INTRODUCTION

The compilation of this book was started inadvertently in
July 1976. As I was researching the origin of the KANE-GOUGH
family of St. Mary's County, Maryland at the Maryland State
Archives, Annapolis, Maryland, I used the reference SLAVE
STATISTICS OF ST. MARY'S COUNTY, MARYLAND, 1864, COMMISSIONER
GEORGE B. DENT.

Use had been made of the census, marriage, death, tax
assessment, wills, deeds and land records seeking information
that pertained to the surname under investigation. My parents
Philip Moten Kane (1896-1983) and Mary Priscilla Gough Kane,
(1897-1979) told me that his father told him that the Kane
(surname of Cane had various spellings) family was owned by a
doctor. He did not recall hearing his father speak the name of
the doctor. I kept this information utmost in mind when I was
researching in St. Mary's County records.

The book SLAVE STATISTICS OF ST. MARY'S COUNTY, MARYLAND has
19 columns with 13 topic headings. The topic headings are: Date,
Name of Owner, Name of Slave, Sex, Age, Physical Condition, Terra
of Servitude, Emancipated by the State, Left With or Taken by the
Military, Enlisted in U.S. Service, Regiment, Compensation
Received and Remarks. The heading Emancipated by the State is
divided into three columns, day, month, year; Left With or Was
Taken by the Military is also divided into day, month, and year;
as is the heading, Enlisted in the U.S. Service. At the top of
each page is the title: "Record of Slaves in St. Mary's County,
At the Time of the Adoption of the Constitution in 1864."

However, the book did not have an index, so I started my
search for the Kane-Gough Family on page one. I noticed that
every slave had a surname and it was not necessarily the name of
the slave owner. I turned page after page after page. I read
surnames that I had heard my parents mention. The Barnes, and
Dysons, the Prices, and the Gordons were familiar names to my
ear. It was at that time that I thought that I should write down
some of these names. If I came into contact with someone
researching a particular name I could show them what I had on
file and direct them to where they could find further
information.