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Cecil County, Maryland Genealogy

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Guide to Cecil County, Maryland ancestry, genealogy and family history, birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, and military records.

County Facts
County seat: Elkton
Organized: June 6, 1674
Parent County(s): Baltimore[1]
Variant Spellings: Caecill[2]
Neighboring Counties
Harford • Kent • New Castle (DE) • Chester (PA) • Lancaster (PA) • York (PA)
See County Maps
Courthouse
Cecil County Court House Elkton, Maryland.jpeg
Location Map
Map of Maryland highlighting Cecil County.png

County Information

Description

Cecil County was created by 06 Jun 1674[3] and was named for Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore (1605–1675), the first Proprietary Governor of the Province (colony) of Maryland. Its county seat is Elkton. It is located in the north-eastern area of the state.[4]

County Courthouse

Cecil County Courthouse
129 E. Main Street
Elkton, MD 21921-5943
Phone: 410-996-1021
Toll-free (in Maryland) 888-287-0576
Cecil County Website

Clerk of the Circuit Court has marriage records from 1777 and divorce, court, and land records from 1674.
Register of Wills has probate Records.
Clerk of the Court has indexes from 1674.[5]

Cecil 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 Government County Records[6]
Birth* Marriage Death* Court Land Probate Census
1865[7] 1777 1898 1674 1674 1675 1790
*Statewide registration for births and deaths started in 1898. General compliance by the 1910s.

Record Loss

Many early court records have disappeared.

For suggestions about research in places that suffered historic record losses, see:

Boundary Changes

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:[10]

Towns
Unincorporated communities


History Timeline

  • Though Cecil County was not established by Lord Baltimore and his colonists until 1674, a small settlement came prior to that time. In 1633, twenty-five years after John Smith sailed the tributaries of the Upper Chesapeake Bay, Englishman William Claiborne opened a trading post on Palmers Island at the mouth of the Susquehanna. He traded beavers and furs with the Susquehannocks and sold them to the French in Canada. A small settlement and a plantation surrounded the first white man's post in the area.
  • There are two names that will forever be linked to the establishment of Cecil County. The first is the Second Lord Baltimore, Cecilius Calvert (1605-1675), for whom the County was named. He ruled the land called Maryland, after his father, The First Lord Baltimore, died. He was the first Proprietary Governor of the colony of Maryland from 1632 until his death in 1675. The second name is that of Augustine Herman, one of Cecil's first land owners. Herman offered his masterful map-making skills to create a map of Maryland, and in exchange received a large tract of land that spread out from the Bohemia River. Because of his skills, he was considered an important man, and it was Herman who was able to convince Charles Calvert, the second Proprietary Governor of the Province of Maryland, to divide Cecil County out of Baltimore County. In 1674 Herman's wish was granted, and by proclamation, the boundaries for the new county of Cecil were established. The first courthouse was located on the Sassafras River.
  • 1659 Much of what is now Cecil County was originally attached to Kent County until Baltimore County was created 12 January 1659.
    Province of Maryland Boundaries
  • 1674 Cecil County was erected by proclamation on June 6, 1674. The original boundaries of Cecil County, as created in 1674, by proclamation of Governor Charles Calvert, are described as follows: "From the mouth of the Susquehanna River down the eastern side of the bay to Swan Point, thence to Hell Point, and so up Chester River to the head thereof." Nothing appears to have been said about the eastern or northern bounds of the county because they were in dispute, nevertheless, the lord proprietary still claimed to Delaware and to the fortieth degree of north latitude. These bounds were slightly varied by another proclamation issued a few days afterward, which there is the reason to believe threw a small part of what is now the extreme southwestern part of Kent County under the jurisdiction of the authorities of Kent Island.[11]
  • The present county of Kent was in the original bounds of Cecil County for two weeks, until the inhabitants of Kent demanded their territory be returned.
  • 1732 In 1732 John, Richard, and Thomas Penn, who by will of their father had become joint proprietors of Pennsylvania, entered into a written agreement with Charles Calvert, the fifth Lord Baltimore, for the adjustment of the boundaries of the two provinces. trans-peninsular line
  • 1767 The Mason-Dixon linewas established to end a boundary dispute between the British colonies of Maryland and Pennsylvania/Delaware.
  • 1829 The Legislature appointed commissioners to locate the boundary line between Cecil and Harford counties. They finished their work in 1832. Their report shows that they began at the State line, at a rock called Long Rock, in the middle of the Susquehanna River, and continued the line southwardly by various islands and rocks in the river until they reached a large rock at the lower part of Watson's Island.
  • 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.
Cecil Calvert

