Isaac Dobson (b. ? - d. ?)
MSA SC 5496-51604
Slave Pardoned for Crime in Queen Anne's County, Maryland
Biography:
Negro Isaac Dobson was an enslaved African-American born in Queen Anne's County, Maryland.1 As a slave, Isaac Dobson was owned by John Sayer Blake and performed duties as a "labourer."2 On April 17, 1774, Isaac Dobson was charged with the alleged offenses of breaking and entering and theft.3 A grand jury of 17 men from Queen Anne's County were summoned to determine whether the evidence against Isaac Dobson warranted a bill of indictment.4
Dobson was accused of breaking and entering the "Meat House of a certain Nicholas Rooney," and stealing "one hundred and twenty Pounds of Bacon valued at forty Shillings Sterling Money of Great Britain."5 Rooney's meat house was "well built with Logs and Shingles and the Door thereof well secured with a Lock."6 The grand jury concurred that there was enough evidence to warrant a bill of indictment.
The sheriff of the county, Philemon Downes, Esq., placed Dobson in his custody while the court would decide his fate.7 Dobson pleaded not guilty to the crime and "put himself upon his Country."8 Philemon Downes, Esq. was summoned to find twelve men to serve as a petit jury in the case. After hearing the evidence presented against Isaac Dobson, the jury issued a guilty verdict in the case.9 Dobson was then sentenced to be "hanged there (place of execution) by the Neck until he be dead."10
The court valued Dobson at "eighty pounds current Money of Maryland."11 By law, John S. Blake, Dobson's slave owner, was entitled to receive that amount as a reimbursement for the loss of his slave. The act for "more Effectual Punishment," reads "when any Slave shall be Condemned to Suffer Death that such slave shall be Valued by the Justices of Assize or Either of them then Present or County Court according to the best of their Knowledge which said whole Value shall be paid by the Treasurer of the Respective Shoare."12 The reimbursement was to be paid to "the Master or Owner of such Slave in Case the said Slave shall be Actually Executed."13
After being convicted of the crime "on the fourth Tuesday in August" in 1774, Isaac Dobson was facing a death sentence.14 On September 26, 1774, Dobson "broke out of Queen Anne's county jail."15 According to the James Butler, the subscriber and jailer, Dobson was "a little on the yellowish colour."16 James Butler, in Queenstown, offered a twenty dollar reward for Dobson's apprenhension.17 Despite breaking out of jail, Dobson was officially pardoned on October 24, 1774 for the crime he allegedly committed.18 As a result, Isaac Dobson did not have to "suffer any Corporal punishment," but the reason why he was pardoned is unknown.19
Endnotes:
2. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid.
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid.
13. Ibid., 94.
14. GOVERNOR AND COUNCIL (Commission Record) 1774-1776. JB J. October 24, 1774. Negro Isaac Dobson.
15. "Twenty Four Dollars Reward." Maryland Gazette. 1774 October 6.
16. Ibid.
17. Ibid.
18. GOVERNOR AND COUNCIL (Commission Record) Negro Isaac Dobson.
19. Ibid.
Researched and Written by Tanner Sparks, 2012.
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