Person:Thomas Dent (12)

from Newman's 1940 Charles County Gentry ¹

THOMAS DENT, GENT. (1630-1676)

Thomas Dent was born about 1630 in the Parish of Guisborough, Yorkshire, making him slightly less than thirty years of age upon his arrival in America. It was not so very long after his landing in Maryland that he wedded Rebecca, the Virginia born daughter of the Rev. William Wilkinson and Naomi his wife. ... [who] died testate in 1663 and bequeathed property to his step-daughter Elizabeth Budden and his grandson William Dent and William Hatton. The residue of the estate was to be divided equally between his sons-in-law, Thomas Dent and William Hatton. [Wills, Liber 1, folio 190.]

On February 4, 1673, Thomas Dent, Gent., appeared before the Prerogative Court and showed that William Wilkinson, Clerke, executed his will before his death and named him and William Hatton as the executors. He furthermore proved to the satisfaction of the court that they had cared for Elizabeth Budden for several years who recently died intestate, and thus requested letters of administration upon her estate. [Test. Pro., Liber 6, folio 190.]

Children of Thomas and Rebecca (Wilkinson) Dent 1. William Dent married Elizabeth Fowke. q.v. 2. Thomas Dent married Anny Bayne. q.v. 3. Peter Dent married Jane Pittman Gray. q.v. 4. George Dent, d.s.p. before 1702. 5. Margaret married May 26, 1781, Edmund Howard. Issue: Rebecca born and died 1683; William Stevens born Nov. 3, 1684; George born Mar. 18, 1686; Thomas born Sept. 5, 1690; Edmund born Aug. 30, 1695; John; and Elizabeth. 6. Barbara Dent married Thomas, son of Thomas and Eleanor (Hatton) Brooke. Issue: Nathaniel; John; Benjamin; Baker; Thomas; Jane; Rebecca; Mary; Elizabeth; Lucy.

Thomas Dent established his residence in St. Mary's county, where most of his children were born and spent their childhood. He became one of the first aldermen of St. Mary's City, and an acre of land was patented to him by the name of "The Lawyer's Lodging", which is indicative of his profession, although he was also engaged in mercantile pursuits, and the cultivation of the soil. The record shows that prior to the patent of this lot which was on Aldermansbury Street, of which no a vestige now remains, Thomas Dent had built upon it and was a next door neighbor to Governor Thomas Notley.

On September 4, 1662, Thomas Dent was issued a warrant for 850 acres of land patented under the name of "Gisborough", lying on the east side of the Anacostia River in a branch of the said river called Eastern Branch in Charles County standing by a little bay called Gisborough Bay.

On September 27, 1666, a commission was issued to Thomas Dent by the Prerogative Court to swear Sarah Frissell, the relict and administratrix of Alexander Frissell, lat of Herring Creek, St. Mary's County, and also to swear Robert Cager and STamp Roberts, the appraisers of the estate. At the same court he was ordered to swear William Cote and Thomas Griffin as the appraisers of the estate of Joseph Edloe. He also swore John Waghop and William Watts, the appraisers of the estate of Robert Cager in 1666, and Richard Bankers, the appraiser of John Lawson's estate.

On April 13, 1675, Thomas Dent appeared in court and stated that William Ditton, Merchant, on his voyage from England fell sick and shortly after his arrival in the Patuxent River died at the home of Richard Keene of the Patuxent "that afore he died he declared his will in these words or to this effect that Captain Leonard Webber the commissioner of the ship Golden Lyon that the said Ditton came from England and that his clothes, goods, and bills of lading should be put into the hands of Thomas Dent in St. Mary's County and he to give amount thereof to Mr. Edward Lassells, of London, Merchant". Letters of administration upon the estate were subsequently granted to Thomas Dent.

By virtue of a warrant dated March 20, 1671, from the Secretary Office, Richard Edelen, Deputy Surveyor, stated that he had laid out for William Hatton and Thomas Dent a tract of land called "Brothers' Joint Interest" lying in Charles County in the woods above Piscataway.

Thomas Dent was appointed in 1664 High Sheriff of St. Mary's and a justice of the county court. On August 19, 1668, he as Thomas Dent, Gent., of the Quorum, was appoinetd a Commissioner of the Peace. He represented his county at the General Assembly in 1669, 1674, 1675, and perhaps other years.

He felt keenly his duty as an able-bodied subject of His Lordship to protect the Province and his property, and became engaged in the early conflicts with the Indians. The Council on February 8, 1667, commissioned him and Robert Slye to "secure 28 barrels of corn and 4,000 weight of meat out of St. Marie's County", as subsistence for the colonial forces which were to embark upon an Indian campaign.[Archives, vol. 5, pp. 22, 23.]

