52 Weeks of Online American Digital Archives and Databases: Maryland

This is the 21st post in a weekly series of Online American Digital Archives and Databases found for free at state, county, municipal, college and university history, library, and archive websites, as well as public and private library and museum sites, and historical and genealogical society sites.

3DFlags.com

Archives of Maryland Online - http://aomol.net/html/index.html - broken down in to the following categories: City Directories (Annapolis and Baltimore); Codes, Compilations of Laws, Rules and Regulations; Constitutional Records; Early State Records; Executive Records; Fiscal Records; Judicial Records; Land Records; Legislative Records; Maryland Manual (Archives of Maryland publication); Military Records; Probate Records; Session Laws; Slavery Commission; and newspapers, maps, history, and more. This site is difficult to search and scroll through records, so much patience is required!

Maryland Digital Cultural Heritage - http://www.mdch.org/ - a collaborative effort between libraries, academic institutions, genealogical and historical societies, and museums highlighting photos, maps, documents, diaries, letters, and other items of Maryland History

Maryland Historic Trust - http://mht.maryland.gov/Survey_MIHP_Search.html - from the Maryland Department of Planning; check out the Maryland inventory of Historic Properties, and explore local historic districts, historical markers, cemeteries and monuments, and living tradtions and oral history from your ancestors' communities.

Maryland Historical Society - http://www.mdhs.org/ - Eubie Black Collection, Star-Spangled Banner Sheet Music Collection, Obsolete Currency, Cross Section of Photograph Collection (a selection from the 800,000 photos owned by MHS and sorted by subject), Painting collection (more than 1,500 images dating from the 17th century to the present), Maryland Historical Magazine tables of contents (or access to online editions for MHS members).  It is recommended that you click on the Library link and then explore the following Collections Overview and Digital Resources links. You can also check out the Maryland Memory Project here (http://www.mdhs.org/library/mmphome.html).

Maryland State Archives - http://www.msa.md.gov/ - while this site has some overlap with the Archives of Maryland Online (access to Maryland Manual, for instance), from this web page, one can access Maryland death records, land records, the state museum, Plats.net (must subscribe via e-mail), the Special Collections, order digital images from the Archives, and search the Underground Railroad Database.

SAILOR - Maryland's Public Information Network; Maryland Digital Collections - http://www.sailor.lib.md.us/MD_topics/sci/_dig.html - a search engine of a wide variety of digital collections from various institutions

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College of Southern Maryland - Southern Maryland Studies Center - http://www.csmd.edu/library/smsc/ - although there is not a lot of resources online, there are some photos from the Headen Collection available for viewing, as well as lists of finding aids.

Johns Hopkins University Digital Projects - http://www.library.jhu.edu/collections/specialcollections/digital.html - from the Sheridan Libraries Rare Books and Manuscripts Collections; includes the Baltimore Architecture Project, the James Birney Anti-Slavery Collection, Laurence Hall Fowler's Lost Baltimore, and more

Towson University Digital Collections - http://library.towson.edu/index.php - photos and student newspapers; you can also access a chronology of the university and the biographies of the university presidents here (http://cooklibrary.towson.edu/archives/archivesIndex.cfm)

University of Maryland, Baltimore County - http://contentdm.ad.umbc.edu/ - Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery Digital Collections - http://contentdm.ad.umbc.edu/ - photos, newpapers, Civil War Collection, theses and dissertations

University of Maryland, Eastern Shore - Frederick Douglass Library - http://www.umes.edu/fdl/SpecCol/special_collections.htm - historic images of UMES

University of Maryland University Libraries Digital Collections - http://www.lib.umd.edu/digital/ - from the University archives to  the National Trust Library Historic Postcard Collection to the Sterling Family Papers to the Jim Henson Collection, there is something here for everyone!

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Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Historical Society Archives and Web Exhibitions - http://www.borhs.org/Archives/Archives.html - if your ancestors lived in an area that was served by the B&O, you may want to check out these online documents and maps to see how the railroad affected their lives

Baltimore County Public Library - Baltimore County History - http://www.bcplonline.org/info/history/local.html - This page has a number of great history and genealogy links for anyone with Baltimore County roots. Be sure to check out the Baltimore County Legacy Web (http://external.bcpl.lib.md.us/hcdo/lw_home.html), where you can do a search of the collection of digitized images.

Edward H. Nabb Research Center for Delmarva History & Culture - http://nabbhistory.salisbury.edu/ - Delmarva stands for the area where DELaware, MARyland and VirginiA come together. This site features student research, local heritage, and family history highlighting the Delmarva history and culture. Included are digital collections.

Enoch Pratt Free Library Digital Collections - http://www.prattlibrary.org/digital/ - a variety of collections; of particular interest to historians and genealogists are the Burnt District Reports, the Baltimore Fire of 1904, Mapping Maryland's Counties, Prominent Marylanders, Slave Documents Collections, Views of African American Life in Maryland, and the Works Progress Administration of Maryland.

Howard County Marriage Records Index - http://www.hchsmd.org/marriages.htm

Jewish Museum of Maryland Collections & Research - http://www.jewishmuseummd.org/collections-research - in the Family History & Genealogy section of this website, there is access to "Maryland's most extensive listing of Jewish cemetery burials and other on-line resources". You can also search the collections as well as browse random images and online exhibitions, and visit the Timeline of Baltimore Jewry.

