Isaac Caulk, MSA SC 5496-51539

Joshua Chapel Trustee, Free Black Property Owner
Morgnec and Bigwoods, Kent County, Maryland

The Caulks (also referred to as the Cork family) were a prominent family in Morgan’s Creek Neck, Kent County. There supposedly was an Isaac Cork who came to Maryland in 1697 as a free black, though there is no record of this.

Isaac Caulk was a free black and a trustee to Joshua Chapel.¹ He was born in 1820.² Isaac Caulk conveyed the land to the Joshua Chapel trustees that was to be mortgaged with the Church Extension Society.³ He married Louisa, daughter of Isaac Cotton (1797-1865), who gave the couple two acres of land on Bigwoods Lane.⁴ Isaac Caulk later bought the entire tract of land, belonging to Isaac Cotton, “near the Fountain Chapel and Urieville and Quaker Lane containing twenty one acres and twenty perches,” from trustee George Vickers. Isaac Cotton, deceased in 1865, had received this land in a division of his brother Joseph Cotton’s real estate in 1856.⁵ In 1875, Isaac sold some of this initial tract of land to Isaac Sampson (nine acres), George Oakley (four acres), Peregrine Wright Hynson (four acres), and George Washington Stewart (three acres) and in 1877, Thomas Bright bought two acres from Isaac Cork.⁶ The remaining two acres went to his daughters Louise Bright and Florence Nichols in Isaac’s will.⁷

By 1860, Louisa and Isaac had six children: James, Albert, Mary L, Martha, Lucinda, and Margaret. Isaac was a farmer and had $800 personal estate.⁸ In 1860, Louisa applied for a certificate of freedom, which described her as about five feet tall with light complexion.⁹ Born in 1825, Louisa Caulk died in 1867.¹⁰ According to the 1880 Kennedyville census, he also had a daughter named Louise and a grandson named William. He was most likely illiterate and in 1880 had rheumatism, but still made his living on the farm.¹¹ Listed in his inventory from 1895, among small household items, were agricultural supplies such as, a cultivator, a horse cart, a buggy, a post digger, an axe, and a gray horse, which was by far his most valued item at $45.¹²

Isaac Caulk died on April 17, 1895. In his will, he gave his daughter Margaret, wife of Ambrose David, the “house and lot where I now reside in Morgan’s Creek Neck.” He also wanted his daughter Ellen to remain living in that house unless she got married. He wished for all of his farming and outdoor equipment to be sold at a public or private sale to pay off any debts that he had and then the remainder to be split among his children. To his daughters Martha, Lucinda, and Ellen, he gave them land formerly belonging to Fannie Caulk that was part of Hurtt’s Lot and contained twenty acres.¹³ He bought this lot of land in 1888 for $100 and $5 interest.¹⁴ Ellen was specifically forbidden to sell or mortgage her piece of land to someone outside of the estate. He bequeathed three and a third acres to his grandson John Brown (son of Martha). To his grandson William (son of Lucinda), Isaac gave five acres of his wife’s estate. The two acres that Isaac Cotton gave to Isaac Caulk in Bigwoods were bequeathed to daughters Louise Bright and Florence Nichols.¹⁵

1. Kent County Circuit Court (Land Records), Charles W. Jones et al. to the Church Extension Society, 1869-1871, MSA CE 57-14, JKH Liber 8, Folio 281.

2. U.S Census Bureau (Census Record, MD), Isaac Cork, 1850, p.225, Kent, 2^nd Election District, SCM 1498, MSA SM 61-141.

3. Kent County Circuit Court (Land Records), Charles W. Jones et al. to the Church Extension Society, 1869-1871, MSA CE 57-14, JKH Liber 8, Folio 281.

4. Kent County Register of Wills (Estate Papers), 1749-1940, T4834, Box 11, Isaac Caulk, Will, Baltimore City Archives.

5. Kent County Circuit Court (Land Records), George Vickers (Trustee) to Isaac Cork, 1874-1875, MSA CE 57-19, DCB Liber 1, Folio 173.

6. Kent County Circuit Court (Land Records), Isaac Cork to Isaac Sampson, 1874-1875, MSA CE 57-19, DCB Liber 1, Folio 175; Kent County Circuit Court (Land Records), Isaac Cork to George Oakley, 1874-1875, MSA CE 57-19, DCB Liber 1, Folio 176; Kent County Circuit Court (Land Records), Isaac Cork to Peregrine Wright Hynson, 1874-1875, MSA CE 57-19, DCB Liber 1, Folio 178; Kent County Circuit Court (Land Records), George Washington Stewart, 1874-1875, MSA CE 57-19, DCB Liber 1, Folio 180; Kent County Circuit Court (Land Records), Isaac Cork to Thomas Bright, 1880-1881, MSA CE 57-19, SB Liber 1, Folio 210. These land deeds seem to refer to a sketch of properties found among the Isaac Caulk estate papers: Kent County Register of Wills (Estate Papers), 1749-1940, T4834, Box 11, Isaac Caulk, Land sketch, Baltimore City Archives.