Daniel Dulany, Sr. (1685-1753 )
MSA SC 3520-371
Biography:
BORN: in 1685 in Queen's County, Ireland.
IMMIGRATED: in 1703 as an indentured servant with his older brothers William and Joseph from Queen's County, Ireland. Col. George Plater (ca. 1664- 1709) purchased his three-year indenture and employed him as a clerk in his law office.
RESIDED: in Port Tobacco, Charles County, 1703-ca. 1713; Nottingham Town, Mattapany Hundred, Prince George's County, ca. 1713-1720; Annapolis, Anne Arundel County, 1720-1753.
FAMILY BACKGROUND.
FATHER: Thomas Dulany, of Queen's County, Ireland.
BROTHERS. William; Joseph.
MARRIED first, in 1710 Charity (1680-1711), widow of Bayne Smallwood, son of James Smallwood (ca. 1639-ca. 1714/15); daughter of John Courts (1655/56-1702); stepdaughter of John Contee (?-1708); granddaughter of Robert Henley (ca. 1617-1684); niece of Elizabeth Courts (1663-?), who married James Keech (ca. 1651-1708/9). Her brothers were John Courts (1691/92-1747/48); Charles; and William. Her sister was Ann (1693- ?). Her first cousins were Walter Smith (ca. 1693- 1748); Barbara Smith (1693-1764), who married first, Thomas Holdsworth (ca. 1692-1718), and second, Benjamin Mackall (1675-1761). Her nephew was Robert Hendly Courts (?- 1 774).
MARRIED second, in 1717 Rebecca (ca. 1695-1737), daughter of Walter Smith (?-1711); granddaughter of both Richard Smith (?-ca. 1690) and Richard Hall (?-1688), a prominent Quaker. Her brothers were Richard (?-1732); Walter (ca. 1692-1734). Her sisters were Lucy (1688-1770), who married Thomas Brooke (1683-1744); Eleanor (1690- 1761), who married Thomas Addison (1679-1727); Elizabeth; Ann (1694-1759), who married second, Thomas Trueman Greenfield (1682-1733); and Mary. Her nephews were Richard Brooke (1716- 1783); John Addison (171 3-1764). Her nieces were Eleanor Brooke, who married Samuel Beall (ca. 1713-ca. 1778); Ann Addison (1711/12-1753), who married William Murdoch (?-1769); and Marianne Greenfield, who married John Stoddert (?- 1767).
MARRIED third, in September 1738 Henrietta Maria (?-1766), widow of Samuel Chew (1704-1736/37); daughter of Philemon Lloyd (ca. 1674-1732/33); granddaughter of Philemon Lloyd (1646-1685); niece of James Lloyd (1679/80- 1723), Edward Lloyd (1670-1718/19), Anna Maria Lloyd, who married Richard Tilghman (1672/73-1738/39), and Margaret Lloyd (1683-?), who married Matthew Tilghman Ward (ca. 1676- 1741); half niece of Susannah Bennett (1666- 1714), who married first, John Darnall (?-1684) and second, Henry Low (?-171 7). Her first cousins were Robert Lloyd (ca. 1712-1770); Henrietta Maria Lloyd (ca. 1711-1748), who married second, Samuel Chamberlaine (1698-1773); Margaret Lloyd (1714-?), who married William Tilghman (1711-1782); Ann Lloyd (1723-1794), who married Matthew Tilghman (1717/18-1790); Edward Lloyd (1711-1770); Richard Lloyd (1717-1786); William Tilghman (1711-1782); Edward Tilghman (1713-1786); James Tilghman (1716-1793); Matthew Tilghman (1717/18-1790); Henrietta Maria Tilghman (1707-1771), who married first, George Robins (1697-1742), and second, William Goldsborough (1709-1760); Anna Maria Tilghman (1709-1763), who married first, William Hemsley (1703-1736), and second, Robert Lloyd (ca. 1712- 1770); Mary Tilghman (1702-1736), who married James Earle, Jr. (ca. 1694-1739); Dorothy Blake, who married Charles Carroll (1691-1755). Henrietta Marie Lloyd Chew Dulany's other relatives included great-grandfathers Edward Lloyd (ca. 1620-1696) and James Neale (ca. 1615-1684); and second cousins Michael Earle (1722-1787) and Richard Tilghman Earle (1728/29-1788).
CHILDREN. SONS. Daniel Dulany, Jr. (1722-1797); Dennis (1730-1779), the clerk of Kent County from 1754 to 1777, who died unmarried, leaving his estate to Mary, widow of his brother Walter; Walter Dulany (?-1773); Richard (?-died young); Lloyd (1742-1782), who married Elizabeth, daughter of John Brice and wife Sarah Frisby. Lloyd died in London, England, of wounds received in a duel with Rev. Bennett Allen, former rector of St. Anne's Parish, Anne Arundel County. His widow later married Maj. Walter Dulany, Jr., son of his half brother Walter Dulany (?-1773). STEPSONS: Philemon Lloyd Chew (?- 1770); Bennett Chew (?-1793), who married Anna Maria, daughter of Edward Tilghman (1713-1786); and Samuel Chew (by 1734-1786). DAUGHTERS: Rebecca, who married first, James Paul Heath (?-1746), and second, William Hedges, of Cecil County, planter; Rachel, who married first, on November 7, 1741, William Knight, and second, Rev. Henry Addison; Margaret, who married first, Alexander Hamilton (1712-1756), and second, William Murdock (?-1769); and Mary. STEPDAUGHTERS: Henrietta Maria Chew (1731-1762), who married Edward Dorsey (1718-1760); Margaret Chew (?-1773), who married John Beale Bordley (1726/27-1804); and Ann Mary Chew (1736- 1774), who married William Paca (1740-1799).