Montgomery County Historical Society - http://www.montgomeryhistory.org/ - genealogy club newsletter, links to digital images of aerial photos of Montgomery County, history, and online exhibits

Talbot County Free Library's Local and Genealogical Special Collections (Maryland Room) - http://www.tcfl.org/mdroom/index.html - a nice small online collection of photos, documents, postcards, maps, historic sites, local history narratives, plus a description of genealogical holdings

Washington County Free Library Genealogy Databases - http://www.washcolibrary.org/localhistory/genealogy.asp - obituary locator (1790-2007), historic Newspaper Index, marriage, school, church, and cemetery records, plus links to other sites with area records

WHILBR - Western Maryland's Historical Library - http://www.whilbr.org/default.aspx - featuring images, documents, newspaper articles, books (city/county directories) and more from Garrett, Allegany, and Washington Counties

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Check out my Maryland Online Historical Directories and Maryland Online Historical Newspapers pages.

Daniel J. MacARTHUR and Martha JOHNSON

Source: MacArthur, Daniel J. and Martha Johnson. Photograph. C. 1863. Original photograph believed to be in the possession of Nancy Masten Peugh, Manton, Michigan. 1999.

This is one of my paternal 3rd-great-grandparent couples, Daniel J. MacARTHUR and his wife, Martha JOHNSON. Daniel was born 7 June 1827 in Glengarry Co., Ontario, Canada to first-generation Canadians of Scottish descent. Martha was born 20 October 1844 in Ingham Co., Michigan. Her mother's family, the MASSEYs, brings the only ancestry located south of the Mason-Dixon line to my family tree, from Kent Co., Maryland. This photograph may have been Daniel and Martha's wedding portrait. They were married 27 February 1863, probably in Montcalm Co., Michigan. However, it appears that Martha may be with child, and it is know that their eldest son, Henry A. McARTHUR, was born 11 December 1865 in Clinton Co., Michigan. Since Daniel was serving in the Union Army during the Civil War, it may be that they did not get an opportunity to have a photograph taken until the war was over.

Besides Henry, who died in 1944, Daniel and Martha had six other children: Daniel Thomas (1867 - 1945); Catherine A. "Kate" (1869 - 1956); George Clinton "Clint" (1871 - 1936); my ancestor Mary E. "Mae" (1875 - 1959); William Edward "Will" (1880 - 1973); and Arlie Mae McARTHUR (1884 - 1971).

Daniel served in Company I of the 1st Regiment of Berdan's Sharpshooters out of Michigan. Near the close of the war, he was furloughed due to illness and sent home to recuperate. During that time the war ended, and for whatever reason either he did not report back to his unit or no record was made or kept of his return. At any rate, when he later applied for a veteran's pension, he was denied, although he appealed unsuccessfully several times.

Daniel and his wife and family lived all over the lower peninsula of Michigan, from the northwest to the southeast and every county in between, it seems. I'm still putting together a timeline to show his many residences in chronological order for my research purposes. For most of his life, his occupation was listed as a farmer, except for the time when he was listed as a shoemaker on his daughter Kate's birth record. Martha died in 1897, and Daniel outlived her by 22 years. Although he married late in life (age 35), he lived long enough to see some of his great-grandchildren. He and Martha are buried in the Phillips/Danley/Hill Cemetery, Fulton Twp., Gratiot Co., Michigan.

Happy Flag Day!

Today is Flag Day, a day set aside to honor our national banner and its origins. I hope you will join me in displaying your flag today, and remembering all that it stands for.

Flag Image from 3DFlags

Here are some interesting links:

• Wikipedia's definition of Flag Day in the United States
• Wikipedia's article on Elizabeth "Betsy" (Griscom) Ross
• Flag Etiquette for the United States Flag

I also recommend a great little book I picked up a few years ago at the public library: The Flag, the Poet & the Song: The Story of the Star-Spangled Banner by Irvin Molotsky, published 2001 by Dutton (Penguin Putnam, Inc.), New York. It includes some fascinating, not-so-trivial facts about our flag and its origins, the National Anthem, Francis Scott Key, and the War of 1812. I just picked it up from the library again today for another good read. Here are some facts that I remember reading the first time around:

• The National Anthem should be sung or played at a brisk, martial pace, not slowly. Its tune was an old pub song (modern-day scenario: think of creating a National Anthem to the tune of Toby Keith's I Love This Bar!).
  
• The Star-Spangled Banner that flew over Fort McHenry, which inspired Francis Scott Key, and which is now displayed in the Smithsonian, was made by Mary Pickersgill. It is very likely she had the help of her 13-year-old daughter Caroline, three nieces, a free black woman who worked as a servant in the household, and a slave girl owned by Pickersgill.
• Francis Scott Key, who repeatedly penned the words "the land of the free" in his song, was also a slaveowner.
  
• The British burned the capitol and the White House in Washington, D.C. during the War of 1812 as retaliation for the American destruction of many buildings that housed the provincial government in York (now Toronto), Upper Canada (now Ontario). These included the Parliament Building in York and the Governor's House at Fort York. We Americans are not taught this in our history classes!