Place:Baltimore (county), Maryland, United States

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source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Baltimore County is a county located in the northern part of the U.S. state of Maryland. In 2010, its population was 805,029. It is part of the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. Its county seat is Towson. The name of the county was derived from the barony of the Proprietor of the Maryland colony, Cæcilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, in County Longford, Ireland. Baltimore County does not include the city of Baltimore, which left the county to become an independent city in 1851.

Much of Baltimore County is suburban in character, straddling the border between the Piedmont plateau and, in the southern regions of the county, the Atlantic coastal plain. Northern Baltimore County is primarily rural, with a landscape of rolling hills and deciduous forests characteristic of the Southeastern mixed forests.

Among the county's major employers are the Social Security Administration, which has its national headquarters in Woodlawn, and Black & Decker in Towson. During World War II, the Glenn L. Martin Company in Middle River had 53,000 employees manufacturing airplanes for the war effort and Bethlehem Steel had more than 30,000 workers at its sprawling Sparrows Point steel mill. Of the 410,100 persons in the county's workforce as of 2009, 25% are employed in the fields of education, health, and human services, and 10% in retailing, with less than 1% in agriculture.^[1]

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

The earliest known record of the county politically is January 12, 1659, when a writ was issued to its sheriff. Previously, Baltimore County was more known as a geographical entity than a political one, with its territorial limits consisting of the present day Baltimore City, Cecil, and Harford Counties, as well as parts of Carroll, Anne Arundel, Frederick, Howard, and Kent Counties.

In 1674, a portion of Baltimore County, as well as a portion of Kent County, was split off to form Cecil County. In 1748, a portion of Baltimore County, as well as a portion of Prince George's County, was split off to form Frederick County. In 1773, Harford County was split off from Baltimore County. In 1837, a part of Baltimore County was combined with a part of Frederick County to form Carroll County. The separation of Baltimore County from Baltimore City occurred on July 4, 1851. Towson was voted as the county seat on February 13, 1854.^[2]

The county has a number of properties on the National Register of Historic Places.

The first county seat of Baltimore County was known as Old Baltimore. It was located on the Bush River on land that in 1773 became part of Harford County. In 1674, the General Assembly passed "An Act for erecting [sic] a Court-house and Prison in each County within this Province." The site of the court house and jail for Baltimore County was evidently Old Baltimore. We know this because in 1683 the General Assembly passed "An Act for Advacement of Trade" to "establish towns, ports, and places of trade, within the province." One of the towns established by the act in Baltimore County was "on Bush River, on Town Land, near the Court-House." The court house on the Bush River referenced in the 1683 Act was in all likelihood the one created by the 1674 Act. Old Baltimore was in existence as early as 1674, but we don't know what if anything happened on the site prior to that year. The exact location of Old Baltimore was lost for years. It was certain that the location was somewhere on Aberdeen Proving Grounds (APG), a U.S. Army facility. APG’s Cultural Resource Management Program took up the task of finding Old Baltimore. The firm of R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates (Goodwin) was contracted for the project. After Goodwin first performed historical and archival work, they coordinated their work with existing landscape features to locate the site of Old Baltimore. APG’s Explosive Ordinance Disposal personnel went in with Goodwin to defuse any unexploded ordinance. The field team worked from fall 1997 through winter 1998. The team dug 420 test pits, and they uncovered several artifacts including a Charles II farthing coin, French and English gun flints, as well as glass, metal and other items. The team also uncovered a brick foundation that proved to be the remains of the tavern owned by colonist James Phillips, a prominent land holder in the area. Along with James Phillips, the other most prominent land holder in Old Baltimore was William Osbourne. Osbourne operated the ferry across the Bush River. In his article Migrations of Baltimore Town, the Rev. George Armistead Leakin related a letter he received from Dr. George I. Hays. In that letter, Dr. Hays related an event in William Osborne’s life that his grandmother, born Sarah Osborne, and his great-aunt, Fanny Osborne shared with him. The account is of a raid by Susquehannocks who took William Osbourne’s oldest son. Osbourne and a party were unsuccessful in their attempt to rescue the boy. The boy was never seen by Osbourne again, and it is reported that he remained broken-hearted until his death. .,

Timeline

Population History

source: Source:Population of States and Counties of the United States: 1790-1990

Note: Baltimore city has been reported separately from Baltimore County since 1860.

Research Tips

External links

• Outstanding guide to Baltimore County family history and genealogy resources (FamilySearch Research Wiki). Birth, marriage, and death records, wills, deeds, county histories, cemeteries, churches, newspapers, libraries, and genealogical societies.
• www.baltimorecountymd.gov