Resources

Bible Records

Biographies

Business, Commerce, and Occupations

Cemeteries

Cemeteries of Cecil County, Maryland online and in print
Tombstone Transcriptions Online
Tombstone Transcriptions in Print (Often more complete)
List of Cemeteries in the County
See Maryland Cemeteries for more information


Transcriptions of various cemeteries in Cecil County can be found at the following websites:

  • Cecil County Cemetery Records from the Historical Society of Cecil County. On this page, you will find links to PDF files containing an inventory of Cecil County tombstone transcriptions. One of their most experienced family history researchers and a past president of the Genealogical Society of Cecil County, Gary Burns, has worked several years compiling this detailed spreadsheet. It is still a work in progress and only goes to the letter P right now, but you will find over 29,000 entries for Cecil County Tombstones thus far.
  • The Political Graveyard is a great resource for Politicians that were born, lived and died in Cecil County.

Published Transcriptions:

  • Dunn, Mary DeVine and Lillian DeVine. St. Francis Xavier Church, Warwick, Maryland, "Old Bohemia" its history, the burial register historical notes. Newtown, Pa. Will-Britt Books. 1987.
  • Genealogical Society of Cecil County. Cecil County, MD, Tombstone Inscriptions, Districts 7, 8 & 9, Volume I. Publisher [S.l.] Genealogical Society of Cecil County, c1992. Includes 18 area graveyards; Districts 7, 8, & 9
    • Cemeteries listed in District 7: Asbury, Baptist, Cokesbury United Methodist, Harmony Chapel Methodist, Jones Memorial, Patterson Private, Principio, Sterrett Private, St. Mark's Episcopal, Taylor's Private
    • Cemeteries listed in District 8: Bethesda, Conowingo Baptist, Mt. Zoar, Success Farm, St. Patrick's Catholic
    • Cemeteries listed in District 9: Brick Meeting House Quaker, Trinity Church, Zion Methodist, Zion Presbyterian
  • Robertson, Donna J.. Tombstone inscriptions of Cecil County. D.J. Robertson.1995.
  • Robertson, Donna J.. Tombstone inscriptions of Hopewell United Methodist Church Cemetery, Cecil County, Maryland. D.J. Robertson. 1995.
  • Williams, Mildred C. and Janet R. Brittingham. Cecil County, Maryland cemetery records: Elkton Presbyterian Churchyard, Bethel Methodist Churchyard, Leeds Church cemetery. Newtown, Pa.: Will-Britt Books. 1987.
  • For more information about Cemeteries in Maryland please refer to the Maryland Cemeteries page.

Census Records

For tips on accessing Cecil County, Maryland Genealogy census records online, see: Maryland Census.

Historical populations
Census Pop. %±
1790 13,625 —
1800 9,018 −33.8%
1810 13,066 44.9%
1820 16,048 22.8%
1830 15,432 −3.8%
1840 17,232 11.7%
1850 18,939 9.9%
1860 23,862 26.0%
1870 25,874 8.4%
1880 27,108 4.8%
1890 25,851 −4.6%
1900 24,662 −4.6%
1910 23,759 −3.7%
1920 23,612 −0.6%
1930 25,827 9.4%
1940 26,407 2.2%
1950 33,356 26.3%
1960 48,408 45.1%
1970 53,291 10.1%
1980 60,430 13.4%
1990 71,347 18.1%
2000 85,951 20.5%
2010 101,108 17.6%
Source: "Wikipedia.org".
  • The 1693 census of the Swedes on the Delaware family histories of the Swedish Lutheran Church members residing in Pennsylvania, Delaware, west New Jersey and Cecil County, Md., 1638-1693, by Peter Stebbins Craig. Available through the FamilySearch Library, as well as other places.

Federal Census reports available 1790-1930 including slave and veterans schedules.

