Daniel Dulany: Indentured Servant to Statesman
Introduction
Daniel Dulany (1685-1753) embodies the success that could
be earned by early immigrants to Colonial Maryland. He came to Maryland unsure of his future, yet managed to
accumulate wealth and property that established him within the elite society
of Annapolis.
Arriving in Port Tobacco, Maryland in 1703 with his older brothers, William and Joseph, Daniel Dulany was indentured to George Plater II (1664-1709) for a term of three years. Dulany (which he spelled “Delany” until he turned twenty-five) had attended Trinity College in his native Ireland until his father’s wealth declined, and the son was forced to leave school. Under the tutelage of Plater, a highly–respected lawyer in Charles County, Dulany served as a clerk until the end of the indenture. He was admitted to the bar of Charles County in 1709, and then that of Prince George’s County in 1710. Seeking more education, Dulany entered Gray’s Inn, a prominent law school in London, and then returned to Maryland. He would go on to serve in the roles of vestryman, alderman, recorder of Annapolis, clerk of the lower house and attorney general.
Having established himself as a leading lawyer of Annapolis, Daniel Dulany became an equally gifted businessman. Along with several prominent men of the time, Dulany invested in the Baltimore Company (also referred to as the Baltimore Iron Works) in 1731. It was an immensely profitable venture into the production and exportation of pig iron and bar.
Within this time of political turbulence, Dulany stood at the forefront of the debate. A growing anti-proprietary sentiment resurfaced in the 1720’s regarding Lord Baltimore’s use of intricate and expensive fee collections. Feeling that the Maryland legislature should have authority to establish laws for its citizens in accordance with British laws, Dulany wrote the pamphlet, “The right of thr [sic] inhabitants of Maryland, to thr [sic] benefits of the English laws.” Lord Baltimore was able to staunch the opposition in 1732 when he visited the colony, in part because he offered Dulany the lucrative post of Agent and Receiver of the Proprietary.
Dulany was also able to use his wealth to accumulate land-holdings. In 1721, he partnered with John Bradford, a Prince George’s county planter, to purchase 2000 acres of land up the Potomac River in what was referred to as the Piedmont frontier. Later, in 1744, he acquired 20,000 acres in the Monocacy River and Antietam valley area. Knowing that Maryland’s future stability and safety counted on the further settling of all of its lands (and thus raise the value of his property), Dulany offered new immigrants (principally German farmers) plots of 100 to 300 acres at very low prices. In 1745, under an agreement with Lord Baltimore, Dulany gained sub-feudal authority to establish a town and offer rents. This town was called Frederick Town in honor of the Lord Baltimore’s son. Frederick County would we established in 1748. By 1750, Dulany’s town had prospered and grown to be the largest town in Maryland. Upon his death in 1753, Dulany owned over 47,000 acres of land, 40,000 of which was in Frederick County.
Beginning modestly as an indentured servant, Daniel Dulany gained prominence as a lawyer, statesman, businessman and land-developer.
National History Standards
Materials compiled in this document can be used by educators to fulfill the following National History Standards for Grades K-4:
Topic 1: Living and Working Together in Families and Communities, Now and Long Ago
STANDARD 2: The history of students’ own local community and how communities in North America varied long ago.
Standard 2A: The student understands the history of his or her local community.
K-4: Identify historical figures in the local community and explain their contributions and significance. [Assess the importance of the individual in history]
STANDARD 3: The people, events, problems, and ideas that created the history of their state.
Standard 3B: The student understands the history of the first European, African, and/or Asian-Pacific explorers and settlers who came to his or her state or region.
K-4: Use a variety of sources to construct a historical narrative about daily life in the early settlements of the student’s state or region. [Obtain historical data]
3-4: Gather data in order to analyze geographic, economic, and religious reasons that brought the first explorers and settlers to the state or region. [Obtain historical data]Standard 3C: The student understands the various other groups from regions throughout the world who came into his or her own state or region over the long-ago and recent past.
K-4: Examine photographs and pictures of people from the various racial and ethnic groups of varying socioeconomic status who lived in the state 100-200 years ago in order to hypothesize about their lives, feelings, plans, and dreams, and to compare ways in which their experiences were similar and different. [Formulate historical questions]
3-4: Develop a timeline on their state or region and identify the first inhabitants who lived there, each successive group of arrivals, and significant changes that developed over the history of their state or region. [Establish temporal order]
3-4: Examine newspaper and magazine accounts and construct interview questions for a written, telephone, or in-person interview with a recent immigrant in order to discover why they came, what their life was like, and to describe some of the experiences that they have had in adjusting to the state or region. [Obtain historical data]Standard 3E: The student understands the ideas that were significant in the development of the state and that helped to forge its unique identity.
K-3: Analyze how the ideas of significant people affected the history of their state. [Assess the importance of the individual in history]
Primary Resources
TITLE: "The Rights of the Inhabitants of Maryland to the Benefit of the English Laws"
DATE CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1728
SOURCE: From a reprint of the original in the collections of the Maryland Historical Society
REPOSITORY: Maryland State Archives, Archives of Maryland OnlineTITLE: Probate inventory for Daniel Dulany
DATE CREATED/PUBLISHED: 5/21/1754
SOURCE: PREROGATIVE COURT (Testamentary Papers) Box 55, fld. 42 Daniel Dulay, Esq, 24 July 1764.
REPOSITORY: Original, Maryland State Archives. Transcription, Gunston Hall Plantation
NOTE: List of indentured servants and slaves located on page 12TITLE: Probate inventory for Hen. Maria Dulany, Mrs. Daniel Dulany
DATE CREATED/PUBLISHED: 11/12/1766
SOURCE: PREROGATIVE COURT (Inventories) 96, pp. 138-151 Mrs. Hen. Maria Dulany, 16 May 1768.
