 | A history of Caroline county, Virginia |  |
THE DORSEY FAMILY
The Dorsey family of Caroline is descended from the Dorsey,
and Ridgely families, of Maryland, than whom there are no more
prominent families in that commonwealth. The complete genealogy
of these two famous old families appeared in The Sun
(Baltimore) of January 12, 1908, et seq, from the pen of Emily
Emerson Lantz.
The first member of this ancient family to settle in Caroline
was Charles Ridgely Dorsey. He was born at "Spring Hill"
the ancestral estate of his family, which is located about two
miles from Ellicott City, Howard county, Md. He attended
school at Ellicott City and afterward was graduated from Princeton
University.
At the outbreak of the War Between the States, he and his
brothers, John W., and Samuel, joined the Confederate forces,
enlisting in the Fifth Maryland Regiment, commanded by Colonel
George R. Gaither, their brother-in-law. Later in the war they
joined Mosby's command and served with it until the end of the
war.
Before enlisting, Charles Ridgely Dorsey, his brothers, and
two of their friends, burned the bridge over the Patapsico river,
at Ellicott City, to keep back the Federal troops and upon their
return home after the war they were tried by a Federal Court
and sent to Cuba. Returning to Maryland, Charles Ridgely
Dorsey stopped with a family named Reynolds who lived at
the Union tavern about two miles from Penola, at the junction
him to teach school. He lodged here for a considerable period
and while here married Catherine Collins, daughter of George
T. Collins. She bore him two children, Charles Ridgely and
Mary Comfort, (twins) both of whom died when they were about
two years old. His wife died shortly afterward and he married
Margaret Ann Collins, his first wife's sister, in 1872. By this
marriage he had issue: George Ridgely Dorsey. Charles Ridgely
Dorsey practiced law in Caroline and adjoining counties until
his death in 1874. Of him the Hon. A. B. Chandler said: "I
would name him as the most brilliant of all the Caroline Bar.
No one, I think, his equal intellectually has taken his place."
George Ridgely Dorsey, son of Charles Ridgely Dorsey and
Margaret Ann Collins, was born, November 18, 1874. He
m. Estelle Marie Shuman on June 20, 1904 and had issue:
Margaret Comfort Worthington, b. April 27, 1905 and Ridgely
Corbin, b. January 15, 1907. George Ridgely Dorsey was elected
Treasurer of Caroline county in 1923.
| A history of Caroline county, Virginia | |