Church Records

Contains the church records of:
  • Earleville: St. Stephen's Episcopal Church

Church of England


List of Churches and Church Parishes

Court Records

Before 1776, information may be found in any one of the following types of courts:

  • The Admiralty Court - Following the restoration of the Proprietary government, no Admiralty Court sat in Maryland until a Vice Admiral was commissioned in 1756. The court's jurisdiction included contracts, accounts, wages, treason, piracy, felonies, fugitives, mayhem, and bottomry (cases in which a shipowner put the ship up as security for a loan). The Constitution of 1776 established an Admiralty Court to try capture and seizures made and brought into Maryland ports. The court functioned until 1789, when the U.S. Constitution assigned admiralty jurisdiction to the federal courts.
  • The Provincial Court - The exact date of the creation of the Provincial Court is unknown; it is likely that it dates from Leonard Calvert's commission as Lieutenant General of the colony in 1637, which gave him the authority to try all cases except those concerning life, member, or freehold. Originally called the County Court, the Provincial Court was modeled after the English county courts. The name change probably occurred sometime between 1640 and 1642, when St. Mary's and Kent counties were created, each with a county court. The Provincial Court had concurrent jurisdiction with the county courts in most matters, served as an appellate court to the county courts, and had original jurisdiction in criminal cases involving life or member and in civil cases with value above a given sum or poundage of tobacco, which varied throughout the court's history. The Provincial Court also heard chancery, testamentary, and guardianship cases until the Chancery and Prerogative Courts were established and guardianship matters were transferred to the county courts. In addition, the Provincial Court had concurrent jurisdiction with the county courts in recording conveyances of land, which was compulsory after 1663.
  • The Prerogative Court - The probate court of Maryland for the greater part of the colonial period was called the Prerogative Court which was responsible for overseeing the administration of all the records related to the estate of a deceased person.
  • The Chancery Court

Directories

Emigration and Immigration

The New Early Settlers of Maryland at Maryland State Archives. Search 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."

Other Cecil County immigration resources include:

Ethnic, Political, and Religious Groups

Funeral Homes

Genealogies

  • Barnes, Robert W., F. Edward Wright, Vernon L. Skinner and Henry C. Peden. Colonial Families of the Eastern Shore of Maryland. 23 vols. Westminster, Md.: Family Line, 1996-2003; Lewes, Del.: Delmarva Roots and Colonial Roots, 2007. FS Library US/CAN Book 975.21 D2b v. 1 ff. Cecil County families appear in Vol. 6.
  • Anderson - Russell, George Ely. "The Swedish Settlement in Maryland, 1654," The American Genealogist, Vol. 54, No. 4 (Oct. 1978):203-210. FS Catalog 973 D25aga v. 54
  • Baker - White, Miles. "Henry Baker and Descendants," The Southern History Association, Vol. 5, No. 5 (Sep. 1901):388-400; Vol. 5, No. 6 (Nov. 1901):477-496. Digitized by Internet Archive - free.
  • Campbell - Campbell, Donald H. The Campbell Family of Virginia. 1990s. Digital version at FamilySearch Digital Library.
  • Caulk - Russell, George Ely. "The Swedish Settlement in Maryland, 1654," The American Genealogist, Vol. 54, No. 4 (Oct. 1978):203-210. FS Catalog 973 D25aga v. 54
  • Clements - Russell, George Ely. "The Swedish Settlement in Maryland, 1654," The American Genealogist, Vol. 54, No. 4 (Oct. 1978):203-210. FS Catalog 973 D25aga v. 54
  • Cornelius - Russell, George Ely. "The Swedish Settlement in Maryland, 1654," The American Genealogist, Vol. 54, No. 4 (Oct. 1978):203-210. FS Catalog 973 D25aga v. 54
  • Creswell - Russell, George Ely. "David Creswell of Cecil County, Maryland," The American Genealogist, Vol. 46, No. 2 (Apr. 1970):65-73. FS Catalog 973 D25aga v. 46
  • Dunbar - Plummer, Judith M. Bald Friar Ferry in 1781 across the Susquehanna River between Hartford and Cecil Counties in Maryland. Westbrook, Maine J.M. Plummer, 2004. Digital version FamilySearch Digital Library.
  • Eliason - Russell, George Ely. "The Swedish Settlement in Maryland, 1654," The American Genealogist, Vol. 54, No. 4 (Oct. 1978):203-210. FS Catalog 973 D25aga v. 54
  • Frist - Frist, William H. and Shirley Wilson. "Good people beget good people": a genealogy of the Frist family. Maryland:Rowman & Littlefield. 2003.
  • Hendrickson - Bendler, Bruce A. "The Hendrickson Family in Cecil County, Maryland: The First Three Generations," The Maryland and Delaware Genealogist, Vol. 31, No. 1 (Winter 1990):20-22. FS Library US/CAN Book 975 B2m.
  • Janney - White, Miles. "Janney Genealogy," The Southern History Association, Vol. 8, No. 2 (Mar. 1904):119-128; Vol. 8, No. 3 (May 1904):196-211; Vol. 8, No. 4 (Jul. 1904):275-286. Digitized by Internet Archive - free.
  • Lawson - Brayton, John A. The Complete Ancestry of Tennessee Williams. Winston-Salem, N.C.: J.A. Brayton, 1993. FS Library Book 929.273 W67bj.
  • Mathews - Russell, George Ely. "The Swedish Settlement in Maryland, 1654," The American Genealogist, Vol. 54, No. 4 (Oct. 1978):203-210. FS Catalog 973 D25aga v. 54
  • Matthias - Russell, George Ely. "The Swedish Settlement in Maryland, 1654," The American Genealogist, Vol. 54, No. 4 (Oct. 1978):203-210. FS Catalog 973 D25aga v. 54

