This
page is dedicated to those researching ancestors from
historic St. Mary's County, Maryland. St. Mary's was
founded when Governor Leonard Calvert and about 140
passengers on the Ark and the Dove
sailed from Isle of Wight, England on November 22, 1633
and erected a wooden cross on nearby St. Clement's
Island, Maryland on March 25, 1634. After a century or
more of war, persecution, and intolerence over the
conflict between Catholicism and Protestantism in
England, St. Mary's was founded on the principle of
"Freedom of Conscience" and religious
tolerance. Thus, a large number of its early settlers
were Catholics, seeking the freedom to worship under the
religion of their choice. Freedom of religion was made
law in 1644 at St. Mary's City, then the capital of
Maryland.
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~Freedom of Conscience~
| Right:
"Here, for the first time in America, men
and women of differing faiths lived in peace and
goodwill, practicing freedom of conscience."
Below: The
"Freedom of Conscience" statue outside
old St. Mary's City.
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Below:
"In St. Mary's City, in 1634, Father Andrew
White of the Society of Jesus, apostle of
Maryland and first historian of the colony,
offered up the holy sacrifice of the Mass in
thanksgiving to God for having led the pilgrims
to a land of sanctuary, where they and their
descendants might live in civil and religious
freedom." 
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~St. Mary's City~
 |
Left:
Historic St. Mary's City is now a living history
museum covering some 800 acres on the riverfront.
The original buildings have been reconstructed in
skeletal form as pictured here. Also included are
a replica of the square-rigger The
Dove, some fully
reconsructed buildings, archealogical digs,
museum and presentation center. |
 Above:
remnants of a form of discipline of bygone days.
Right:
Reconstructed 1676 Statehouse, erected in 1934
for the tercentenary.
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Ironically, the freedom
of religion in St. Mary's County did not last long.
Because of their tolerance for religious beliefs, St.
Mary's invited the Puritans to settle there to escape the
persecution they had endured. The Puritans then overthrew
the lawful government, and began to persecute Catholics
and Anglicans alike, controlling Maryland from 1654 to
1657. In 1692, England sent a new governor to take
control of Maryland, and made the Church of England the
official religion of Maryland. The Catholic Calverts
converted to Protestants and they regained control in
1715. Catholics were forbid to participate in government,
were no longer allowed to worship together, and in 1704 a
law was passed calling on Catholic children to rebel
against their parents. Any Protestant widow who married a
Catholic lost custody of her children, and special taxes
were levied on land owned by anyone practicing the
Catholic faith.
Many of Maryland's catholic
families, half of whom lived in St. Mary's County, began
a migration to Kentucky, then later to Missouri. The west
side of the Mississippi River was controlled first by the
French, then the Spanish, and both governments welcomed
Catholicism. Many St. Mary's families settled in Nelson,
Marion, and Washington counties in Kentucky, and later in
Perry County, Missouri.
The webmaster would like to
acknowledge Timothy O'Rourke (1947-1994) for his years of
research on St. Mary's families and their history (see
book links below.) Also researchers Patricia Bishop
Obrist, Don Drury, John Wilkinson, and Robert Dora for
their generous sharing of information on St. Mary's
genealogy.
If
you have additions, corrections, or questions about the
information on these pages please email the webmaster.
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| Above:
The bridge to St. Mary's at sunset (from Solomons
Island). |
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~ Click the blue  buttons ~
The Dry
Docking Farm of St. Mary's County
St. John Francis Regis
Cemetery, Hollywood, St. Mary's County
St.
Ignatius Cemetery, St. Inigoes, St. Mary's County
1671 Map of Maryland
St.
Mary's County Historical Society
St. Mary's County
Genealogical Society
St. Mary's County
USGenWeb site
Maryland Tombstone
Transcription Project
St. Mary's County
Genealogy bulletin board at Genforum.com
Official St. Mary's City
website
Official
Saint Mary's County website
Leonardtown,
St. Mary's County
St. Mary's County online
map by ResortMaps
Maryland
State Archives
Patricia Bishop Obrist's
List of Passengers of the Ark and The Dove
William Johnson's St.
Mary's County History and Churches
The Hayden
Genealogy Page
Edward Hayden's Hayden
Genealogy Page
The Drury
Genealogy Page
Don Drury's Genealogy of
Southern Maryland Drurys and related families
John Wilkinson's St.
