Carroll County, Maryland was formed in 1837 from portions of Baltimore and Frederick County. This volume contains 381 wills from the county's first will book spanning 1837 to 1852. Family names which frequently occur include: Babylon, Barnes, Baumgartner, Bennett, Biggs, Brown, Devilbiss, Dorsey, Durbin, Earhart, Eck, Englar, Frock, Gist, Gorsuch, Gosnell, Greenwood, Hahn, Haines, Herner, Hesson, Jones, Koons, Lammott, Leister, Lippy, Manning, Mathias, Miller, Myers, Neff, Ogg, Orndorff, Powder, Robosson, Roop, Royer, Shaffer, Shipley, Slyder, Smith, Snyder, Stansbury, Stocksdale, Stultz, Taylor, Utz, Walker, Warfield, Weaver, Wentz, Williams, Wilson, and Yingling. Over 3,800 individuals including 170 slaves plus 160 land patents are referenced throughout 250 pages of transcribed wills. Recorded within are the wills and requests of the early inhabitants of Carroll County in a time wedged between a new nation's growth and its civil war. These wills reveal a treasure trove of information such as family members, birth and death dates, neighbors, religious affiliation, residence, marriage information, land holdings, personal and household property, burial information and occupation. Often slaves are mentioned along with birth dates and family members. Every will abstract contains the date the will was written, filed and probated as well as executors, codicils and renunciations. Also included is an every name index of individuals and land patents.