometimes attached to the entries. The collection is organized alphabetically by state, then city where the bank was located, then date the account was established, then account number.

Online collections of Freedman's Bank records:

Within each city the records are organized by account number. The Family History Library has these records for Baltimore, Maryland (928583) and Washington, D.C. (928574-75). These records may provide the name of the former master, the name of the plantation, birth date, birthplace, occupation, address or city where the person was living, and the names of parents, children, spouses, and siblings. If the depositor served with the U.S. colored troops, the company he served with may also be listed.

Freedmen's Bureau[edit | edit source]

The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands was created by the US government in 1865 until 1872 to assist former slaves in the southern United States. The Bureau created a wide variety of records extremely valuable to genealogists. Such documents include censuses, marriage records, and medical records. These records often include full names, former masters and plantations, and current residences.^[3] For 1865 and 1866, the section on abandoned and confiscated lands includes the names of the owners of the plantations or homes that were abandoned, confiscated, or leased. It gives the county and location, a description of the house, the number of acres owned, and the number of cabins of former slaves. These films do not appear to contain the names of former slaves.

To find Freedmen's Bureau records:

DiscoverFreedmen - the search on this site will utilize all of the Freedmen's Bureau records on FamilySearch, including:

Other FamilySearch collections not included:

Maryland and Delaware, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, 1865-1872
United States Freedmen's Bureau Miscellaneous Records,1865-1872
United States Freedmen's Bureau, Records of Freedmen, 1865-1872
United States, Freedmen's Bureau, Records of the Assistant Commissioner, 1865-1872 Images only. These reports primarily contain statistical and historical information.
More collections are available in the FamilySearch Catalog. Search for "FREEDMEN - MARYLAND" in the Subjects search bar to find.

Visit the African American Freedmen's Bureau Records page to learn more about utilizing these records.

For a good explanation of these records, see pages 68-91 of:

Byers, Paula K. The African American Genealogical Sourcebook. Detroit, Michigan: Gale Research Inc., 1995. (Family History Library Book 973 F27afg.)

School Records[edit | edit source]

Slavery Records[edit | edit source]

Maryland State Archives has prepared a series of online .pdf volumes of county-by-county scans of index cards, certificates of freedom, freedom affidavits, chattel records, histories, slave statistics, and manumission records. These volumes are online under: Slavery Commission.

Patriots of Color is a free database at Archives.com. Includes details about 100 black Marylanders in the Revolutionary War.^[4]

Legacy of Slavery in Maryland, Maryland State Archives

Vital Records[edit | edit source]

Birth[edit | edit source]

Marriage[edit | edit source]

Some of the African American marriage records from about 1864 to 1875 are listed as cohabitation certificates or acknowledgments of cohabitation. They were sometimes filed with other marriage records. They were sometimes kept separately. Look for these records in the Place Search of the FamilySearch Catalog under VITAL RECORDS, PUBLIC RECORDS, or SLAVERY AND BONDAGE.

The Freedmen's Bureau (1865-1872) was created by the US government to assist former slaves in the southern United States. One of their responsibilities was to record the marriages (past and present) of the former slaves. These records can be found in the collections below and include the lists of marriages that occurred previously, marriage certificates, and marriage licenses. The information contained on the records may include the name of the husband and wife/groom and bride, age, occupation, residence, year or date of marriage, by whom, number of children, and remarks.

Death[edit | edit source]

Divorce[edit | edit source]

Voting Registers[edit | edit source]

Archives and Libraries[edit | edit source]

Reginald F. Lewis Museum
830 E. Pratt St.
Baltimore, MD 21202
Phone: 443-263-1800
Email: info.services@lewismuseum.org

McKeldin Library
University of Maryland
7649 Library Lane
College Park, MD 20742-7011
Phone: (301) 405-0800

The McKeldin Library has an African American section in its Special Collections. See African-American Genealogy to find out more about what is held at the library.

Societies[edit | edit source]

Penelope Campbell. Maryland in Africa: the Maryland State Colonization Society, 1831-1857. Urbana, Illinois : University of Illinois Press, 1971. FHL 966.6 H2c

References[edit | edit source]

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 Ninth Census of the United States: Statistics of Population, Tables I to VIII Inclusive (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1872), 36-37. Digital version at Internet Archive; FHL Book 973 X2pcu.
↑ Dick Eastman, "Archives.com to Publish the Patriots of Color Database," Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter, 24 February 2012, http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2012/02/archivescom-to-publish-the-patriots-of-color-database.html.
↑ "African American Records: Freedmen's Bureau," "African American Heritage," National Archives, accessed 11 May 2018.
↑ Dick Eastman, "Archives.com to Publish the Patriots of Color Database," Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter, 24 February 2012, http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2012/02/archivescom-to-publish-the-patriots-of-color-database.html.

[no-1] 1.0 ^1.1 Ninth Census of the United States: Statistics of Population, Tables I to VIII Inclusive (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1872), 36-37. Digital version at Internet Archive; FHL Book 973 X2pcu.

[2] Dick Eastman, "Archives.com to Publish the Patriots of Color Database," Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter, 24 February 2012, http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2012/02/archivescom-to-publish-the-patriots-of-color-database.html.

[3] "African American Records: Freedmen's Bureau," "African American Heritage," National Archives, accessed 11 May 2018.

[4] Dick Eastman, "Archives.com to Publish the Patriots of Color Database," Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter, 24 February 2012, http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2012/02/archivescom-to-publish-the-patriots-of-color-database.html.

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