PRIVATE CAREER.
EDUCATION: University of Dublin; law clerk in the office of Col. George Plater; admitted to Gray's Inn, London, England, on February 20, 1716/17.
RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION: Anglican, St. Anne's Parish, Anne Arundel County.
SOCIAL STATUS AND ACTIVITIES: Mr., 1722; Esq., 1731; Hon., at time of death.
OCCUPATIONAL PROFILE: servant/law clerk; planter; officeholder; lawyer, admitted to the following courts: Charles County in August 1709 and sworn in again in March 1709/10; Prince George's County in June 1710; Provincial Court by July 1711; Anne Arundel County in June 1712; Baltimore County in November 1719; Court of Appeals; Chancery Court; Calvert County; St. Mary's County. A land speculator, who invested in warrants that he held until the demand for plantations in the unsettled back country justified the expenses of surveying the land. He was a founder of the Baltimore Ironworks Company, along with Benjamin Tasker (ca. 1690-1768), Charles Carroll (1691-1755), Charles Carroll, Sr. (1702-1782), and Daniel Carroll, of Duddington. His initial investment of £700 in 1731 increased in value to £10,000 by the time of his death. A moneylender by 1730, he was in the loan business on a large scale, dealing in all three types of money, sterling, current money, and tobacco. Most of his debtors were small tradesmen and planters. Dulany also invested in the slave trade, which offered the attraction of double profits, first on the sale of the slaves, and second on loans made to the planters who purchased them.
PUBLIC CAREER.
LEGISLATIVE SERVICE: Lower House, Annapolis, 1722-1724 (Laws 1-3), Anne Arundel County, 1727 (elected to the 4th session to fill vacancy; Laws 4), 1728-1731 (Laws 1-5), 1732-1734 (Laws 1-Cv; discharged during the convention for accepting an office "of trust and profit" from the government), 1734/35-1737 (elected speaker of the 1st session, but declined for reasons of health; Laws 1, Cv, 2-4), 1738 (elected for both Anne Arundel County and Annapolis, he chose to represent Anne Arundel County; Laws), Annapolis, 1739-1741 (Laws Cv-3), 1742 (Laws 1; appointed to the Council during the 1st session); Upper House, 1742-1744 (appointed during the 1st session), 1745, 1745/46-1748, 1749-1751, 1751-1753(died before the 4th session).
OTHER PROVINCIAL OFFICES: collector of North Potomac, May 1718-January 1718/19; commissary general, 1721 (commissioned jointly with William Holland and Thomas Addison), 1722-1724 (commissioned jointly with William Holland, Thomas Addison, and Thomas Brooke), 1734-1753; attorney general, 1721-1725, 1734-1744; judge, Court of Vice-Admiralty, appointed 1733; agent and receiver general, 1733-1734; Council, 1742-1753 (qualified on September 25, 1742).
LOCAL OFFICES: clerk of Indictments, Charles County, appointed 1710; common councilman, Annapolis, elected 1721; St. Anne's Parish Vestry, Anne Arundel County, 1721-1724, 1735 (elected, but did not serve).
STANDS ON PUBLIC/PRIVATE ISSUES: In the early years of his public career he was the leader of the country party, espousing the people's cause in the controversy over English statutes affecting the American colonies. In 1728 he published The Right of the Inhabitants of Maryland to the Benefit of the English Laws. In 1732 he concluded that the people were entitled to all the benefits of English statutes. Eventually, however, he left the country party to take a place in the proprietary establishment.
WEALTH DURING LIFETIME.
ANNUAL INCOME, in the 1750s the annual net profit from his investment in the Baltimore Ironworks Company was £400 sterling.
LAND AT FIRST ELECTION: ca. 15,340 areas in surveyed tracts and 19,000 acres in warrants in Baltimore, Anne Arundel, Kent, Prince George's, and possibly Calvert counties (all by personal acquisition). By 1720 he converted 6,000 acres of his Baltimore County and Eastern Shore properties into leaseholds, forming a part- nership with John Bradford (?-1725/26) for locating and surveying unclaimed lands.
SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN LAND BETWEEN FIRST ELECTION AND DEATH: acquired ca. 37,120 acres in Frederick County between 1724 and 1746. He divided 5,000 acres of this land into tracts ranging from 100 to 300 acres, which he then sold for less than they had cost him in order to encourage settlement. After 1739 he actively engaged in selling tracts in the Monocacy and Antietam valleys in Frederick County to German, Scottish, and Welsh immigrants. He sold 1,800 acres, of which more than 600 acres were near his old residence in Prince George's County, in the mid-1720s; he seemed disposed at this time to sell his property in the more settled parts of Prince George's County as be increased his acquisitions to the west and north. In 1745 he surveyed 340 lots, which he named Frederick Town. He leased some lots of land for 1 shilling a year for the first 21 years, and 2 shillings annually thereafter, payable to himself and his heirs in perpetuity. Other lots in the town were sold in fee simple for £4 to £5 for each half acre.
WEALTH AT DEATH.
DIED: on December 5, 1753; buried next to his second wife Rebecca at St. Anne's Church Cemetery in Annapolis.
PERSONAL PROPERTY. TEV, at least £10,921.9.8 current money (including 187 slaves, 98 books, 2,594 oz. plate, and more than 563 gallons of wine). This does not include one of his largest assets, money out on loan.
LAND: ca. 10,000 acres in Kent, Baltimore, Anne Arundel, Frederick, and Queen Anne's counties were divided among his heirs. He also controlled 1,585 acres in Anne Arundel County, which went to his stepchildren, the heirs of Samuel Chew.
Other Biographical Souces:
Link to New Dictionary of National Biography Entry
Return to Daniel Dulany, Sr.'s Introductory Page
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