Surname Files

Guardianship

Land and Property Records

Chesapeake City, MD from a bridge over the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. Copyright © January 2006 Jennifer Schmidt.

Online Land Indexes and Records

Local Histories

Brief history overviews:

Maps and Gazetteers

Harford CountyKent CountyNew Castle CountyChester CountyLancaster CountyMD CECIL.PNG
Click a neighboring county
for more resources
Cecil County Boundary Map.jpg

Migration

Military Records

  • Military Officers in 1696.
  • Colonial Militia of Cecil County in 1740.
  • John F. DeWitt Military Museum at the Historical Society of Cecil County 135 E. Main Street, Elkton 410-398-1790
    Impressive display of military memorabilia from the Revolutionary War through Desert Storm.

Revolutionary War

Cecil County men served in the 6th Maryland Regiment.[14]

  • A Census of Pensioners for Revolutionary or Military Services: With their Names, Ages, and Places of Residence, as Returned by the Marshals of the Several Judicial Districts, Under the Act for Taking the Sixth Census. 1841. Online at: FamilySearch Digital Library, Internet Archive, Ancestry ($). 1967 reprint: FS Catalog Collection 973 X2pc 1840. See Maryland, Cecil County on page 127.
  • Cecil County Bicentennial Committee. Cecil County in the Revolutionary War being an account of some of the experiences, events and locations prominent to Cecil County and it's [sic] citizens during the period of 1776 to 1783.
    Elkton, Md. The Cecil County Bicentennial Committee, 1976.
  • Revolutionary Patriots of Cecil County, Maryland by Henry C. Peden, Jr. [15]

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. FS Catalog Collection 973 M2Lp v. 5. Online at: Internet Archive, Ancestry ($). See Vol. 5, Maryland, Cecil County, pp. 142-145. Identifies War of 1812 veterans living in this county in 1883.

Civil War

Regiments. Service men in Cecil 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 Cecil:

- 5th Regiment, Maryland Infantry, Companies A and I .
- 6th Regiment, Maryland Infantry Companies B, E and G.
- 8th Regiment, Maryland Infantry Company A .
- Purnell Legion, Maryland Infantry, Company E.

World War II

Naturalization and Citizenship

Newspapers

Obituaries

Other Records

Periodicals

  • "Cecil Co." in Genealogical Sources in Periodicals at The Maryland State Archives.

Probate Records

  • Register of Wills, Circuit Courthouse
    129 East Main Street, Suite 102
    Elkton, MD 21921
    Phone: 410-996-5330
    Phone: 888-398-0301
    Fax: 410-996-1039
    Mailing Address:
    P O Box 468
    Elkton, MD 21922-0468
    Website

Online Probate Indexes and Records


School Records

Social Security Records

Tax Records

  • 1678, 1681 1678 and 1681 Cecill County tax lists, available online, courtesy: MDGenWeb.
  • 1746 Millford Hundred Tax List at Maryland Genealogical Society, transcription
  • 1752 Cecil County Tax List at Maryland Genealogical Society, transcription
  • 1752 Taxable persons in Cecil county for the year, 1752. Charlestown, Md.: Genealogical Society of Cecil County, 19uu.
  • 1752 Taxable Persons in 1752.
  • 1759 Taxables in 1759.
  • 1760-1765 Batchelor Tax Lists in St. Mary Anne's P.E. Parish 1760-1765.
  • 1761 Cecil County Tax Lists of August, 1761.
  • 1762 Taxables Belonging to Elk Forge in 1762.
  • 1763 Batchelor Tax List in St. Stephen's P.E. Parish, July 10, 1763.
  • 1766 Taxables in 1766.
  • 1783 Cecil County Tax List of 1783 at Maryland State Archives. First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth Districts. This is an alphabetical index to names to all property owners assessed. The index cards include county, hundred, names of tracts of land and whether individuals were paupers or single males as provided in the law.
  • 1798 Direct tax
  • Maryland, Cecil - Taxation results in the FamilySearch Catalog

