Kent County, MarylandEdit This Page

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This article is about a county in the state of Maryland. For other uses, see Kent (disambiguation).

County Courthouse

http://www.kentcounty.com/
Government Center
400 High Street
Chestertown, MD 21620
(410) 778-7435

History

Kent County, Maryland takes its name from the English County of Kent.

• By 1631, William Clayborne was appointed Commander of the settlers of the Isle of Kent which he named for his home, the English County of Kent.

Parent County

• Created 30 December 1637 from the Colonial lands.

Boundary Changes

• 19 February 1661, Talbot County was set off.
• For a time much of Cecil County was attached to Kent County until 1659 then attached to Baltimore County.

Record Loss

Places/Localities

Populated Places

Towns

Communities

Neighboring Counties

Anne Arundel | Baltimore | Cecil | Harford | Queen Anne's | Delaware counties: Kent | New Castle

Resources

Cemeteries

• Cecil Burial Ground, near Lynch
• Galena Cemetery, Galena
• Olivet United Methodist Cemetery, Galena
• Quaker Cemetery, Millington
• St. Paul's Episcopal Church Cemetery, Chestertown
• St. Paul's Methodist Church Cemetery, Earleville
• Westminister Presbyterian Cemetery, Georgetown

Census

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

Church

Maryland State Archives' Guide to Maryland Religious Institutions identifies all churches known to have existed in Kent County, Maryland. It covers all denominations and includes record descriptions.

Court

Provincial Court

• Residents Appearing at the Provincial Court, 1647-1656
• Residents Appearing at the Provincial Court, 1656-1660
• Residents Appearing at the Provincial Court, 1662-1670
• Residents Appearing at the Provincial Court, 1670-1676

Family Histories

It is anticipated that this bibliography will eventually identify all known family histories published about residents of this county. Use this list to:

• Locate publications about direct ancestors
• Find the most updated accounts of an ancestor's family
• Identify publications, to quote Elizabeth Shown Mills, about an ancestor's "FAN Club" [Friends, Associates, and Neighbors]

Bibliography

• [de Hinojosa] Hoff, Henry B. "Alexander de Hinojosa and His Descendants in Maryland," The American Genealogist, Vol. 79, No. 4 (Oct. 2004):260-273.
• [Elena] Russell, George Ely. "Portuguese and Spanish Colonists in Seventeenth-Century Maryland," The American Genealogist, Vol. 76, No. 1 (January 2001):50-60.
• [Elenor] See Elena.
• [Holman] See Rue.
• [Rue] Utermohlen, William J. "The Ancestry of Richard Rue and His Holman and Vansant Connections," The American Genealogist, Vol. 69, No. 4 (Oct. 1994):235-245.
• [Vansant] See Rue.

Gazetteers

Immigration

• Act of Naturalization of Several Individuals
• Coldham, Peter Wilson. "Correspondence with the American Colonies 1739-1782," The Genealogist, Vol. 12, No. 1 (Spring 1998):108-128; Vol. 12, No. 2 (Fall 1998):189-205. [Overseas correspondence of residents of Chester Town [Chestertown] and Kent County with the following surnames: Ringold and Wilmore.] Available at FHL.
• Kent County Immigration Index 1663-1667
• List of imported servants and transported convicts from Europe who served labor terms in Colonial Kent County, Maryland (work in progress), courtesy: Immigrant Servants Database.

Land

Through a Joint eGovernment Service of the Maryland Judiciary and the Maryland State Archives, free images and indexes of the complete series of Kent County Deed Books (1648-present) have been uploaded to their website: MDLandRec.Net: A Digital Image Retrieval System for Land Records in Maryland. (Requires free registration.)

Other Kent County land resources include:

Land Records (scroll over half way down the page)

Local Histories

Maps

Military

Newspapers

• Kent County newspapers are identified in "Guide to Maryland Newspapers," available online, courtesy: Special Collections, Maryland State Archives.

Private Papers

• Coldham, Peter Wilson. "Correspondence with the American Colonies 1739-1782," The Genealogist, Vol. 12, No. 1 (Spring 1998):108-128; Vol. 12, No. 2 (Fall 1998):189-205. [Overseas correspondence of residents of Chester Town [Chestertown] and Kent County with the following surnames: Ringold and Wilmore.] Available at FHL.

Probate

Wills and Estate Records (scroll to bottom of page)

Taxation

Vital Records

Birth

• Colonial Births 1650-1681

Marriage

• Colonial Marriages 1654-1676

Death

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

Other Kent County death resources include:

• Colonial Deaths 1655-1678

Societies and Libraries

Societies

The Historical Society of Kent County, Maryland

Libraries

Kent County Public Library

Web Sites

• The Kent County MDGenWeb Project, a member of The MDGenWeb Project, an affiliate of The USGenWeb Project.
• The USGenWeb Archives Project for Kent County.
• The USGenWeb Archives Project for Kent County. (Backup site)
• FamilySearch.org Family History Library Catalog for Kent County

References