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MGS Response to the Coronavirus
We have temporarily stopped accepting new orders for research. Research repositories that had reopened by appointment have recently closed again due to the current surge in COVID-19 cases. We regret the interruption in our services, and we thank you for your understanding and patience.
Our usual slate of events has been suspended, but we hope to soon be offering a new webinar series, so please check back for further updates.
Everyone please continue to take care and stay well.
~ Dru Null, MGS President
Welcome!
Since 1959, the Maryland Genealogical Society has been promoting genealogical study and research. Through our publications, programs, resources, and outreach, the Society can help you explore your family history.
And we hope that you'll follow us on Facebook for timely news and information.
MGS Now Selling Used Books
 MGS is pleased to announce that used genealogy-related books are now available for purchase on the For Sale page. MGS members receive a 12% discount on purchases. (Be sure to be signed in on the website as a member before ordering!) All prices already include shipping and handling. Sales are first come, first served!
In addition to books on Maryland, our current inventory includes the following topics: family histories, general interest and methodology, U.S. resources, Mayflower and New England, photography, lineage societies, British research and Scottish clans, royalty and nobility, Norman ancestry, and heraldry. We will be adding books as they become available. We anticipate offering books related to German research in the near future.
The MGS Journal
The August 2020 issue of the Journal is available. Members receive their copies by mail. Limited quantities of the current and earlier issues of the Journal also are available for sale. Members receive a discounted price. Click here for information on prices and how to purchase.
 In this issue, Kent Randell concludes his four-part series on the families that were connected to Susquehanna with a summary of the descendants of Captain Henry Carroll. Helen Hinchliff continues her exploration of intrepid women with the conclusion of the story of Annie Legate Swindell and her encounter with Victoria Woodhull and Wall Street. Gary Ball-Kilbourne traces the parents of Samuel Kilbourn of Baltimore using indirect and negative evidence. Bridget Sunderlin has written an informative article about the contentious interactions among the descendants and heirs to the fortune of John McDonogh, a Baltimore-born millionaire and slave owner who lived most of his life in New Orleans. John Deeben describes the records of the Freedmen’s Bureau in Maryland and the role the bureau played in “protecting and promoting the interests of former slaves.” Angela Walton-Raji is the co-founder of the website Mapping the Freedmen’s Bureau, which she describes in this issue as an interactive mapping tool that makes these records more easily accessible. And as always, we have a challenging crossword puzzle and reviews of some interesting new books and genealogical materials.
For a look at the full table of contents, click here.
November MGS News
The November 2020 edition of MGS News is now available. If you are a MGS member, you should have received the issue by email. If you are a member and haven't provided us with your email, please contact us at info@mdgensoc.org so that you can begin to receive MGS News.
Archived copies of this issue and previous issues are available in the Member's Only area.
Baltimore City Online Marriage Index (1851-1914)
 MGS is pleased to announce the completion of its Baltimore City Marriage License Index for 1886-1914, with years 1851-1885 still being added. This Members Only index is designed to help you find/identify ancestors who obtained Marriage Licenses in Baltimore City in the subject time period. The searchable electronic index contains names and dates from 157,551 index cards in the Maryland State Archives Record Series T2426. Another 86,086 index cards from Record Series CM205 are being added as they are completed typing and proofreading. The original index cards are alphabetized by the name of the groom. This MGS index provides the first searchable index to the names of brides, as well as grooms!
The 1886-1914 Index is now 100 percent complete online. The 1851-1885 Index is now 23 percent complete online (as of 10 Oct 2020).
To access the data, click on Members Only, then sign in and look for “Baltimore Marriage Index” on the left side of the page.
MGS would like to thank the more than 30 dedicated volunteers who've spent several thousand hours completing this project. Many thanks also to Board Member John Siemon for his coordination of the project and to Board Member Dave Powell for his database expertise.
We are still indexing Baltimore City Marriage records from 1851-1885. If you’d like to help, send an email to baltohist7@verizon.net, subject “Marriage Index.” The more people indexing, the faster it will be done.
Digital Issues of the MGS Bulletin
MGS Members can read 48 years (1960 to 2007) of the Maryland Genealogical Society Bulletin in the Members Only portion of the web site.
Access is available to MGS members as an exclusive member benefit. After signing in as a member, look for the "MGS Bulletin Archive" link under Members Only on the lefthand navigation bar.
The Bulletin is packed with family genealogies and transcriptions from source records, including bible records, church records, tombstones, court records, etc. You can consult the cumulative table of contents to learn what articles appear in each issue. The issues are PDFs that are full-text searchable.
Will and Probate Indexes Available
 An index spreadsheet to Anne Arundel County probate records is now available. The Maryland State Archives is participating in a joint project with the Comptroller of the Treasury, the Registers of Wills, and FamilySearch to have the state's probate records from 1634 to 1940 indexed, scanned, and made available online. Volunteers are preparing the documents for scanning and indexing the records. The indexed information eventually will be available in an online FamilySearch database. In the meantime, as county indexes are completed, the Maryland State Archives is making the spreadsheets available for researcher use.
Many thanks to MGS Board Member Tom McCarriar - who is participating as a volunteer on the project - for providing us with the Anne Arundel County spreadsheet. Click here to see the index spreadsheets currently available - Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Caroline, and Carroll Counties. Visit the Maryland State Archives web site for more information about volunteering for this or other projects.
We're Looking for Your Photos!
Would you like to see images of your ancestors included on the MGS Web site? Members are encouraged to submit photos for inclusion in the gallery of images at the top of the page that rotate and change each time visitors go to a new page on the Web site. (Each has a caption that you can read by hovering your cursor over the image.) For more information about submitting images, click here.
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