Church Record Sunday - Councills in St. Peter's Church, Queenstown, Maryland Records

St. Peter's photo from Wikipedia

The following records were transcribed from The origins and history of St. Peter's Church, Queenstown, Maryland, 1637-1976 by Edward B. Carley, published in 1976. The original records were created by the priests of the church.

May 5, 1768 Christened Henry Counsil

January 27, 1783 Christened Thomas Counsil

May 6, 1784 Marry'd John Counsill and Rebecca Gray

1784 (no date) Bury'd Luticia Counsil at ye families graveyard

January 13, 1790 I married John Councill, Jr. and Nancy Browning

February 14, 1796 Buried John Councell, Sr. (at Tully's Neck)

February 24, 1799 Buried a child of Henry Counsell's at Counsell's

Councell, John Carey, Born February 11, 1804, Baptized February 20, 1804, Parents Elijah and Martha Councell, Queen Anne's County

Councell, Samuel, Born March 25, 1806, Baptized June 15, 1806, Parents Elijah and Margaret Councell, Queen Anne's County

Councell, Francis. About 9 months old; Baptized May 21, 1818. Son of John and Anne Councell. Sponsors: Joseph and Polly Councell

Councell, George W. Born May 17, 1818; Baptized July 20, 1818. Son of Elijah and Martha Councell. Sponsors: James and Mary Councell

Councell, Robert H, 3 years old
Councell, Joel Franklin, 1 year old. Baptized May 14, 1823. Both children of Elijah and Martha Councell of Queen Anne's County.

These are just a few of the Councill records in this book. I suspect that the Francis Councell baptized on May 21, 1818 is my 2x great-grandfather, but I need more proof. I've seen the Councell spelling in earlier records for the family and the dates and location fit. I don't have any evidence either way on whether or not Francis was Catholic. I didn't find the marriage of Francis or any children for him, but there are quite a few gaps in the records.

I noticed that there is a John Councell, Jr. married to a Nancy Browning in 1790, so they might be the parents of Francis. The mother's name was given as Anne, so hard to say if that could be Nancy or not. I've seen several trees on Ancestry.com that have the father of Francis as John Councell, Sr. even though he died in 1796! I think maybe John Jr. and John Sr. have been mixed up in some of the online trees.

This is a great resource for early church records in Queen Anne's County, Maryland. Thanks to Cindy S. for posting about them on the Upper Eastern Shore of Maryland Genealogy group. The book is out of print, but available in some libraries. There is a nice bit of history about the church here.