Maryland Counties and Historical Facts

Maryland County records vary widely from county to county in both quality and quantity. Some have been carefully preserved while others have been much abused and neglected. Some Maryland records have simply disappeared.

For genealogists doing research in Maryland there is no effective replace for an on-site search of county courthouse records.

Maryland County Records

Maryland is made up of 23 counties and the City of Baltimore, which is not located in any specific county.

Records relating to estates and land transfers can be found in county courthouses. Copies can also be found at the Maryland State Archives, in most cases.

The Maryland State Archives also holds copies of vital records. Their files are constantly being added to and updated.

See also a list of links to county and county seat government run websites.

List of Maryland Extinct Counties

Maryland has counties that no longer exist because they were discontinued, renamed or merged with another county.

A lot of these counties were established and disbanded within the 19th century; county borders have changed very little since 1900.

These are important for genealogy research purposes. Pay attention where the courthouse records went to if the county was eliminated or joined with some other county.

See the History of Maryland Counties for more details.

List of Maryland Counties with Burned Courthouses

The damage to courthouses greatly has a bearing on genealogists in every way.

Not only are these historic structures torn from our lifetimes, so are the records they housed: marriage, wills, probate, land records, and others.

Once destroyed they’re lost forever. Although they have been placed on mircofilm, computers and film burn too.

However, not all records were damaged or lost in some counties.

• Allegany County Courthouse – A courthouse fire in 1893 destroyed marriage records for 1791-1847 and naturalizations for 1892-1893.
• Anne Arundel County Courthouse – The courthouse was destroyed by fire in 1704, with the loss of all but three court record volumes. Deeds before 1699 were lost, but there are five volumes of re-recorded deeds.
• Calvert County Courthouse – Most records were destroyed when the courthouse burned in 1882, but some deeds dating back to 1840 were re-recorded. Abstracts of deeds sent to Annapolis beginning in 1784 and provincial court deeds/land office records also make up for some of the destroyed records.
• Carroll County Courthouse – Most early papers of the county court have been lost.
• Cecil County Courthouse – Many early court records have disappeared.
• Dorchester County Courthouse – There are gaps in the court records. Some were probably lost in a fire in 1852.
• Frederick County Courthouse – There were two major fires, but no major loss of records.
• Harford County Courthouse – Some records were destroyed in a fire in 1858.
• Howard County Courthouse – The county was formed in 1838 as Howard District of Anne Arundel Co., but did not gain full county status until 1850.
• Kent County Courthouse – A courthouse fire in 1720 destroyed some records.
• Montgomery County Courthouse – A southern section of the county was set off in 1788 to form the District of Columbia.
• Saint Marys County Courthouse – The courthouse was destroyed by fire in 1831. 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.
• Somerset County Courthouse – The courthouse burned in 1831, but the records were saved.
• Talbot County Courthouse – Many court records have been lost.
• Washington County Courthouse – Some records were lost in a courthouse fire in 1871.

List of Maryland Counties

County	Date Formed	Parent County	County Seat
Anne Arundel	1650	St. Mary's County	Annapolis
Allegany	1789	Washington County	Cumberland
Baltimore	1659	Formed from unorganized territory	Towson
Baltimore City	1851	Founded in 1729. Detached in 1851 from Baltimore County	Baltimore City
Calvert	1654	Formed as Patuxent County from unorganized territory. Renamed Calvert County in 1658	Prince Frederick
Cecil	1674	Baltimore and Kent Counties	Elkton
Charles	1837	Baltimore and Frederick Counties	LaPlata
Caroline	1773	Dorchester and Queen Anne's Counties	Denton
Carroll	1658	From unorganized territory	Westminster
Dorchester	1668	From unorganized territory	Cambridge
Frederick	1748	Prince George's County	Frederick
Garrett	1872	Allegany County	Oakland
Harford	1773	Baltimore County	Bel Air
Howard	1851	Anne Arundel and Baltimore Counties	Ellicott City
Kent	1642	From unorganized territory	Chestertown
Montgomery	1776	Frederick County	Rockville
Prince George's	1696	Calvert and Charles Counties	Upper Marlboro
Queen Anne's	1706	Talbot County	Centreville
St. Mary	1637	From unorganized territory. Was named Potomac County between 1654 and 1658.	Leonardtown
Somerset	1666	From unorganized territory.	Princess Anne
Talbot	1662	Kent County	Easton
Washington	1776	Frederick County	Hagerstown
Wicomico	1867	Somerset and Worcester Counties	Salisbury
Worcester	1742	Somerset County	Snow Hill