John Dorsey

Went off to Carolina c. 1726; may or may not have returned circa 1744 but died soon after.

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http://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/000001/0... & http://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/000001/0...

A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature 1635-1789 by Edward C. Papenfuse, et. al.

DORSEY, JOHN (ca. 1682-?).

BORN: ca. 1682 in Anne Arundel County; only child.
NATIVE: second generation. RESIDED: in Baltimore County, after 1707; left the province ca. 1727.

FAMILY BACKGROUND.

FATHER: Joshua Dorsey (?-1688), of Anne Arundel County, who immigrated from Vir- ginia with his family. STEPFATHER Thomas Black- well (?-1700), of Anne Arundel County, a carpen- ter and an innholder. MOTHER: Sarah, daughter of Lawrence Richardson and wife Elizabeth. UNCLES: Edward Dorsey (?-1705); John Dorsey (ca. 1645- 1714/15).

MARRIED on August 22, 1702, Comfort (ca. 1684-ca. 1747), daughter of John Stimpson, Gent. (?-by 1692), of Anne Arundel County, and wife Rachel (?-after 1724), widow of Neale Clarke (?-1676); stepdaughter of Robert Proctor (?-by 1695), Richard Kilburne (?-by 1698), and Thomas Freeborne (?-1713); granddaughter of Richard Beard (?-1681). Her brother was John (?-by 1718). Her sister was Rachel (?-1748/49), who married first, Charles Greenberry (1672-1713), and second, Charles Hammond (1692/93-1772). Her niece was Ann Hammond (1716-?), who married second, William Govane (1716/17-1768).

CHILDREN. SONS: Joshua (1711-by 1784), who married Flora Fitzsimmons; Greenbury (1711-?), who married Mary Belt; Vincent (?-1753), who married Sarah Day; and John Hammond Dorsey (1718-1774).

DAUGHTERS: Sarah (?-died young); Venetia (?-died young); Comfort (1710-?), who married Joseph Cromwell; Sarah (?-by 1788), who married Alexander Cromwell and died in Edgecombe County, North Carolina; and Venetia, who married Woodquist Cromwell.

PRIVATE CAREER. EDUCATION, apprenticed to William Dent (ca. 1660- 1704), a lawyer, ca. 1698.

RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION: Anglican.

SOCIAL STATUS AND ACTIVITIES. Gent., by 1708; Esq., by 1715.

OCCUPATIONAL PROFILE: planter; surveyor, laid out Joppa Town, Baltimore County.

PUBLIC CAREER. LEGISLATIVE SERVICE. Lower House, Baltimore County, 1721/22 (elected to the 5th session to fill vacancy). LOCAL OFFICES: sheriff, Baltimore County, 1713- 1715; justice, Baltimore County, 1716-at least 1727 (quorum, 1727); justice, Court of Oyer and Terminer and Gaol Delivery, Baltimore County, commissioned 1718 and 1722; deputy surveyor, Baltimore County, commissioned 1720; "commit- tee for laying the county levy," Baltimore County, appointed 1721; coroner, Baltimore County, in office 1722; commissioner, Baltimore County, by 1724.

MILITARY SERVICE: captain, Baltimore County Militia, by 1717; colonel, by 1724.

WEALTH DURING LIFETIME. PERSONAL PROPERTY: gave livestock, books, and musical instru- ments to his son Greenbury at the time of his mar- riage, 1726. A chancery case in 1733 described Dorsey as having a lower court judgment against him for £70.13.7 sterling and 8,713 pounds of to- bacco that was owed to John Stokes, sheriff of Baltimore County from 1718 to 1721, and accused Dorsey of leaving Maryland ca. 1727 "in a private and clandestine manner" to escape payment. Comfort Dorsey, his wife, denied that Dorsey left secretly, but other witnesses refuted her statement. Stokes's widow wanted Dorsey's land sold to pay his debts, but John Hammond proved his owner- ship and the case was dismissed in 1737.

LAND AT FIRST ELECTION: ca. 1,150 acres in Baltimore County (probably inherited 598 acres, at least 148 from his stepfather; 559 acres through his marriage).

SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN LAND BETWEEN FIRST ELECTION AND DEATH: patented 1,145 acres and purchased 815 acres in Baltimore County between 1720 and 1725; sold 198 acres in Baltimore County during this period. By March 1726 Dorsey and his family were living with John Hammond, of Cecil County, to whom Dorsey deeded his dwelling plantation a few months later. Testimony in the 1733 Chancery Court case stated that the transfer to Hammond was made to pro- tect the property from Dorsey's creditors and Hammond's will devised the land back to Dor- sey's family. Dorsey mortgaged 1,725 acres in Baltimore County in August 1726 and January 1726/27. Soon after that he left Maryland, possibly for the Carolinas.