Vital Records

Birth[17]

  • 1865-1891 Births recorded by the Circuit Court at the Maryland State Archives, MSA C593
  • 1898-Onward Births recorded by the Department of Health at the Maryland State Archives

Marriage

Death

Divorce

Research Facilities

Archives

Listed below are archives in Cecil County. For state-wide archival repositories, see Maryland Archives and Libraries.

FamilySearch Centers

FamilySearch Center and Affiliate Library Locator map - search for local FamilySearch Centers or Affiliate Libraries

  • FamilySearch Centers provide one-on-one assistance, free access to center-only databases, and to premium genealogical websites.
  • FamilySearch Affiliate Libraries have access to most center-only databases, but may not always have full services normally provided by a FamilySearch center.

Local Centers and Affiliate Libraries

Libraries

Listed below are libraries in Cecil County. For state-wide library facilities, see Maryland Archives and Libraries.

Cecil County Public Library
301 Newark Avenue
Elkton, MD 21921
Phone: 410-996-5600
Website

Museums

Societies

Listed below are societies in Cecil County. For state-wide genealogical societies, see Maryland Societies.

The Historical Society of Cecil County
The Eva M. Muse Library
135 E. Main Street
Elkton, MD 21921
Phone: 410-398-1790
Email: history@cchistory.org
Website
Facebook

Websites

Research Guides

References

  1. ↑ Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), Maryland.At various libraries (WorldCat); FS Library Book 973 D27e 2002.
  2. ↑ William Hand Browne, ed., Archives of Maryland: Proceedings and Acts of the General Assembly of Maryland October 1678-November 1683 (Baltimore: Maryland Historical Society, 1889).
  3. ↑ Individual County Chronologies, https://digital.newberry.org/ahcb/documents/MD_Individual_County_Chronologies.htm
  4. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Cecil County, Maryland," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cecil_County,_Maryland&oldid=1222607697 (accessed May 8, 2024).
  5. ↑ Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), Maryland.At various libraries (WorldCat); FS Library Book 973 D27e 2002.
  6. ↑ Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), Cecil County, Maryland. Page 317-318 At various libraries (WorldCat); FS Library Book 973 D27e 2002; Alice Eichholz, ed. Ancestry’s Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources, Third ed. (Provo, Utah: Ancestry, 2004), 308-309.
  7. ↑ Maryland State Archives, Guide to Government Records, Birth Records
  8. ↑ Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), Maryland.At various libraries (WorldCat); FS Library Book 973 D27e 2002.
  9. ↑ Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), Maryland.At various libraries (WorldCat); FS Library Book 973 D27e 2002.
  10. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Cecil County, Maryland," in Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecil_County,_Maryland, accessed 16 August 2018.
  11. ↑ Maryland Geological Survey, George Burbank Shattuck, Florence Bascom, Edward Bennett Mathews, Clarence Wilbur Dorsey, Jay Allan Bonsteel, Oliver Lanard Fassig, Henry Albert Pressey, Louis Agricola Bauer, Hugh M. Curran, George Bishop Sudworth. Cecil County, Volume 1. Page 26. Geological Survey (U.S.), United States. Bureau of Soils.
  12. ↑ Eichholz, Alice, editor. Redbook American State, County, and Town Sources (Provo, Utah: Ancestry Publishing, 2004), 306.
  13. ↑ Peden, Henry C., compiler. Inhabitants of Cecil County, Maryland, 1649-1774. Westminster, Maryland: Willow Bend Books, 1999.
  14. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "6th Maryland Regiment," http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6th_Maryland_Regiment, accessed 31 May 2012.
  15. ↑ Peder, Henry C., Jr. Revolutionary Patriots of Cecil County, Maryland. Westminster, Maryland: Heritage Books, 2007.
  16. ↑ Garrett, Jere. "Muffled drums and mustard spoons : Cecil County, Maryland, 1860-1865". Shippensburg, Pennsylvania : Burd Street Press, c1996
  17. ↑ Maryland State Archives, Guide to Government Records, Birth Records
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