I recently returned from a visit to Calvert County, Maryland. I found that the courthouse had burned down in 1882 and that any possible hopes of finding probates listing the names of my Phillips, Watts and Torney enslaved ancestors were most likely lost in that fire. I spoke with an historian by the name of Michael Kent while there and after my return to Texas. He told me a story about a group of Maryland slaves who had been freed during the Civil War and enlisted with the Union troops. He mentioned that a group of those men served in Texas. I had stumbled on some mention of one of those men a few years ago but had not followed up on it. That is, until yesterday! I searched in Ancestry for the names of men who enlisted from Calvert County and to my great surprise I found 2 names of special importance. The first was Peter Kent.
My 4th great grandmother Charlotte Phillips was born about 1835 in Calvert County to Joseph Phillips Sr and Hester. She was separated from her family and shipped to New Orleans. She’d left behind a daughter, Charity Gross. I’d found Charity on the 1870 Calvert County census in the household of her grandmother Hester Phillips and uncle Joseph Phillips. In the household was a 1-year-old child named George. His last name was recorded as Phillips. By 1880 George was listed in the household with Peter and Rhoda Kent as George W. Kent, 9 years old. Charity was married and living nearby with husband Samuel Cook. George Wesely Kent’s 1904 death certificate listed his mother as Charity Gross and his father as Washington Kent. Washington Kent was the informant on George’s death certificate.
So, why was George in the household of Peter Kent instead of his father’s for 1880 and 1900? I still have not found out the answer to that question. As a matter of fact, I am not even searching for any answers now, because what I found about Peter Kent is got my complete attention. Civil War records on Peter Kent detail how he enlisted in 1863 and was manumitted by Basil Sewell Dixon in 1864. Dr. Dixon attested to coming into ownership of Peter Kent, Thomas Torney, Samuel Key and John Ross after his marriage in 1858. A little research uncovered Dixon’s wife’s name as Rebecca H Laveille. Her father James Laveille owned several slaves, some of whom were the correct ages to be my Torney and Kent family members in 1850. Basil Dixon and family as well as James Lavielle Sr and Jr and Rebecca were recorded on the same page of 1850 US Census living in Calvert County. A widowed Basil Dixon was also listed on the 1870 and 1880 US Census within pages of my family!
Through death certificates, I later figured out that Washington Kent was actually named Henry Washington Kent born about 1857 and that Peter Kent’s name was William Peter Kent, born abou5 1837. Both men and their families were recorded on the same page within houses one another on the 1900 US Census for Calvert County. Peter was old enough to have been Henry’s father. Unfortunately, the parent’s names were recorded as unknown on death certificates for both men.
Peter’s wife Rhoda applied for his veteran’s pension in 1922. I have requested the related papers from NARA and so have begun the long wait to learn more about William Peter and perhaps more about his enslaved life, wife, children and items that might help in my quest!
So, a search into a seemingly unconnected story has possibly led me to something that I was not able to find in deed and probate records lost in the 1882 courthouse fire!! Who could have guessed!!!
Best,
My Maryland-Louisiana Roots 