Robert C. Dorsey Family Home Page:Information about Edward Dorsey
Edward Dorsey (b. May 4, 1762, d. August 5, 1804)
Notes for Edward Dorsey:The American progenitor of the Dorseys, who were puritans, emigrated from Darcy, England, to Virginia in 1635, and thence to Maryland in 1649 where they were prominent in public affairs.Two Dorsey women presided over the mansion at Annapolis as wives of Maryland governors. Edward, the ancestor of the Jefferson County Dorseys , married Susannah daughter of Benjamin Lawrence and moved in 1802 to Kentucky together with his family and the family of Benjamin Lawrence.Edward Dorsey settled on a tract of land at what is now O'Bannon, Kentucky, where he built a substantial stone house.Although weather-beaten and in need of minor repairs, the house is still structurally sound and is occupied today by the present owner of the farm.The Dorsey scions claim that it was the first stone house built in Kentucky.There are locust trees on the lawn four feet in diameter. When one of them fell recently in storm the owner cut cross-section and counted two hundred fifty rings.
Edward Dorsey died on August 8, 1804 at the age of forty-two, just two years after his arrival in Kentucky. His wife, Susannah, who later married John Williamson, died on January 21, 1818, at the age of forty-nine.They are now buried in the Hobbs family graveyard at Anchorage to which they were moved when their grandson, Edward Dorsey Hobbs, bought the property.Basil Nicholas Hobbs, father of Edward Dorsey Hobbs, married Mary Ann, better known as Polly, the daughter of Edward and Susannah Dorsey.
After the death of Edward Dorsey his estate, which included lots in Middletown and several hundred acres on which he lived, was divided among his heirs: Susannah widow and relict, and five children Polly Hobbs, Leaven Lawrence, Elias L., Urith, and Matilda.Samuel Luckett, husband of Edward'sdaughter Patience, then deceased, received her share and brother's in law, Leaven and Samuel Lawrence were also made beneficiaries among the Middletown lots which Edward bought from Charles Quirey and Catherine, his wife, on April 23, 1802 were nos. 51 and 52 on which were located a store, a tavern, and a dwelling house, all joined by partitions.The dwelling occupied by Leaven Lawrence; the store was operated by Samuel, and the tavern was rented by John Ballard.In the settlement of the estate, which was made by the Jefferson County Court in 1807, Leaven Lawrence was allocated his kitchen and the room he was then living in and the ground on which it stood.Samuel became the owner of the storeroom, the chamber above it, and the cellar and the ground it occupied.This odd practice of dividing the rooms of a house among several persons was not unusual one hundred fifty years ago.
It is interesting to note that in 1803 Edward Dorsey gave bond to Leaven Lawrence in the sum of 1,500 Spanish gilded dollars to sell to him one-third of all houses and lots which Edward owned in Middletown.
Elias and Leaven Lawrence Dorsey I were born in Maryland in 1797 and 1799 respectively and came with their parents to Jefferson County.
Leaven Lawrence I married Susan O'Bannon, daughter of Isham O'Bannon, and had several children including: Eveline, Mary, and Bushrod.He owned a tract of six hundred acres which he named "Kitchen Garden Farm."It was located at what is now Armsby Station and was a part of "Eden".There he erected a large and elegant residence.
Elias Dorsey married [Martha] Booker and had a large family.He owned "Eden" the valuable stock farm of 1,200 acres inherited from his Grandfather.His son, Leaven Lawrence II was born in the Middletown precinct on February 17, 1818, and was educated in the private schools of Middletown under the tutelage of Lawrence Young.He married Lydia Phillips had the following children: Rosa, Nannie, Clark, Hattie, Robert and Lydia.He inherited his father's estate on which he raised highbred trotting horses."Eden" was owned by the Dorsey family from 1814 until about 1880.
Dorsey Way is a lane on the western confines of Middletown leading to the home of the late Leaven Lawrence Dorsey III a grandson of Leaven Dorsey I.His daughter Louise, lives in the paternal home.Other Dorsey scions include Sally Dorsey of Louisville, who is the granddaughter of Bushrod Dorsey.The married Charles O. Fust and his two daughters, Marie Louise and Elizabeth Herndon.
Unknown source of Kentucky Biographies, circa 1880
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SUMMARY OF WILL OF EDWARD DORSEY
Dated: May 2, 1804
Probated: November 5, 1804.
Wife Susanna; to daughters Anne (Polly), and Matilda Dorsey, at the age of sixteen, and to sons Elias, Leaven Lawrence and Benjamin Lawrence, at the age of twenty-one, $1,200.00; daughter Patience Luckett to have $10.00.
Executrix:Wife Susanna Dorsey.
Witnesses: Ben and Leavin Lawrence, Willis Hord.
[Jefferson County, Kentucky, Will Book 1, page 151.]
More About Edward Dorsey:
Burial: Unknown, Hobbs Cemetery, Anchorage, Kentucky.
More About Edward Dorsey and Susannah Lawrence:
Marriage: February 21, 1786, Baltimore, Maryland.
Children of Edward Dorsey and Susannah Lawrence are:
- Urith Dorsey, b. December 24, 1788, d. date unknown, Died young.
- Patience Dorsey, b. April 23, 1789, d. Bef. 1807.
- Mary Ann "Polly" Dorsey, b. September 13, 1791, Maryland36, d. September 25, 1833, Kentucky.
- Matilda Dorsey, b. 179436, d. 1881, Illinois.
- +Elias Dorsey, b. June 7, 1796, Maryland37, d. March 2, 1872, Bunker Hill, Macoupin County, Illinois.
- Susannah Dorsey, b. August 22, 1798, d. date unknown, Died young.
- +Levin Lawrence Dorsey, b. December 19, 1799, Maryland38, d. 1882, Jefferson County, Kentucky.
- +Benjamin Lawrence Dorsey, b. February 28, 1802, Jefferson County, Kentucky38, 39, d. August 21, 1880, Bunker Hill, Macoupin County, Illinois39.
- Urith Owings Dorsey, b. October 5, 1804, Jefferson County, Kentucky, d. March 27, 1867, Logan County, Illinois.