Baltimore County, Maryland, Marriage Licenses, May 2, 1832 to September 14, 1839

Description

This is the fourth volume of Michael Ports’s transcriptions of Baltimore County marriage records; it extends coverage from May 2, 1832, through September 14, 1839, and references about 10,000 persons. (The earlier volumes spanned the period 1798 to May 1, 1832). As with the earlier books, Mr. Ports has compiled this volume from the microfilm of the original records at the Maryland State Archives.

Here are the particulars: The transcribed licenses are presented in a tabular format with the date, license number, name of the groom, name of the bride, surname of the minister (when available), and page number in the original record. The licenses are arranged in alphabetical order by the surname of the groom; the index includes only the surnames of the brides. The researcher should be aware that the record contains only the date that the license was granted, not the date of the marriage ceremony. (The absence of the minister’s surname could indicate that the marriage did not take place, the minister failed to return the license after the ceremony, or the clerk failed to record the name after the return was received.) On other occasions a note indicating the race, previous marital status, or even parentage was added. Such notes appear in italics in the tabular transcription.

It is also noteworthy that the western boundary of Baltimore County changed in 1837 inasmuch as the state legislature established Carroll County from western Baltimore and eastern Frederick counties that year. As he did in Volume III, Mr. Ports has included a table of officiating ministers, indicating each individual’s name, denomination/parish, and the year of the Baltimore city directory wherein such particulars derive.