Howard, The Marrying County

Whether you are married at the courthouse or by a minister, a license is issued. If you know the date of the event, you can retrieve the document itself. In the case of Babe Ruth it was October 17, 1914. We already knew the name of the church and had access to their records. The marriage license will not give us more information than we already have. However, if we did not have the church's records and we suspected that someone was married in Howard County, then the courthouse is the place to go. It receives marriage vitals from all the churches.

Howard County, Maryland is half way between Baltimore and Washington. Up until 1939 Howard County had no waiting period for marriage. As a result, over 90 percent of the marriages were of out-of-county couples. The Historical Society of Howard County holds the actual marriage licenses up until 1939. Volunteers have also created an on-line index that is accessible at this Link: HCHSMD. It is sorted both by Groom and Brides name.

Upon visiting the Historical Society located in Ellicott City, I picked out the Ruth - Woodford License and took a picture. The source is: Certificate of Marriage, George Ruth to Helen Woodford, 17 October, 1914, Circuit Court For Howard County. Howard County Library 8324 Court Ave., Ellicott City, Maryland 21043.

That's one vital record completed. In the next few postings we will complete the other vitals.

LINKS
HCHSMD

NEXT POSTING: New York Death Certificate - George Herman Ruth.

Copyright 2008 BabeRuthGenealogy

George and Helen

Part of my family lived in Ellicott City from the middle to late 1800s. They were Catholic so I searched the records of St. Paul's Roman Catholic Church. Along the way I stumbled across the first marriage record of George Ruth in 1914. I made a copy. The link to the image is at the end of this posting. There are two images for the marriage record. One is from the whole page showing the people married before and after George. The other is a blowup of just his record. The images are saved in an Adobe PDF format. You will need the Adobe plug-in for your WEB browser or you can download the PDF file for viewing off-line.

I did not have to go to St. Paul's to search their records. The Baltimore Catholic Archdiocese had most of their church records microfilmed by the Maryland Archives. They are available for viewing at the Maryland Hall of Records in Annapolis. The Church records are part of Special Collections. The St. Paul special collection is called SC 2583 and is made up of three microfilms covering 1838 - 1981. Click HERE to see what each film covers. The film covering George is M 2908 and it is restricted because it has Baptisms up until 1981. The film must be viewed at the Archives.

Documenting our source is most important. The citation should have enough information that would allow other researchers to verify the facts. Our citation could read as: Maryland State Archives Special Collections (Church Records Collection) St. Paul's of Ellicott City, Howard County, Maryland, 1914, MSA SC 2583, M 2908, Marriage record page 178.

Catholic Church records are in Latin. It basically reads: Day 17 October, 1914, I, the undersigned joined in matrimony George Ruth from the place of Baltimore whose father is George Ruth AND Helen Woodford from the place of Galveston, Texas whose father is Charles (or Carl) Woodford. Witnesses: Mary Dolan and Margaret Powers -- T. S. Dolan.

I notice that Mary Dolan was a regular witness indicating that she was used when a witness could not be found. At this time period Howard County was used for fast weddings because it did not have a waiting period. More about that in the next posting



NEXT POSTING: Howard County Marriage License of George and Helen

Copyright 2008 BabeRuthGenealogy

A Beginning

Genealogy is as much about tracing the roots of a family tree as it is about sifting the soil of history. In the process of mapping each generation, we discover how lives were shaped by the times they lived. Sometimes, other family historians cross our paths and we find common information to share. Along the way, we bump into historical figures as well.

While exploring the records of a church in Ellicott City, Maryland, I stumbled across the marriage record of George Ruth. My brother is a baseball fan so I copied the information for him. He was so pleased at something that is commonly available to any genealogist. It reminded me of when I first started this hobby. I was unaware of the paper trail that everyone leaves behind. These sources are the facts cited in books. Authors also use interviews with people and other written accounts. There is no shortage of books about The Babe.

So, as an exercise we wanted to show the availability of records left behind by a famous individual. Perhaps, this will inspire someone to begin a family project that keeps getting delayed. This project will be kept simple. We are uncovering simple records about one person's life. We are not interviewing any of Ruth's relatives. However, that is precisely what any novice family historian should do with their family. Talk with your elders, now.

This is not a family history course. Beginners should search the WEB for a genealogy society in their area and make contact.

In future postings we will uncover George Herman Ruth's Birth Certificate, Death Certificate, Baptism Records (both of them), Marriage Record, Draft registrations (WW I and WW II), census records, etc. Many of these records are accessible from a Computer.


NEXT POSTING: Marriage Record of George Ruth and Helen Woodford

Copyright 2008 BabeRuthGenealogy