Edward H. Nabb Research Center for Delmarva History & Culture Enduring Connections: Exploring Delmarva's Black History

Record Detail

Record #26 from Free Black Families of Colonial Delmarva (abstracted by Paul Heinegg)

State Maryland
County (Primary) Somerset
Other Counties
Family Name Dogan
Family History Notes 1. Alice1 Dogan, born about 1685, was called the "Mallato" servant of Captain Thomas Dickson of Coventry Parish in March 1711/2 when the Somerset County court convicted her of having a child in 1703 by "Harry her Master's Negroe" at Annemessex. On 9 November 1711 the court presented her for having a child about September 1711, and on 4 March 1713/4 she confessed to the court that she had a child by "Abram, Mrs. Coulbourne's Negro," in Stepney Parish. The court sold her child to Samuel Handy, Gent., until the age of thirty-one for 1,000 pounds of tobacco and ordered her to serve another four years. On 4 August 1713 she complained to the court that she was about twenty-eight years old and ought to be free, and in June 1714 the court sold her children Shelly, over five years old, and George, to be two, to her master for 1,500 pounds of tobacco [Judicial Records 1711-13, 91-2, 132; 1713-5, 27, 69, 299]. She was the ancestor of i. Shelly, born about 1709. ii. George, born about 1712. 2 iii. ?Catherine1, born say 1714. iv. ?Leah, a spinster (no race indicated), confessed to the Somerset County court on 15 November 1768 that she had an illegitimate child. She refused to name the father and paid a fine of three pounds [Judicial Record 1767-9, 70, 237]. 2. Catherine1 Dogan, born say 1714, had an illegitimate child named Toby who was born on 2 October 1732 and bound out until the age of twenty-one by the Somerset County in March 1732/3. She was apparently identical to "Kate free mollatto" of Coventry Parish, the servant of William Coulbourn, who confessed to the Somerset County court on 15 March 1736/7 that she had a child named Alice, born six months previous, by a "negro." The court sold Alice to William Colebourn, Jr., until the age of thirty-one for 50 shillings. The court indicted her again for fornication in August 1737 [Judicial Record 1737-8, 2-3, 126]. She was the mother of i. Alice2, born about September 1736, head of a Talbot County household of 3 "other free" in 1800 [MD:529]. ii. ?Catherine2, head of a Talbot County household of 5 "other free" in 1790.
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[Author (if known)], Free Black Families of Colonial Delmarva (abstracted by Paul Heinegg), [Date (if known)], Enduring Connections: Exploring Delmarva’s Black History, Nabb Research Center, Salisbury University.

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