The Council on September 6, 1676, entrusted Thomas Dent with a letter to Colonel John Washington and Isaac Allerton of Virginia, advising the Virginia Colony that Maryland would raise five troops of men with sufficient horses, arms, and ammunition to aid in an expedition against the Susquehanna Indians. He returned within a short time from his diplomatic mission to Virginia and in November 1676, he was appointed by the Council on the commission to equip and organize the militia of St. Mary's County in anticipation of the expedition.[Archives, vol. 15, pp. 49, 59.]

Thomas Dent died at his seat in St. Mary's County. His will, dated March 28, 1676, was admitted to probate on April 21, 1676, by William Hatton and William Harper. He named his wife Rebecca as executrix and devised her land at Port Tobacco Clifts in Charles County. William received "Westbury Manor" and a portion of the land on the Nanjemoy in Charles County. Thomas was devised the residue of the land at Nanjemoy, while Peter and George were willed equally "Gisborough" and "Brother's Joint Interest". Margaret received one acre of land in St. Mary's County.[Wills, Liber 5, folio 19.]

No mention was made of an unborn child in his will, however, sometime after his death his widow gave birth to a daughter who was given the name of Barbara.

Rebecca Dent, the widow and executrix, exhibited his will at the Prerogative Court on September 9, 1676, thereupon the Deputy Commissary ordered William Hatton and William Harper to appraise the estate in St. Mary's County, and Nicholas Proddy and John Ward to appraise the estate in Charles County. She also requested the commissary to take the oath of Captain Leonard Webber regarding the estate of Ditton. At the same court William Hatton stated that Thomas Dent was supposed to have sworn the appraisers of the estate of Richard Hatton but he died before the oaths were administered. The estate of Thomas Dent was appraised at 44,019 pounds of tobacco.

By May 21, 1677, the widow had married Colonel John Addison of Charles County, and as the "relict and executrix of Thomas Dent" who was the executor of Henry Hull, Gent., deceased, exhibited the inventory of the latter's estate. On October 19, 1677, she requested the commissary to allow her more time before filing an account upon her deceased husband's estate "time for her husband John Addison to return to the Province".

Sometime after 1694 Colonel John Addison returned to England and there he died presumably intestate, leaving a widow and son in America.

It is concluded that the marriage of the Widow Dent to the Bachelor Addison, then nearly fifty, alienated the Dent children, save Barbara, from their mother. It is known that John Addison profited materially by this marriage and obtained a great deal of the estate of Thomas Dent. Furthermore, Rebecca Dent-Addison mentioned none of her Dent children except Barbara in her will, and it is also noted that none of the Dent children ever referred to their half-brother Thomas Addison.

Rebecca Dent-Addison signed her will on November 4, 1724, the latter being probated in Prince Georges County on August 20, 1726. She bequeathed her son, Colonel Thomas Addison, L20, and her grandchildren Lucy, Baker, and Thomas, the children of her daughter Barbara, the wife of Thomas Brooke, each L200. In the event that they died then to her grandson Benjamin Brooke. She named her daughter Barbara, the executrix, and devised her the residue of the estate. The witnesses were Alexander Contee, John Howard, and Mary Delihunt. [Wills, Liber 19, folio 520.]

1. ↑ ^{1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12} Thomas Dent, Gent., in Newman, Harry Wright. Charles County gentry : a genealogical history of six emigrants, Thomas Dent, John Dent, Richard Edelen, John Hanson, George Newman, Humphrey Warren, all scions of armorial families of old England who settled in Charles County, Maryland, and their descendants showing migrations to the South and West. (Washington D.C.: The author, 1940)
   p 7-10.

   [text transcribed in body]

2.   .

   http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mysouthernfamily/myff/d0062/g0000039.html#I68111
   
   Hon. Thomas DENT Judge "the Immigrant"
   1630 - 22 Apr 1676
   ID Number: I68111
   TITLE: Hon.
   OCCUPATION: Sheriff and Judge
   RESIDENCE: St. Mary's Co. MD
   BIRTH: 1630, Guisborough, Yorkshire, England [S2586]
   DEATH: 22 Apr 1676, St. Marys Co. Maryland
   RESOURCES: See: [S1615] [S2586]
   Father: Peter DENT
   Mother: Margaret NICHOLSON
   
   Family 1 : Rebecca WILKINSON
   MARRIAGE: 1659, St. Mary's Co. Maryland
   +William DENT of Nanjemoy
   +Margaret DENT
   Peter DENT
   George DENT
   Barbara DENT
   Notes
   
   Register of Maryland's Heraldic Families Vol 1: The earliest trace of this family name found in history is in the County of Durham, England, from whence it seems to have spread over the
   adjacent county of Yorkshire, England, and gradually drifted southward to the counties of Lincoln, Leicester, and Gloucester, until it reached London.
   
