William Caulk
MSA SC 5496-38624
Property Owner, Talbot County, Maryland
Biography:
Major William Caulk was a wealthy property owner in Talbot County, Maryland. He had served as a Major in the War of 1812-1815. Being from the Bayside and Broad Creek Neck area, companies were formed under Captains Oakley Haddaway, John Carroll, and Daniel Feddeman 1. Caulk was appointed a Major of the 26th Regiment of Talbot County on September 25, 1810 2.
Caulk had two farms near Broad Creek Neck, which were called "Locust Neck" and "Mulberry Point." Caulk purchased "Locust Neck" from Anne Marie Tilghman in 1833 for $3,128. The land was said to be 368 acres and located between Broad Creek and Harris' Creek. His son, William Caulk, Jr. was cultivating and carrying on the normal farming duties at "Locust Neck." In William Caulk's 1841 will, he bequeathed "Locust Neck" to his son William Caulk Jr. His eldest son, John H. Caulk was bequeathed "Mulberry Point" the land in which he resided before his father's death. According to his will, William Caulk bequeathed to his daughter, Sarah Hopkins Kemp, the land known as "Lostock," which he purchased from James Seth in 1825. Caulk paid $820 for the land in 1825 and it contained 168 acres.
Aside from owning those farms, William Caulk had a significant amount of slaves. According to the slave assessment records for Talbot County, Caulk owned 21 slaves in 1840 and had a total value of $1,040. In 1841, the year of Caulk's death, he manumitted 27 slaves. These slaves and any of their future offspring were to be freed when they reached the age of 31. William Caulk manumitted his slaves, but only until after they reached the age of 31, and he divided them to other owners. For the most part, Caulk divided the slaves based on their family orientations so he would not split the families. He sent seven slaves to Joseph Caulk, seven to John H. Caulk, seven to William Caulk Jr., and six to John W. Kemp. William Caulk received $500 in current money from each of the four slave owners in which he sent his slaves to before he died. Several of the slaves that appeared in the assessment records were also found in the manumission records. It should be noted that the assessment records only show first names and some of the ages are not exact, but close. The slaves were Owen Roberts, Henry Joshua, Asbury Ridout, Jack Ridout, Harriett Ridout, Sam Green, Mary Moore, July Ann Green, Tilly Green, and Frank Joshua. According to his inventory in 1841, there were only 12 slaves listed at the time with a cumulative value of $1,835. None of the 12 slaves listed in the inventory were mentioned in the deed of manumission records. It's possible for those in the manumission records to have been taken away by their new owners by the time the inventory was completed.
William Caulk placed a couple of runaway ads. He placed one advertisement in the Easton Republican Star on January 10, 1804 offering a $40 reward if Daniel was found out of state. Caulk felt that he lost a good slave, in Daniel who was 28 years old. Daniel was considered by Caulk as an "excellent sawyer, and plantation hand." If Daniel was found in the state of Maryland, then Caulk was prepared to offer a $20 reward. Daniel departed the plantation on December 10, 1803, and it took a month for Caulk to place a runaway ad.
Caulk placed another runaway ad in the Baltimore Gazette and Daily Advertiser on May 9, 1833 for his slave Johnson Horney. Johnson Horney was about 24 years old when he ran away from William Caulk's farm on May 5, 1833. Caulk offered a $20 reward for his capture as he believed that Johnson Horney was in Baltimore. There was also another runaway ad placed in the Baltimore Sun presumably by his son, William Caulk, Jr. on August 25, 1858 (William Caulk died in 1841). A female slave named Kitty had escaped on three days earlier on August 22. He offered a $50 reward for her capture as she was believed "to have gone off in the steamer Lancaster from Bay-Side Camp, Talbot County, Maryland." These slaves, along with many others around the area, were making escape attempts as the treatment was gradually becoming worse.
According to the 1850 census, William Caulk, Jr. was a farmer with a real estate of $29,800. He was 35 years old at the time the census was taken and had a total of six other people living with him. One of those six was Asbury Ridout who was 33 years old. Asbury Ridout was the former slave of his father before he was to be manumitted at the age of 31. Asbury Ridout would remain with the family after being granted a manumission. William Caulk, Sr. was able to bequeath to his family a substantial amount of land, as well as money before he died in 1841.
Endnotes:
1. Oswald Tilghman, History of
Talbot County, Maryland:
1661-1861, Volume 2 (Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins
Company, 1915),
p. 158-159.
2. Edward F. Wright, Maryland Militia, War of 1812,
Vol. 1:
Eastern Shore (Silver Spring, MD: Family Line Publications,
1979),
iv.
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