Greetings!
Thanks for the reply. Once again St. Mary's County
has proven to be a hard nut to crack!! I'll explain- St. Mary's County was one of the first counties to be established in MD. It was established in 1637. Scanning a reference on MD genealogy It lists all the counties and when the vital records begin. Of course, St. Mary's County
has no vital records for births (1865-1881) and
death (1865-1898). The state of MD did not require recording of susch data until 1898. Oh, well.. records do exist to a limited exetent but
very,very little for people of color!
Just briefly scan the Shorter names and see if there are located in places like Chaptico, Milestown, Leonardtown, St Inigoes,St Clements.
Thanks in advance for your efforts!!

Sincerely,

Jan