Ely
Compiled and copyright by MJP Grundy, 2004
Nicotiana tabacum, from Chambers's Encyclopædia: A Dictionary of Universal Knowledge for the People
(Phila.: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1885), 9:462.

This web page is posted to cut through misinformation and raise questions in the hopes that a reader out there might have some data that will shed light on the family of Pleasance Ely (ca. 1661-1734). If you have corrections or additions, I would be delighted to hear from you via e mail at kwg at po.cwru.edu. Just substitute the familiar @ for "at" -- I am trying to avoid spam.



Pleasance Ely¹, was born in about 1661, but where, and the names of her parents, remain unknown to me. What we do know is that in 1684 she married John DORSEY. He was born ca. 1645 in Lower Norfolk County, Virginia, the son of Edward and his wife Ann, and died in 1715 in Maryland. He emigrated with his family in 1649 to Anne Arundel County, Maryland, and may have married Pleasance there. Although raised as a Friend, he was later identified as Protestant, meaning neither Anglican or Quaker.[1]

An LDS website (www.familysearch.org) said Pleasance Ely was born in 1661 “of Anne Arundel County, Maryland”. Translated, this means that at some point in her life a legal document listed her as living in Anne Arundel County. This same source boldly offers, as her parents, Richard Ely (the emmigrant) and Joanne Phipps. But research by Duncan Cairnes Ely shows, he writes, that all of the children of Richard and Joanne “are listed in a Plymouth, England parish register, all obviously born in England and baptized in 1647, 1652, 1657 and 1659, respectively, and there’s no mention of Pleasance. Since Richard emmigrated to Boston in 1659/60, she couldn’t have been born in England. Since Joanne Phipps died before Richard came to America, Pleasance couldn't be her daughter. And since Richard married his second wife in 1664, Pleasance couldn’t be a child of the second marriage either. Also, Boston and Maryland aren’t exactly similar colonies either geographically or culturally. So it is an odd and blatantly bogus attempt to tie an unknown Ely into the Richard line. The name Pleasance is odd, too, at least for that family.” In addition Duncan Ely checked the major genealogies for Richard Ely and for Nathaniel Ely, and neither Pleasance nor her husband are listed there.[2]

The more authoritative Biographical Dictionary of Mary Legislators says, in the entry for Thomas WAINWRIGHT, that Pleasance was his step-daughter. However, in the entry for John Dorsey, this possiblity is not mentioned. Thomas is identified as her second husband.[3] So even in this source there is confusion.

Pleasance was described in family records as “of austere memory”. I gather she did not have a sweet and docile personality. The description continues, “between her name and her disposition there was no similarity.”[4] Such a description invites further research and more details. What were the circumstances under which it was written? How widespread was this opinion?

John signed his will in Baltimore County on 26 November 1714. It was probated 22 March 1714/5. He left one third of his real and personal estate, after the payment of his debts, to his wife Pleasance as full payment of her dower. She was to be given her choice of either the plantation on South River or “my own dwelling plantation” on Elk Ridge. Her share of the estate included four human beings: Jacob and his wife Jenny, and two other Negro men, Lyman and Sambo. John’s extensive real estate holdings and the remaining slaves were carefully apportioned to his grandchildren, with instructions for their further disposal if a given grandchild died with no heirs. His daughter Deborah (our ancestor) was to be given £50, doled out at the rate of £8 per year “for her support”, but no real estate. Her children were the third back-up to inherit if other grandchildren died without heirs. The residue went to his son Caleb, who was named executor.[5]

Pleasance apparently used her wealth to invest in land. A warrant was made out for her 17 December 1717, when she was a widow and could own land in her own right, for 200 acres called “Isle of Ely” adjacent to “Troy”. That year she also bought “Oldman’s Folly” which was 100 acres. In 1720 she bought 200 acre “Roper’s Increase” (perhaps part of the original of which her husband had bought 79 acres in 1705), 50 acre “Howard’s Addition”, and 120 acre “Poplar Spring Garden” in Baltimore County at the head of the Patapsco River, adjacent to “Howard’s Ridge”.[6]

Pleasance can’t have been so terrible that as a wealthy widow nobody was willing to marry her. In fact she was married a second time, on 30 November 1722, to Thomas WAINWRIGHT. With this marriage, “Troy” passed to her grandson Basil DORSEY, son of Caleb. Thomas died in 1729, leaving Pleasance the greater part of his estate.[6a]

Pleasance died in 1734. Her estate was appraised on 14 August 1734 by Benjamin HOWARD and John HAMMOND, son of Charles. Her possessions included some items that had been in her first husband’s inventory. In addition to her wearing apparel, Pleasance had a silver tankard and cups, a silver spoon, thimble, and buckles, 3 silk handkerchiefs, taylor’s shears, 2 small punch bowls, 4 ivory handled knives and forks, a pepper box, 1 caster, 1 tin baster, 1 flesh fork, 1 cutting knife and 1 pen knife, 2 chests, a pair of spectacles, 2 “Turkey-workt” chairs, 6 old books (unspecified), furniture and kitchen utensils, stock and feed, one old Negro man named Tom, one old Negro woman named Beck, and one Negro lad named George. These human beings were just lumped in with the other goods.[7]

Children of John and Pleasance (Ely) Dorsey as named in John’s will (perhaps incomplete):[8]

i. Edward Dorsey², b. ca. 1677; d. 1700/1; m. Ruth ___. Ruth m (2) John GRENLIFFE; she m (3) John HOWARD (not related to our line). Edward predeceased his father so did not inherit. However, his son John was given “Patuxent Plantation" and “Dorsey’s Search”, a Negro named Solomon, and 4 cows and calves when he turned 21. This son John and his wife Elizabeth lived and died at “Dorsey’s Search”, and the manor house still stands, as “Dorsey Hall”.[9]

ii. Deborah Dorsey, b. 168_; d. before 1752 in Prince George’s County, Md.; m (1) Charles RIDGELY; m (2) Richard CLAGETT.

iii. Caleb Dorsey, b. 11 Nov. 1683; d. 1742; m. 24 Aug. 1704 Elinor WARFIELD, daughter of Richard Warfield. Elinor’s sister Mary Warfield m. John HOWARD, from whom we are descended. Caleb was named executor of his father’s estate. Caleb’s sons Samuel and Richard inherited "Southriver Quarter” in Anne Arundel County, part of which had already been given to Caleb. His son Bazill, or Basil, inherited “Troy” on Elkridge in Balt. Co. Capt. Basil d. 20 Aug. 1763 at Elk Ridge of a “long and tedious indispositon"; his son, Basil Jr., d. 17 Feb. 1761 at his father’s house on Elk Ridge, of consumption at the age of 22.[10]

This family's story continues with the Dorsey and Ridgely families.





See some other colonial Maryland families that link one way or another to Pleasance Ely Dorsey: Addison,  Bale,  Brooke,  Browne,  Dent,  Dorsey,  Hall,  Hatton,  Holliday,  Howard,  Isaac,  Molton,  Norwood,  Owings,  Randall,  Ridgely,  Sim,  Smith,  Stone,  Tasker.  Warfield.  and Wilkinson. 

See the index of Collateral Lines to see other families included in this website.

Return to the top of the page.