TENTH GENERATION

528. Edward DORSEY was born in 1619 in Anne Arundel, MD. He died on 2 Aug 1659 in Isle Of Kent, Anne Arundel Co., Md. EDWARD DORSEY
MARYLAND
(1619-1659)

“No family of early Anne Arundel , Maryland is better known than the prolific Dorsey family. More descendants have qualified for lineal-patriotic societies, especially the Colonial Dames, than any other family in Maryland.”

Edward Dorsey entered Virginia sometime before October 7, 1646 from England. His parents are not positively known. Many believe that the name Dorsey derived from the ancient D’Arcy, which can be traced at least as far back as 1332 in Old England.

His beginnings were around the Lower Norfolk of Virginia where he was a shipwright. He married Anne in Virginia in 1638. Not much is known about her. Some indications give her last name as HOWARD although this has not been able to be proven.

He and Anne arrived in Maryland as early as 1650 for he was granted a warrant for 200 acres in Anne Arundel County and in 1651-1652 an additional 200 acres. There is also some evidence that on May 4, 1655 he bought 300 acres from a Thomas March. As a shipwright , he was an early industrialist “and thus constructed much needed watercrafts for the early planters along the Bay and the several inlets on which he and the first settlers established their plantations.”

He was not politically active, he was a non-conformist, with belief’s coinciding with the Puritans. As time went on he and his wife began to shift towards the Quaker doctrine. “In 1655 Elizabeth Harris, the proselyting Quaker, arrived in Maryland and did a great deal of converting the non-conformists…At a Quaker meeting there were present “Edw: Dorcy & his wife” (See “Quakers in the Founding of Anne Arundel County”, by J. Reany Kelly pp 15,17)

Edward Dorsey drowned in the Bay on August 2, 1659. A petition was filed with the Anne Arundel court on August 2, 1959 by a Thomas Hynson who had taken charge of Dorsey’s boat. No inventory was filed or recorded in Annapolis. On August 20, 1664, Dorsey’s three sons were “granted by Cecilius, Lord Baltimore, Dorsey’s plantation on Cabin Neck Branch of the south bank called “Hockley-in-the-Hole”. Edward Dorsey’s Grandson Caleb had the plantation resurveyed in 1685 and found that “Hockley-in-the Hole” contained 843 acres instead of the originally thought 400 acres. This helps substantiate the additional purchase from Thomas March in 1655.

Information was obtained in: “Anne Arundel Gentry: A Genealocial History of Some Early Families of Anne Arundel County, Maryland. Vol 2” “Kindred Colonial Families-Part III” Welsh-Hyatt Book pg. 178

The Children of Edward Dorsey and his wife Anne, were:

1. Col. Edward Dorsey, b. 1646 in Virginia and d. December 31, 1705 m. Sarah Wyatt in 1676.
2. Hon. John Dorsey, b.1650 in Anne Arundel, MD and d. March 22, 1715 m. Pleasance Ely
3. Sarah Dorsey, b.1652 in Lower Norfolk Co., VA and d. 1692 m. Matthew Howard in 1667
4. Joshua Dorsey, b. 1654 in Anne Arundel, MD and d.1688 m. Sarah Richardson

There is some indication of a 5th child, a daughter by the name of Anne born in 1649, but most records only credit Edward with 4 children.
Submitted by Anna Elizabeth Miller of Centreville, VA

He was married to Anne (?) in 1638 in MD.

529. Anne (?) was born between 1644 and 1647 in Norfolk, VA. She died in 1690. Children were:

264 i. Col. Edward DORSEY.
ii. Hon. John DORSEY was born in 1650 in Anne Arundel, MD. He died on 22 Mar 1715.
iii. Sarah DORSEY was born in 1652 in Lower Norfolk CO., VA. She died in 1692.
iv. Joshua DORSEY was born in 1654 in Anne Arundel, MD. He died in 1688.