Biographical Data from Baltimore [Maryland] Newspapers, 1817-1819

This book from the dean of Baltimore genealogists, Robert Barnes, is a snapshot of the people and daily life in the Monumental City in the years between the conclusion of the War of 1812 and the onset of the Panic of 1819. Mr. Barnes, who began accumulating the data for this volume many years ago when he compiled Marriages and Deaths from Baltimore Newspapers, 1796-1816, has expanded his scope to include all biographical references found in newspapers and related sources for these three years. Besides newspaper notices of birth, marriage, or death, the compiler includes references to personal estates, servants, apprentices, wives, and soldiers found in publications like the Baltimore American and Commercial Daily Advertiser, Baltimore Patriot and Mercantile Advertiser, Federal Gazette and Baltimore Advertiser, Maryland Gazette, and more. The nearly 3,000 entries collected by Robert Barnes vary in content according to the life events they describe; however, they invariably provide three or more details about each subject, along with a source citation. Here are a few examples:

Aisquith, Robert C., merchant, was m. last Thurs. by Rev. Mr. Henshaw, to Miss Eleanor Elizabeth Warfield, all of Baltimore (BA 29 Sep 1817).

Dare, E. dec.; recently occupied a tailor's shop on Pratt St., near the water J. D. Richardson, at 84 Bowly's Wharf, advertises that the premises are to let (BPAT 20 March 1819).

Hammond, Rezin, late of Anne Arundel Co., dec., made a will on May 10, 1808 manumitting a number of his Negroes, including a Negro named Allen. John Gassaway, Register of Wills, certified on 2 Oct 1817, that the said Allen was raised at Elk Ridge, Anne Arundel Co., was f 5 tall, and had a scar on his right cheekbone near his eye. Andrew Warfield, at one time an acting Justice of the Peace in Anne Arundel Co., refutes the 'illiberal handbill' of George Howard [long notice giving details of the case] (BPAT 29 July 1819). (For the will of Rezin Hammond, filed in 1809, see AAWB JG#2: 513.)

In all, Biographical Data From Baltimore Newspapers, 1817-1819 refers to more than 7,000 inhabitants whose whereabouts, falling as they do in non-census years, would continue to elude researchers for some time to come.

Robert W. Barnes

2011, paper, 200 pp.

ISBN: 9780806355252

102-9061