Colonial Maryland Naturalizations

Description

This collection of naturalization records originally developed from a search for genealogical information concerning German settlers in Western Maryland. Although the first two parts of the work contain references to denizations granted by the Council and naturalizations granted by enactment of private laws, most of which have been extracted from various volumes of the Archives of Maryland, chief interest in the work rests with the naturalizations in Part III, which have not previously been published. Originally designed to encourage German Protestant emigration to colonial Maryland, a pair of 18th-century English statutes were enacted as a means of effecting bona fide naturalization in the Colony. The naturalizations in Part III, compiled from Maryland’s Provincial Court documents in the Hall of Records, Annapolis, were granted in accordance with these statutes. Heretofore, there has been no convenient means of ascertaining the names of all naturalized citizens in colonial Maryland.

Between 1742 and 1775 upwards of 1,000 naturalizations were granted in Maryland, 1775 being the logical terminal date since naturalizations were originally recorded in compliance with British statutes and were therefore only co-extensive with British dominion. Data in the naturalization records presented here includes the identifying number of the record, date of naturalization, date of communion, volume and page of the Provincial Court Judgments, name, county or town of residence, nationality, church membership, location of church, and witnesses to communion. Place names, clergy, and parish locations are identified in the appendix. A learned introduction and two fine indexes add considerably to the reference value of the work, which is indeed a welcome addition to the literature of Maryland Germans.