EASTERN SHORE OF MARYLAND AND VIRGINIA

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Table of Contents

• In-Print County History Books
• Free Public Domain County History Books
• Related Books
• Concise County History
• Comments & Suggestion

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In-Print County History Books

These titles are currently in print and selected for their relevance to local and county history. Click anywhere on the book listing below, each listing links directly to the book’s purchase page.

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Free County History Books

This section features a curated collection of county history books sourced from public domain archives. Each book provides valuable insights into local history and heritage. Click anywhere on the book listing below, each listing links directly to the book’s public domain resource.

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Related Books

This section highlights additional county and local history titles that complement the main collection. These books are selected for their relevance, historical value, and research usefulness. Click anywhere on the book listing below, and each listing links directly to the corresponding resource or purchase page.

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The Eastern Shore of Maryland and Virginia: A Genealogical Overview

The Eastern Shore is a distinct American region, a long peninsula separated from the mainlands of Maryland and Virginia by the Chesapeake Bay. Its history is one of the oldest in the nation, characterized by a unique and historically isolated culture deeply tied to the water and the land. Settled in the early 17th century, its society was built on a tobacco and agricultural economy, and its development was shaped more by maritime travel than by overland routes. For genealogists, the Eastern Shore offers some of the oldest continuous court records in the United States, providing a rich but complex landscape for tracing early American families.

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I. Jurisdictional Formation and Evolution

The Eastern Shore is not a single political entity but a collection of independent counties across two states. Research must be narrowed to a specific county, as each has its own unique formation and set of records.

• The Two States: The region is divided by the Mason-Dixon Line’s eastward extension, separating Maryland to the north from Virginia to the south.
• Virginia’s Eastern Shore: This is the southern tip of the Delmarva Peninsula and consists of two of the oldest jurisdictions in America:
  • Northampton County: Formed in 1634 as Accomac Shire, one of the eight original shires of Virginia. Its name was changed to Northampton in 1643.
  • Accomack County: Formed from Northampton County in 1663.
• Maryland’s Eastern Shore: This comprises nine distinct counties, formed sequentially over two centuries:
  • The Earliest Counties: Kent (1642) and Somerset (1666) were the first to be established. They were later divided to create other counties.
  • Subsequent Formations: The other seven counties are Talbot (1662), Dorchester (1669), Queen Anne’s (1706), Worcester (1742), Caroline (1773), Wicomico (1867), and Cecil (1674), which is sometimes geographically included.
• The Research Imperative: Because of this complex history of county formation, it is essential for researchers to determine not only the county where their ancestor lived but also whether that location was part of an earlier, larger parent county.

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II. Settlement and Early History

• Early Inhabitants: The peninsula was home to numerous Algonquian-speaking peoples, including the Accawmacke, Pocomoke, and Nanticoke tribes, who lived in established villages and subsisted on farming, hunting, and fishing.
• European Settlement: The Virginia portion was settled by the English extremely early, with a permanent presence by the 1610s. Settlement of the Maryland shore followed a few decades later under the proprietorship of the Calvert family. The vast majority of early settlers were of English origin.
• Key Historical Events:
  • Colonial Period: The economy was dominated by tobacco farming on plantations worked by indentured servants and, later, enslaved Africans. The region’s geographic isolation fostered a distinct social and political culture, often at odds with the mainland governments in Annapolis and Williamsburg.
  • Revolutionary War: The region saw divided loyalties, with significant Loyalist (Tory) sentiment in some areas, leading to internal conflict. The peninsula’s coastline was vulnerable to British naval raids.
  • The Civil War: This period highlights the region’s split identity. Virginia’s Eastern Shore was part of the Confederacy, while Maryland’s was part of a Union border state. Due to its strategic importance, the entire peninsula was occupied by Union forces early in the war to prevent it from becoming a Confederate supply base.
  • Economic Shifts: After the decline of the tobacco economy, agriculture shifted to mixed farming of grains and vegetables. Following the Civil War, the seafood industry—particularly oystering—became a dominant economic force. The arrival of railroads in the late 19th century finally connected the isolated peninsula to major northern markets.

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III. Genealogical Records and Resources

The cardinal rule of Eastern Shore research is that records are created and stored at the county level. There is no single repository for the entire region.

• County Courthouses: Each of the 11 counties in the region maintains its own courthouse, which serves as the primary repository for core genealogical records: deeds (land records), wills (probate records), court orders, and marriage licenses. The records in Northampton and Accomack, Virginia, are particularly notable for their age, dating back to the 1630s.
• State-Level Archives:
  • Maryland State Archives (Annapolis, MD): This is the central repository for all of Maryland’s colonial, state, and county records. It holds microfilm copies of nearly all pre-20th-century county records from the nine Eastern Shore counties, making it an essential first stop for Maryland research.
  • Library of Virginia (Richmond, VA): This archive holds an extensive collection of state-level records and microfilm copies of records from Accomack and Northampton counties.
• Regional and Academic Archives:
  • Nabb Research Center for Delmarva History and Culture (Salisbury, MD): Located at Salisbury University, this is arguably the most important specialized archive for the entire region. It has a vast collection of manuscripts, church records, family histories, newspapers, and photographs covering both the Maryland and Virginia shores.
  • Eastern Shore Public Library (Accomac, VA): The heritage center here is a vital resource for Virginia Eastern Shore genealogy, with a strong collection of local records and family histories.
• Vital Records: Formal, state-level registration of births and deaths did not begin until the late 19th or early 20th century. Earlier information must be sought in church records (especially Anglican/Episcopalian), family bibles, and cemetery inscriptions.

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This regional history was generated by AI and may be inaccurate or incomplete; please verify important information independently.