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Daniel Dulany: Indentured Servant to Statesman

Introduction

Daniel DulanyDaniel 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

  1. 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 Online 

  2. TITLE: 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 12

  3. TITLE:  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 12

  4. TITLE: 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 Maryland

  5. TITLE: 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 Maryland

  6. TITLE:   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 Archives

  7. TITLE:   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 Online

  8. TITLE:   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 Online

  9. TITLE:   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

Sleep Tight - A Local German Homestead activity

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

Copyright and Other Restrictions

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Credits

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This document packet was researched and developed by Traci Siegler.

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