DORSEY, Edward (V), of MD and Washington Co KY

New Possibility

DNA evidence suggests Edward’s mother may have been a daughter of Edward Stocksdale, born 1693, resided in Baltimore County, Maryland. Anyone with DNA links to Stocksdale, Stockdale, Stocksdill, Stodghill, and so on, please contact me at alvispat@gmail.com. Matches show up between this writer, her sister and her maternal aunt; note this writer may also have a link to the same Stocksdale family on her paternal side as well.

Edward Dorsey was born about 1749 in Maryland, the son of Edward (IV) Dorsey and Deborah _____. He died before 19 Feb 1825 in Washington County, Kentucky.[1]

            He was married to Sarah Cumming about 1775 in Maryland.

            Sarah Cumming was born about 1754, also in Maryland, the daughter of William Cumming and Sarah Coppage.[2] She died after 1811 in Washington Co KY.

            On 18 Nov 1812, he second married Ann MOODY in Washington Co KY. Born ca 1781 in Berkeley Co VA, Ann was the daughter of Benjamin Moody and the widow of Elijah Boyd.

            The DAR previously accepted that Edward’s father, another Edward Dorsey, was the Edward Dorsey who signed an Oath of Allegiance in 1778 in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. Their research sites now reject two of the three previously approved Edward Dorseys in Maryland. Further data is required to establish which is which, and which if any are this man’s father or even this man himself.

            The first Edward Dorsey was identified in a very early DAR application as born 1759 in MD, married Ruth Warfield, served in Lt James Brice’s Unit as a Private. It is now known that the Edward who married Ruth Warfield was born ca 1776 and cannot have served. So who served in this unit? The DAR website says to “treat as a new ancestor,” which I understand to mean a lineage to this man may be accepted, but not to the man who married Ruth Warfield.

            The second Edward Dorsey in the DAR Patriot Index was born 25 Oct 1728 and provided provisions for the State of Maryland on Jan 14 1788 in Anne Arundel Co MD. His wife was Elizabeth Gillis, and they resided in Ellicott’s Mills, Anne Arundel Co MD. He was a second cousin once removed of our Edward (IV) Dorsey.

            The third Edward was our Edward (IV) Dorsey. The DAR website states, “Future applicants must provide correct service.” Our Edward was not in Anne Arundel Co, so someone else must have signed the oath, they say.

            In 1790, there were four Edward Dorseys in Maryland, three in Anne Arundel Co and one in Frederick Co MD: [3] 4/6/3/0/10.[4] In 1800 there was still an Edward Dorsey in Liberty Twp, Frederick Co MD, 00511/00011. Both of these men had numerous sons or other males in their households. Since the Edward in Frederick County was there as early as 1752, he is unlikely to be our Edward V.

            Edward Dorsey is listed in the “Second Census of Kentucky,” based on tax lists for Washington County.[5]  In 1810, he was in Washington Co KY, p 950, Edward Dorsey: 00101/21011; the unmarried son was Robert, and as a widow with three daughters, Deborah may have been living her parents. Sarah Dorsey died in 1811. And in 1820, Edward is not listed with any of his three married sons nor with his daughter, Ann Geoghegan.

            After his death in 1825, a deed was signed in Washington Co KY by his surviving children. This is the clear evidence of his heirs and ties him to William Cumming Dorsey, who had married and stayed in Somerset Co PA, instead of continuing on to Kentucky before 1800.

            Harry Wright Newman, Anne Arundel Gentry, 1933, p 89, made the unfortunate statement that “Edward Dorsey married Sarah, dau. of William and Sarah (Coppage) Cummings [sic], removed from MD and d.s.p.”[6] Although this is demonstrably not true, some have continued to deny Edward and his descendants their place in the Dorsey family.

            DNA studies include males descended from William Cumming Dorsey and from his brother Richard Dorsey of KY. The conclusions of the study to date include these statements about Lineage I:

1. The first five members of Lineage I are well documented descendants of the colonial American Immigrant Edward Dorsey. The first two are descendants of Edward Dorsey’s son John and the next three descendants of his son Edward. The results of the next four members of Lineage I is consistent with their (sometimes tentative) research conclusions that they are also descendants of Edward Dorsey.  DNA results from the final five participants place them in the same lineage as the first eight and suggest that they may share a common ancestor with Edward Dorsey.

2. The DNA results coupled with known Irish origins of the last three participants and matches with a number of Irish surnames strongly suggest an Irish origin for Lineage I.

3. Y-chromosome DNA from Lineage I does NOT match Y chromosome DNA from proven descendants of Norman D’Arcy who was said to have come to England with William the Conqueror in 1066.[7]

            Edward and Sarah had the following children:

1. William Cumming DORSEY. Born in 1776 in MD. William Cumming died in Somerset Co PA, on 23 Apr 1830. Buried in Dorsey Cemetery, Somerset Co PA. About 1800, he married Mary BLACK, daughter of James BLACK & Jane McDONOUGH, in Somerset Co PA. Born in 1779. Mary died in Somerset Co PA, on 31 Aug 1840. They had the following children:

                        i.            James Black (1800-1865)

                        ii.            David (1800-1880)

                        iii.            Elizabeth (ca1800-)

                        iv.            Edward (ca1803-1872)

                        v.            William Cumming Jr (1804-1886)

                        vi.            Jane (1808-1878)

                        vii.            Henry (ca1810-ca1875)

                        viii.            Cordelia (ca1817-1852)

                        ix.            Lloyd (1813-1873)

                        x.            Sarah (1814-1845)

                        xi.            Lewis (1816-)

                        xii.            (infant son) (Died as Infant) (1800-)

2. Deborah DORSEY. Born ca 1777. On 21 Oct 1797, she first married Hugh McELROY in Washington Co KY. Born ca 1774 in MD. They had the following children:

                        i.            Sarah Cumming (ca1798-1834)

                        ii.            Mary

                        iii.            Esther

Before say 1813, Deborah second married John WELSH, who died before 1825.

