Malaga Moll’s great-grandson sues for freedom.
by Lisa Y. Henderson
William Dowry ag’t Francis Thomas } Pet’o for freedom in the General Court.
The deposition of Ann Ridgely of Anne Arundel County aged between fifty seven and fifty eight years being first sworn on the holy Evangely of Almighty God, saith that she has seen William Dowry the petitioner but does not know much of him; that she knew Fanny who it is said, is Mother of the petitioner, very well; and this deponant also knew Mary Dove, the Mother of Fanny ever since she knew her own Mother, and she knew Fanny who is of about the age of the deponant from the time she was a child until she was a woman; this deponant is the daughter of Eliazar Burkhead who was the son of Abraham Burkhead, to whom Mary and Fanny both belonged when this deponent first knew them; and he gave Fanny to his daughter Frances Shekell the wife of John Shekell; this deponant further saith that Mary was a tall spare woman, of a brown complexion, and was the grand daughter of the woman, who came, or was imported into this Country and belonged to this deponants great grand Father as she has been informed and understood from her mother and her grand Father beforementioned: that her grand Father was the only child of his Father and possessed the whole estate; that this deponant has always understood that the Grand Mother of Mary Dove was a yellow woman and had long black hair; but this deponant doth not know whether she was reputed to be an East Indian or a Madagascarian, but she has understood that she was called in the family Malaga Moll, her name being Mary; and Mary Dove the Grand-daughter claimed her Sirname from her said Grand Mother; this deponant further saith that the Mother of Mary Dove (whose name she does not remember) died before her Mother, and whilst her daughter Mary Dove aforesaid was a small girl; and this deponant saith after the death of her father, her Mother intermarried with Leonard Thomas and the aforesaid Mary Dove then lived in the family and belonged to this deponant’s Brother James Birkhead, and upwards of forty years ago she sued for her freedom, and before any determination of the suit the aforesaid Leonard Thomas moved with his family and effects to North Carolina, about twenty miles from New Burn and carried the aforesaid Mary Dove with him, this deponants Brother James being then about five or six years of age: that the said Mary Dove prosecuted her claim to freedom at Newburn in North Carolina soon after she was removed there, and obtained her freedom upon trial at this deponant understood, together with three of her Children and two of her Grand Children and they were all discharged from the possession of the said Leonard Thomas; that the Children were named James, Nell and Sue, and the Grand Children, Will and Sal; that this deponant has heard her father in Law Leonard Thomas say that a certain Alexander Sands, who was the Son of an East Indian woman; and was commonly called Indian Sawny, was a Witness for the said Mary Dove, and that he proved that the Grand Mother of Mary Dove was an East Indian Woman; that this deponant does not recollect to have heard her father in law mention any other witness in particular who was sworn for the petitioner, but thinks he mentioned that one John Wells was sworn on her behalf; that the said Mary Dove had a brother named Dowry who belonged to this deponants uncle. That the aforesaid Leonard Thomas removed back to Maryland in a few years and sometime afterwards returned to North Carolina near the Yadkin and died about twelvemonth ago: — sworn to in open Court 16 Octo. 1791. True Copy Jno. G. [illegible]
Miscellaneous Records, Craven County Records, North Carolina State Archives.
[It is a reasonable conjecture that Mary Dove was the forebear of all the free colored Craven, and later Onslow and Jones, and later still Lenoir County Doves.]
Fourth Generation Inclusive 
So happy I found your blog. I’ve been reasearching my Jones County Dove Ancestors for years now and have hit a brick wall. I did figure the Jones and Craven County Doves were related somehow. My ancestor is William Dove born around 1825. He was a FPOC listed as living in the household of the Brock family on the 1850 and 1860 census and in 1870 he is the head of his own household living w/ his wife and several children.
Hi! I’d love to correspond with you more. I’m not a Dove, but Nancy Henderson, sister of my 5g-grandmother Patsey Henderson, had several children by Simon Dove in Onslow County circa 1820-1840. I can be reached at lyhend at aol dot com. — Lisa
I realize this is an old post, but I have been working for several years now exclusively on the Dove line. I’ve got it pretty much from Mary Dove, Malaga Moll, all the way through. It is a VERY large line. If you need help – contact me. I’ve recently written a book, titled “SOLD!” on Mary Dove and her journey through slavery beginning when she arrived in 1682 aboard the Dove, through her granddaughters release in the Craven County NC courts.
If your research includes Simon Dove of Craven/Onslow Counties, I’d love to see what you have! Thank you!
Hi Lisa!