REPOSITORY: Original, Maryland State Archives; transcription, Gunston Hall Plantation
NOTE: List of slaves located on page 12TITLE: Frederick-Town fair advertisement by D. Dulany
DATE CREATED/PUBLISHED: September 1, 1747
SOURCE: Maryland Gazette Collection, MSA SC M1278
REPOSITORY: Archives of Maryland Online Site for William Sumner Jenkins Early State Records of MarylandTITLE: Land for lease by Daniel Dulany
DATE CREATED/PUBLISHED: April 8, 1729
SOURCE: Maryland Gazette Collection, MSA SC M1007
REPOSITORY: Archives of Maryland Online Site for William Sumner Jenkins Early State Records of MarylandTITLE: An Act for all Servants Comeing into the Province with Indentures
DATE CREATED/PUBLISHED: October 1654
SOURCE: Archives of Maryland, Proceedings and Acts of the General Assembly January 1637/8-September 1664
REPOSITORY: Maryland State ArchivesTITLE: An Act against Fugitives
DATE CREATED/PUBLISHED: October 1654
SOURCE: Archives of Maryland, Proceedings and Acts of the General Assembly January 1637/8-September 1664
REPOSITORY: Maryland State Archives, Archives of Maryland OnlineTITLE: An Acte lymiting Servants tymes
DATE CREATED/PUBLISHED: May 1661
SOURCE: Archives of Maryland, Proceedings and Acts of the General Assembly January 1637/8-September 1664
REPOSITORY: Maryland State Archives, Archives of Maryland OnlineTITLE: An Acte lymiting Servants tymes
DATE CREATED/PUBLISHED: April 1662
SOURCE: Archives of Maryland, Proceedings and Acts of the General Assembly January 1637/8-September 1664
REPOSITORY: Maryland State Archives, Archives of Maryland Online
Additional Instructional Resources
Forker Frizzel - Indentured Servant and Tobacco Farmer classroom activities
Homeward Bound - German Settlement of Frederick County activity
Meet John Halfhead - Historic St. Mary’s Learning Activities
Secondary Resources
Brugger, Robert. "Tobacco Coast." Maryland: A Middle Temperament. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press in association with the Maryland Historical Society, 1988.
Campbell, Alexander V. "'To Stand in the Face of Danger for Us': The British Army and Maryland's Indentured Servants, 1755-1760." Maryland Historical Magazine (Winter 1999): 419-439.
Fox, Larry. "Frederick, Past Present," Washington Post. June 30, 1995.
Greene, Evarts Boutell. "Provincial Leaders 1714-1740," Provincial America, 1690-1740. New York, N.Y.: Harper and Brothers, 1905. p.219-222
Hofstadter, Richard. "White Servitude."
"Indentured Servants," Maryland State Archives, 2000.
Johnson, Keach. "The Genesis of the Baltimore Iron Works," The Journal of Southern History, Vol. 19, No. 2. (May, 1953), pp. 157-179.
Lancaster, R. Kent “Almost Chattel: The Lives of Indentured Servants at Hampton-Northampton, Baltimore County." Maryland Historical Magazine (1999): 341-362.
Land, Aubrey C. The Dulanys of Maryland: A Biographical Study of Daniel Dulany, the Elder (1685-1753), and Daniel Dulany, the Younger (1722-1797). 2d ed. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1968. 404 pp. F184 D8 L3.
Land, Aubrey C. "Genesis of a Colonial Fortune: Daniel Dulany of Maryland," The William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd Ser., Vol. 7, No. 2. (Apr., 1950), pp. 255-269.
Papenfuse, Edward C. et al., "Historical List Attorneys General 1657-1776," Archives of Maryland, Historical List, new series, Vol. 1. Annapolis, MD: Maryland State Archives, 1990.
Pleasants, J. Hall, ed. "Early Maryland County Courts," Proceedings of the County Court of Charles County, 1658-1666. Baltimore: Maryland Historical Society, 1936.
Porter III, Frank W. “From Backcountry to County: The Delayed Settlement of Western Maryland,” Maryland Historical Magazine 70 (1975): 336-38.
Roe, Melissa A. Differential Tolerances and Accepted Punishments for Disobedient Indentured Servants and Their Masters in Colonial Courts.
Sioussant, St. George L. Economics and Politics in Maryland 1720-1750, and the Public Services of Daniel Dulany the Elder. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1903.
Spencer, Richard Henry. “Hon. Daniel Dulany, 1685-1753, The Elder,” Maryland Historical Magazine, XII (1917), 20.
Ziegler, Edith. "The Transported Convict Women of Colonial Maryland, 1718-1776," Maryland Historical Magazine (Spring 2002): 5-32.
Associated Heritage and Preservation Organizations
Historical Society of Frederick County
24 East Church St
Frederick, MD 21701
(301) 663-1188
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Credits
Teaching American History in Maryland is a collaborative partnership of the Maryland State Archives and the Center for History Education (CHE), University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), and the following sponsoring school systems: Anne Arundel County Public Schools, Baltimore City Public School System, Baltimore County Public Schools, and Howard County Public Schools.
Other program partners include the Martha Ross Center for Oral History, Maryland Historical Society, State Library Resource Center/Enoch Pratt Free Library, with assistance from the National Archives and Records Administration and the Library of Congress. The program is funded through grants from the U.S. Department of Education.
This document packet was researched and developed by Traci Siegler.
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