   The Dents of early Maryland are from Yorkshire. The name is of Latin origin, two well know Consuls of Rome, Denta & Dentatus, having settled in North Britton, one as early as 285 B.C. In the West Riding of Yorkshire, there is still in existence the town of Dent. The coat-Armor of the Maryland Dents is, "Argent, on a bend sable, three losenges erminois".
   
   Prominent among the early settlers in Lord Baltimore's palatinate of Maryland was Col. Thomas Dent, gentleman, who emigrated from Yorkshire England, in 1650, in company with his father-in-law, the Reverend William Wilkinson, who was the first Episcopal minister in the colonies. Col. Thomas Dent was one of the first justices of the County courts of St. Mary's County in 1659, and was high sheriff in 1654. By his will, probated April 21, 1676, he left the manor of Westbury to his eldest son William; to his sons Peter and George the "Gisborough" grant which was named after his birthplace in Yorkshire, Gisborough on the River Tees. This land grant he received with others from the Lord Proprietor. His manor of Westbury was situated in the part of the original St. Mary's settlement in the heart of Charles County near the famous old town of Port Tobacco.
   
   A few years after Thomas Dent came out, he sent for his brother, John Dent, who also received large grants of land. The Manor of Westbury was acquired by him under the will of the Rev. William Wilkinson, his father-in-law. About October 8, 1662, Mr. Dent and William Hatton, his brother-in-law, acquired by purchase a 900-acre tract on the north side of the Potomac River and the west side of Nanjemoy Creek, in Charles Co. Subsequently, by conveyance from Mr. Hatton, Mr. Dent became the sole owner of the entire property which was called "Guyther", but since variously spelled, the name of its first patentee. This land has proven an invaluable aid in connecting the later branches of the family with their common ancestor. The appraisement of Judge Dent's estate, May 19, 1676, attests that he maintained a plantation on the Nanjemoy land that he had there, indentured or redemptioner servants, slaves, crops, horses, cattle and hogs. At a later period, Col. William Dent, at his death probably the most outstanding personage in Maryland (oldest son of Judge Thomas Dent) lived on this plantation.
   
   Based upon his transportation rights, a tract of 236 acres as patented to the two brothers-in-law, between whom there seemed to exist a bond of affection and intimacy and which probably led them to name their new acquisition, "The Brother's Joint Interest." Eventually Gisborough and the last mentioned tract passed into the possession of the Addisons. For many years a part of Gisborough, which can be plainly seen from the southern end of Potomac Park, was a popular excursion resort for Washingtonians and visitors to the Federal Capital, although its more recent use, the manufacture of munitions for the World War and its present use as a "flying field", are probably more in keeping with the spirit and habits of its adventurous first owner.
   The ownership by Judge Dent of a 200-acre plantation called Wattfiels, which he purchased from the heirs of Richard Watson, who was also from Yorkshire, supplies another valuable link in the family chain, because it is through conveyances of this land that Barbara Dent, unnamed in his will and born after his death, is identified as his daughter and as the last wife of the Hon. Thomas Brooke.
   Will Abstract: Thomas Dent -1676-St. Mary's Co., MD:28 Mch., 1676
   
   CHARLES COUNTY GENTRY By Harry Wright Newman
   Book. (1940). 2002, 5
   
   Noted Maryland genealogist Harry Wright Newman here presents the family histories of six Charles County, Maryland pioneers: Thomas Dent, John Dent, Richard Edelen, John Hanson, George Newman, and Humphrey Warren. All were from distinguished armorial families in England prior to settling in Charles County in the 17th century. Newman traces each family as far as possible, in some cases into the 20th century and indicates if and when the family left the area. Well documented, with an index to 2,000 persons.
   
   "Fresh from the Inns of London where he read Law, Thomas Dent upon his arrival soon established himself as a lawyer and sought quarters on Barristers' Row in the then flourishing village of St. Mary's.Cecilius, Lord Baltimore, granted him 50 acres of land with the town's limits on Aldermansbury Street which he called 'The Lawyer's Lodging.'His mariage to the young daughter of the Anglican clergyman soon occurred..."
   
   He was quite active politically, being Magistrate of the County Court in 1661, then Justice of the Quorum, Shrievalty of the County in 1664, High sheriff in 1667, elected to Lower House of the Assembly in1669, 1674 and later years. He also acquired large tracts of land by purchase, inheritance, and by transporting people, including"Gisborough" (850 acres in present Washington, D.C.), Guyther (900acres on Nanjemoy Creek of the Potomac), Wattfield (200 acres near Portobacco Clifts), part of Westbury Manor (1250 acres). He died at age 42 leaving a pregnant wife and 5 children, the eldest about 16 years old. The widow soon married Capt (later Colonel) John Addison."