Yes, it does include Simon Dove, although there are a number of them. The first was the son of William Dove and was born in Craven County 21 Jan 1774 (date of death unknown). He was bound out to Bazel Smith as a Shoemaker (with his brother Isaac) on 15 Jan 1788. He married Anna Carter on 16 Jan 1802. They had one known child, Durant, born 1805 who married Jane around 1833. They had Susan, Eliza Jane, Margaret Anna, Unknown Male, William and Julia. Jane died before 7 Nov 1843 when he married Anne Whitehurst (1812-1835) and they had 11 children; Durant, Jr., Edward Nick “Ned”, Nancy Elizabeth, Amanda, Joshua, Henry, George, Naomi, Wyley D, Margaret Ann, and Nancy Jane. Anne died in 1860 and Durant, by then 55 years old, married Rosanna Cox that same year. They had 6 children; Phillis, Elizabeth, Jonas W., George R.H., and Dick
I hope that helps! Durant died sometime between 1884 and 1900 as Rosanna is living with her daughter’s family at that time and is listed as a widow, but has 6 year old Dick with her.
If you need anything further on this line, I’ve most likely got it! Let me know.
Also, Simon’s father, William Dove, was the child of Fanny Dove and unk. and was with his grandmother, Mary Dove, when she sued for freedom from the Birckhead/Thomas family. They had lived in Anne Arundel County Maryland, but when Mary sued for freedom, and was told that the decision was to be unfavorable for him, Leonard Thomas absconded with Mary and some of her children and grandchildren (including William) to Craven County, NC where she again petitioned for freedom based on the fact that her grandmother, also Mary Dove, was a subject of the maharajas in India and therefore couldn’t be sold as a slave in the British colonies.
I have a book soon to be released that reveals Mary’s life starting in 1682, India, through her granddaughter’s, Mary, life up until 1751, when she was freed. If this is your family line, you may be interested. The title is SOLD!
Ah, except Durant Dove was Nancy Henderson’s child by Simon Dove. There’s a NC Supreme Court case concerning his and brother Willis’ indenture, in which they’re referred to as Durant and Willis Henderson alias Dove. Nancy was, I believe, the sister of my GGGG-grandmother Patsey Henderson.
I’ve taken a look at your page as well as done a couple other cursory searches. While it certainly is possible that Simon could have had children with Nancy Henderson, I don’t see that there appears to be anything that would suggest that he did. I’d be interested to see what you’ve got there. Also, there is a Durant Henderson as well as a Durant Dove throughout the same time periods, both in Onslow County. Since they are both listed in the census for the same years, 1840s through 1880s, it is unlikely that they were one and the same.
In the 1850 you mention in your article Nancy, 50, Gatsey, 30, Nervy, 25, and so forth with the children are listed. The Durant Dove I had referred to, the son of Simon and Anna Carter (married 16 Jan 1802) was born in 1805. Nancy could not have been his mother because she was only 5 years old at the time. There is nothing to indicate that the Simon Dove I referred to had any other children but the Durant Henderson/Dove you reference apparently has a brother, Willis.
Clearly, we aren’t speaking of the same Simon or Durant Dove. You had asked about Simon Dove, so I sent you info on the oldest Simon within the line, born to William Dove in Craven County in 1774, which is a different one for which you needed. Sorry about that.
The names “Simon” and “Durant” were very common in the Dove line so perhaps I can still be of some help if you could give me a few specifics as to dates.
The Durant Henderson who appears in Onslow County census records was white, and an entirely different man than Durant Dove. I have provided a link to the documentation of Durant’s alternate surname as Henderson, as well as other of Nancy Henderson’s children purported in court records to be children of Simon Dove. Durant Dove’s age is misstated in census records (other than 1850, where it is imputed as 1810.) This is made clear by the fact that Durant (as Dove) was apprenticed in 1828 and again (as Henderson) in 1829. Had he been born in 1805, he would have been past the age of indenture.
I’ve looked at the research you’ve posted and find it very interesting, however there are no dates involved, which I watch very closely towards factually documenting. Generally I do not make assumptions about lineage, and do not include person(s) potentially related without some documentation. However, in the spirit of discussion, I would like to propose to you a consideration. I am assuming the Nancy Henderson Dove you refer to is the one born between 1790 and 1800 as she is found listed in the 1850 census, age 50, with the children you indicated, Gatsey, 30 Nervy, 25, Monday, 6, Jolt,4, Jessee,1, and Sally Ann,0. She is again listed in the 1880 census where it states that she was 90 years old, born in 1790, but since she is listed with her daughter, Gatsy, age 60, which concurs with the previous census, and they are living in the same district in Onslow county through that time period, we can conclude that they are very likely the same people.
Simon Dove, assuming that we are speaking of the same Simon Dove, was born 21 Jan 1774. The person who’s parentage we debate, Durant Dove, was born in 1805. While it is possible for Simon to have fathered Durant, and I think we both agree as to that, the issue at hand is for consideration being the mothers.