Mary's County Wilkinson Family Page
The Catholic
Genealogy and Family Research site
The Martha Barnes Foundation
for restoration of the Scotland, MD Negro Schoolhouse
Search
the GEDCOM file for St. Mary's ancestors
Join the
St. Mary's Genealogy email-list through Rootsweb (Digest
Mode)
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~Books~
Maryland Catholics on the Frontier $99.95
by Timothy J. O'Rourke - A massive 900 page genealogy
treatise on Maryland Catholic families who migrated west.
St. Mary's County Historical
Society - Has a number of excellent
St. Mary's resource books available for sale. Click here
for an online list and ordering information.
~ The following books are
available directly from Amazon.com ~
Catholic Families of Southern
Maryland: Records of Catholic Residents of St. Mary's
County in the Eighteenth Century $20.00 - by
Timothy J. O'Rourke
Archaeological Investigations at
Susquehanna : A 19th Century Farm Complex Aboard Patuxent
River Naval Air Station, St. Mary's County, Maryland $15.00 -
by Julia A. King
Index to the Wills of St. Mary's
County, Maryland 1662-1960 & Somerset County,
1664-1955
- by Joan Hume
Lost Towns of Tidewater Maryland
$29.56 - by Donald G. Shomette
ADC St. Mary's County, Maryland $10.95 -
by ADC, the map people
Colonial
Chesapeake Society $24.95 - Papers from the two
conferences held in 1984 in honor of Maryland's 350th
Anniversary. Essays encompass broad issues of early
American history.
Maryland
Loyalists in the American Revolution $26.95 - In 1777, four
hundred men from the Eastern Shore of Maryland raised a
red-coated regiment, pledging their loyalty to king and
mother country. Yet for more than two hundred years,
their story remained untold. Maryland Loyalists in the
American Revolution describes for the first time the
lives of these officers and soldiers, examining their
beliefs - and the heavy price they paid to uphold them.
During the years of tumult and upheaval, great numbers of
loyalists lost their homes, their livelihood, and their
lives. When war came to an end, many surviving loyalists
were banished to Nova Scotia. As they fled, a tragic
shipwreck dealt the final blow. Rare and previously
unpublished documents portray these forgotten loyalists,
bringing to light their struggles and hardships.
Chesapeake
Bay in the Civil War $23.96 - To those with
"second homes" on Virginia's Eastern Shore, it
is a real eye-opener--and long overdue.
The
Chesapeake Dead : Tombstones, Epitaphs, Histories,
Reflections, and Oddments of the Region $19.96 - History with a
light touch, it never bores the reader!
Maryland
: A Middle Temperament, 1634-1980 $20.76 - A comprehensive
history of the state illustrating the peculiar ironies
and contradictions, that give a special character to
"America's oldest border state." Readable,
extensively illustrated. This is a great survey book for
anyone interested in learning about Maryland's history.
It touches on all the major themes in the great state's
history and how they related to the national landscape.
Medicine
in Maryland : The Practice and the Profession, 1799-1999 $39.95 - A comprehensive
history of medicine in the state of Maryland, telling the
story of the people and institutions who helped shape not
only the nation's health professions but also the quality
of lives Americans led. Among topics covered are the
development of the Medical Hall in Harford County, the
evolution of the teaching hospital that became the
University of Maryland, and the origins of the scientific
tradition established at the Johns Hopkins Hospital,
Medical School, and School of Public Health. Also
discusses gender, racial, class, and religious diversity
and divisions.
Too
Afraid to Cry : Maryland Civilians in the Antietam
Campaign
$19.95 - The battle at Antietam Creek, the bloodiest day
in American history, left more than 23,000 men dead,
wounded, or missing. Facing the aftermath were the
children, women, and men living in the village of
Sharpsburg and on surrounding farms. In Too Afraid to
Cry, the author recounts the dramatic experiences of
these Maryland citizens, stories that have never been
told, and also examines the complex political web holding
together Unionists and Secessionists, many of whom lived
under the same roofs in this divided countryside.
History
of Missouri : Embracing an Historical Account of the
Counties of Ste. Genevieve, St. Francois, Perry, Cape
Girardeau, Bollinger, Madison, New Madrid, Pemiscot,
Dunklin, Scott, Mississippi, Stoddard, Butler, Wayne and
Iron
$52.20 - over 1,200 pages, a massive reprint of the
original 1888 historical and genealogical history of
these historic counties. Numerous engravings of early
pioneers of the area, along with family histories. Fully
indexed, a must-have for researchers of families who
settled in the Mississippi valley. Many of the families
of Perry County in particular migrated from St. Mary's
County, Maryland
Click here for a selection of books
on American history and genealogy. Please be patient
while the graphics load.
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