They had the following children:

                        i.            Susan Ann (1816-1908), informant of Montgomery Cumming,

                        ii.            Pamelia Jane (1815-)

On 26 Mar 1826, she third married Jacob LARUE in Hardin Co KY. Born in 1776 in Frederick Co VA. Jacob died in Coles Co IL, in 1851.

3. Thomas DORSEY. Born in 1782. Thomas married Amelia GLOVER. They had the following children:

                        i.            Sarah

                        ii.            William Cumming

                        iii.            Joshua

                        iv.            Rachel

                        v.            Mary Elizabeth

                        vi.            John Cumming

4. Johnsey DORSEY. Born in 1784. On 17 Nov 1807, he married Rebecca SILVERS in Washington Co KY. They had the following children:

                        i.            Sallie

                        ii.            Lizzie

                        iii.            Nancy

                        iv.            Edward

                        v.            Johnsa

                        vi.            Greenberry (1833-)

5. Richard DORSEY. Born in 1785 in Frederick Co MD. Richard died in Washington Co KY, on 5 Jul 1833. On 10 Sep 1808, Richard married Lucy JEFFRIES in Springfield, Washington Co KY. Born ca 1789 in Fauquier Co VA. They had the following children:

                        i.            Ann

                        ii.            David C (1809-)

                        iii.            Anderson James (1811-1893)

                        iv.            William H (ca1813-)

                        v.            Ruth J (1815-)

                        vi.            Sarah C (1817-)

                        vii.            Edward D (1819-)

                        viii.            Catherine (ca1821-)

                        ix.            Mary J (1823-)

                        x.            Jonathan J (ca1827-)

                        xi.            Lucy (1827-)

                        xii.            Elizabeth Powell (1830-)

                        xiii.            Richard (1832-)

6. Ann DORSEY. Born on 1 Aug 1793 in Frederick Co MD. Ann died in Hardin Co KY, on 18 Jul 1860. On 7 Oct 1809 when Ann was 16, she married John G GEOGHEGAN in Washington Co KY. Born on 6 Feb 1782 in Baltimore Co MD. John G died in Hardin Co KY, on 11 Jan 1854. They had the following children:

                        i.            Thomas D (1810-)

                        ii.            Ambrose Edward (1818-)

                        iii.            Robert Denton (1821-)

                        iv.            Denton (1824-)

                        v.            John H (1827-)

                        vi.            Sarah Elizabeth (ca1828-)

                        vii.            Mary A (ca1831-)

                        viii.            Ann Amelia (1832-)

                        ix.            William S (1835-)

7. Robert DORSEY. Born in 1795 in Frederick Co MD. Robert died in 1845. On 20 Apr 1825, he married Phebe MYERS. They had the following children:

                        i.            Caroline S

                        ii.            Martha J

                        iii.            Elizabeth M L

                        iv.            Deborah A

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[1] Washington Co KY Deeds, 1, f 181; f 424.

[2] “Table of the Descendants of William Cumming,” DAR Library. Letters from Montgomery Cumming to Allen Dorsey, 1903, 1904, in Genealogy and History of These Families: William Cumming, Dorsey, Black, Weisel by Edith L Burrell, Findlay OH. Miss Burrell states that Sarah Coppage was “of an old Eastern-shore MD family.”

[3]This is the same page in Frederick Co MD, alphabetized by initial letter, as “William Cummings,” Daniel, Elizabeth, Eli (of Edward), John and William (of Thomas) Dorsey. This entry—”Eli Dorsey,” 1/4/4/0/13—both fits our family and does not fit any other known Ely or Eli. The entries for two “Eli” Dorseys are consecutive. Other Ely Dorseys are in Anne Arundel Co MD.

[4] 1790 Frederick Co MD, names alphabetized, p 184, Edward Dorsey, 4/6/3/10 slaves, next to Basil Dorsey: 2/0/2/18 slaves. If this is our Edward, some of his brothers may have been with the family.

1790 Anne Arundel Co MD, p 392, Edward Dorsey “Ironhead,” 4/0/7/18 free persons of color, 64 slaves. Near Elizabeth Dorsey, 2/1/1/1 free, 43 slaves. Identified at Ancestry.com as Edward Hill Dorsey, son of Caleb Dorsey.

1790 Anne Arundel Co MD, p Edward Dorsey of John, 1/0/1/2 slaves; next to Henry Dorsey of Edward, 1/0/0/13 free/14 slaves. This was either the Edward, son of John, who marries Elizabeth Gillis, or possibly their son Edward, who would have been 30.

1790 Anne Arundel Co MD, p 381, Edward Dorsey of Vachel, 1/0/3/12 slaves. Near Vachel Dorsey, 3/0/2/17; Charles Dorsey, 3/4/6/3. This man married Susannah Lawrence and later moved to Jefferson Co KY.

[5] Ancestry.com. “Second Census” of Kentucky 1800 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2006. Original data: Clift, G. Glenn. “Second Census” of Kentucky, 1800. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2005, p 82.

[6] Died without heirs.

[7] http://www.contexo.info/DorseyDNA/LineageI.htm