Goals

Our goals are to continue to grow in knowledge and skills, and to increase membership to impact the larger genealogical and historical community. We hope to tell our families’ stories in a manner that makes the ancestors proud.

Officers

Membership

Currently, our chapter has more than 60 members, with a monthly attendance rate of about 35. A portion of our meetings is devoted to an interchange of information among members who have common surnames or states of origin.

Research Projects

The chapter researched and published Western Star Cemetery Tombstone Inscriptions. Members have abstracted data from Mt. Auburn Cemetery, which is owned by Sharp Street United Methodist Church, where Frederick Douglass was once a member.

Special Events

In the spring of each year, our meeting is held at the Reginald Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture. The museum’s Genealogical Center arranges for researchers, historians and genealogists to speak to our group.

In addition, an annual event, now in its sixth year, is the Genealogical Exposition where members display artifacts collected during their research and have opportunities to interact with novice and experienced genealogists. A highlight of the expo is Noreen Goodson’s Introduction to Genealogy workshop.

Member Publications

• Black Marriages of Anne Arundel County, 1856–1882. Baltimore: A.K. Callum, 1994.
• Black Marriages of St. Mary’s County, 1800–1900. Baltimore: Mullac Publishers, 1991.
• Colored Volunteers of Maryland: Bounty Records of the 9th Regiment, United States Colored Troops, 1863-1866. Baltimore: Mullac Publishers, 1998.
• Flower of the Forest Black Genealogical Journal. Baltimore: A.K. Callum, 1982-1997.
• The Kane’s Sojourn at Sotterley. Baltimore: A.K. Callum, 1978.
• Kane-Butler Genealogy: History of a Black Family. Baltimore: A. K. Callum, 1979.
• Inscriptions from the Tombstones at Mount Calvary Cemetery, 1926–1982 Baltimore: A.K. Callum, 1985.
• Slave Statistics of St. Mary’s County. Baltimore: A.K. Callum, 1992.

• Through the Tax Assessor’s Eyes: Enslaved People, Free Blacks and Slaveholders in Early Nineteenth Century Baltimore. Baltimore: Clearfield Publishing Co., 2017.

• A Biography of W.T.B. Williams (1866–1941). M.A. Thesis: Morgan State University, 1992.
• “I Consecrate Myself to the Service of Teaching”: The Jeanes Teachers, A Case Study in Fauquier County, Virginia. Dissertation: Morgan State University, 2000.

• Blackwell, Chapman, Tyler, Washington Family of Fauquier County, Virginia. Baltimore: Heritage Associates, 1998.
• The Descendants of Henley Chapman. Baltimore: Heritage Associates, 1996.

• African Americans of Fauquier County. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Press, 2009.

• Absconders, Runaways, and Other Fugitives in the Baltimore City and County (Maryland) Jail, 1831-1864. Berwyn Heights, Maryland: Heritage Books, Inc., 2004.
• The African American Collection: Anne Arundel County, Maryland Marriage Licenses, 1865-1888. Berwyn Heights, Maryland: Heritage Books, Inc., 2007.
• The African-American Collection: District of Columbia Runaway and Fugitive Slave Cases, 1862-1863. Berwyn Heights, Maryland: Heritage Books, Inc., (1999), 2012.
• The African-American Collection: Indentures, Cecil County, Maryland, 1777-1814. Berwyn Heights, Maryland, Heritage Books, Inc., 2007.
• The African-American Collection: Kent County, Maryland. Berwyn Heights, Maryland: Heritage Books, Inc., (1998), 2015.
• Baltimore [Maryland] City Jail War Docket. Berwyn Heights, Maryland: Heritage Books, Inc., 2006.
• Baltimore Life Insurance Company Genealogical Abstracts. Berwyn Heights, Maryland: Heritage Books, Inc., (2004), 2012.
• Free African-Americans of Maryland, 1832, Including Allegheny, Anne Arundel, Calvert, Caroline, Cecil, Charles, Dorchester, Frederick, Kent, Montgomery, Queen Anne’s, St. Mary’s and Washington Counties. Berwyn Heights, Maryland: Heritage Books, Inc., (1998), 2007.
• Kent County, Maryland Marriages, 1865-1888. Berwyn Heights, Maryland: Heritage Books, Inc., 2007.
• Maryland Freedom Papers,  Vol. 1: Anne Arundel County. Berwyn Heights, Maryland: Heritage Books, Inc. (1996, 2000), 2015.
• Maryland Freedom Papers, Vol. 2: Kent County. Berwyn Heights, Maryland: Heritage Books, Inc., (1997), 2001.
• Maryland Freedom Papers, Vol. 3: Maryland Colonization Society Manumission Book, 1832-1860. Berwyn Heights, Maryland: Heritage Books, Inc., (2001), 2010.

• “African American Soldiers and Sailors of the American Revolution from Northumberland County.” The Bulletin of the Northumberland County Historical Society, Vol. 34–1997: pp. 46-55.
• “Armistead Nickens.” The African American National Biography. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.
• “British Freedom.” The African American National Biography. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.
• “Dinnah Jackson.” The African American National Biography. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.
• “Essie Mae Washington Williams.” The African American National Biography. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.
• “Exodus of Free Persons of Color from Northumberland County, Virginia.” Flower of the Forest Black Genealogical Journal, Vol. 1, No. 9, 1990: pp. 50-54.
• “James Nickens.” The African American National Biography. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.
• The Nickens Family: How to trace an African American nonslave lineage from Virginia to Maryland and back. Baltimore: Karen E. Sutton, 1993.
• The Nickens Family, Nonslave African American Patriots. Baltimore: Karen E. Sutton, 1994.
• Northumberland County Virginia Registers of Free Blacks. Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, Inc., 1999.
• “Peter Salem.” The African American National Biography. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.
• Representing Slavery: A Roundtable Discussion: “Confronting Slavery Face-to-face: A twenty-first century interpreter’s perspective on eighteenth-century slavery”. http://www.common-place.org/vol-01/no-04/slavery/sutton.shtml, Common-Place www.common-place.org, Vol. 1 No. 4, July 2001.
• “Salem Poor.” The African American National Biography. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.
• “Sam Donor.” The African American National Biography. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.
• Tracing African American Revolutionary War Patriots Back & Forth. Baltimore: Karen E. Sutton, 2005.