Sign up for Genealogy Pointers »

British Roots II is the culmination of research that was undertaken after the publication in 1999 of British Roots of Maryland Families, the groundbreaking work that identified 500 individuals and families who seeded the early population of Maryland. Using the same format as the parent volume, British Roots II discusses the British origins of an additional 203 Maryland settlers and establishes connections to 120 settlers in other colonies. Its publication was necessitated by information that came to light after the publication of the first volume, important clues that enabled the compiler to extend his research in Britain and provide genealogical evidence relating to hundreds more families.

The families included in this work were chosen because (a) their home parish in Britain was identified, (b) the families had taken root and left descendants in Maryland, and (c) most had arrived well before the year 1800. Source materials on which the family histories are based derive from a combination of Mr. Barnes's own extensive research over the past thirty years and the pioneering work on the origins of Maryland families made by earlier generations of researchers. In addition, Mr. Barnes has profited by the work made available to him by several distinguished contemporaries.

In general, families are traced back two or more generations in Britain and are brought forward two or more generations in Maryland. The specific British sources used by Mr. Barnes include printed and manuscript genealogies, county histories and heraldic visitations, works on the peerage and landed gentry, and, most importantly, marriage bonds and allegations published as part of the Harleian Society Visitation series. Clues in Maryland source records were discovered in land records, county and provincial court records, parish registers, probate records, and in printed and manuscript family histories.