If we were to assume that Nancy were Durant’s mother, then she would have had to be between 5 and 15 at the time of his birth. I do not know exactly how Simon was named as the purported father of Nancy’s child, and in fact I do not ever see him listed with her. However I do believe that there is a viable link between the families. The Dove family did generally actually marry and have the marriages recorded even as early as 1802, when Simon married Anna Carter, 3 years before Durant’s birth, when Nancy Henderson Dove would have been between 2 to 12 years old.
We do know that Nancy Sue Henderson, Nancy’s mother, was a white woman while Nancy was a mulatto. We also know that Nancy used both the surname Henderson and Dove, so there is a clear link there somewhere. It is possible that Nancy could have had Durant at 15 years old, that not being unheard of or particurly out of the box, but there is nothing to indicate that she had done anything to identify herself as a Dove, such as marry, even in the legal papers where her name is identified as both. Although it isn’t unthinkable that Nancy would have given her children the Dove name, assuming that she had them with a Dove man, but it would be highly unusual for her to have taken the name herself if there was no legal validity for her to do so, such as a marriage. Since there is no evidence that she married Simon, or in fact any Dove man, it would be logical to conclude that perhaps she, herself, was a product of her mother’s involvement with a Dove man. It is more likely that Nancy Ann Henderson’s mulatto child, Nancy, was with one of the Dove men and Nancy used her mother’s name for a time but also used her father’s name, Dove. In that you say Durant had a brother Willis, a variety of William, it would be interesting to conject that perhaps Nancy’s father could be William, and there exists some theories that suggest that is the case, although without proper documentation, I would not include them within his line. Nancy was certainly born in the same time period as William’s other children and the names Durant, Simon and William are clearly family names used throughout the lines and with the Doves, they often re-used a name even under the same parentage (i.e. Fanny Dove had 2 children, William Dove and William Dowry, Durant had 2 Margaret Anna’s, one with wife, Jane, in 1838, and one with wife, Anne, in 1859, both obviously with the surname Dove). Without actual documentation, it is impossible to lay down a hard fact as to strict parentage, however, when a person is born in the time frame of a marriage, it is generally assumed that they are the product of that marriage unless proven otherwise. In that Simon was married to Anna Carter, I have to assume that Durant was his child with her. It is possible that he could have fathered a child with Nancy, also named Durant, but it is equally possible that one of the other Dove men could have fathered him, just as it is equally possible that Nancy Ann Henderson, who we know bore a mulatto child, Nancy Henderson, had her through a Dove and she eventually assumed that name, and then gave her children, Willis and Durant, both her Henderson as well as her Dove name. So many possibilities here, the mind abounds. What is clear is that there definitely is a tangle between the Dove and Henderson lines, I just don’t think there is any documented evidence to support the definitive statement that there were not possibly 2 Durant’s born during that same time period, which would not have been unlikely in that there were Mary’s, Williams, Johns etc… in just about every child from every generation, cousins all with the same Dove lineage and names. Untangling them, just as occurred multiple times with the William Doves, Isaac Doves, Mary Doves etc…. is definitely tedious.
At one point I noticed that you state that Durant raised his children in Onslow and later Lenoir counties. The Durant born to Simon and Anne remained in Onslow county through 1880 where he is listed (at age 75) with his wife Rosanna and their children.
Thanks for your thoughtful response. My posts are primarily summaries of court documents; I’m not sure what you mean by “no dates involved” as they are listed. The theory re Nancy Henderson’s parentage is interesting, and certainly in line with the shifting use of surnames by free people of color. However, it does not explain, for example, Gatsey Henderson, who appears in records as Nancy’s daughter and in an apprentice record as Gatsey Henderson and William Henderson, “reputed children of Simon Dove,” bound to James Glenn Sr. at August term, 1822. It’s all a mystery that has kept me busy for 30+ years, though this is not my line. (I am descended from Patsey Henderson, who may have been Nancy Henderson’s sister. Was she Nancy Ann’s daughter? I don’t know as, and Nancy Ann does not match up with any of the white Hendersons in Onslow at the time.) As for my Lenoir County, you’re correct that that’s a misstatement. It’s Durant’s son Lewis who moved to Lenoir; he is the ancestor of a good friend of mine. In any case, you’ve given me much to chew on. I haven’t focused much on my Hendersons in recent years, but I’ll bump them up the list of priorities. Thank you.
https://scuffalong.com/2014/05/19/an-action-for-seducing-away-two-colored-boys/
https://scuffalong.com/2013/08/31/the-apprenticeship-of-base-born-children/
Cynthia how do i get in touch with you? I’d love to hear about your book and Mary Dove’s life in India.
Alexis
Alexishyman2002@yahoo.com