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

Source Information

Dorchester County Circuit Court, Chattel Records, 1847-1860

Slave Sales • 635 Records • Uploaded March 1, 2023 • Data Website: msa.maryland.gov

This source was compiled from two volumes of Dorchester County Chattel Records (Libers FJH2 & WJ3) found online at the Maryland State Archives – Volumes 776 & 805. The original Libers include bills of sale for enslaved people and other personal property, as well as Deeds of Manumission and Apprenticeships. Transactions involving enslaved people or free Blacks were abstracted and included in this database.

Note that the dates for the Volumes are reversed in the posting at the MSA: FJH2, MSA CM427-2, Volume 776 actually includes 1847-1852 and Liber WJ3, CM428-4 covers Volume 805 includes 1852-1860. This error may be corrected by the Archives in the future.

Link for Volume 776

Link for Volume 805

Also note:

Chattel Records Volume 774 for years 1842-1847 from (Liber WJ2) CM428-3, are also online and searchable, but they are not included in this database. Other records online at the Maryland State Archives that might be of interest, but are not included in this database, are the links to indexes shown below. They cover the years from 1806-1868.

Index #36 - Dorchester County African American Records, Index 1806-1868 (S1409)

Index #37 – African American Records Dorchester, Owner Index

View Records

Fields Included

The list below shows the data fields included in this source. If a field is marked as Indexed, it is searchable.

  • County Indexed
  • Volume
  • Page Number
  • Buyer or Manumitted Person Indexed
  • Seller or Owner Indexed
  • Transaction Type Indexed
  • Date
  • Transaction Abstract Indexed
Download Original Dataset