Daniel Dulany the Elder

Maryland Historical Society

During his long career, Daniel Dulany the Elder was one of colonial Maryland's most able lawyers and powerful government officials. His accomplishments also included a major role in promoting settlement in Maryland's piedmont region.

Dulany was born in Queen's County, Ireland, one of three sons of Thomas Dulany. He attended the University of Dublin before emigrating to Maryland with his brothers in 1703. Colonel George Plater, a wealthy planter, purchased Dulany's indentureand the young immigrant then went to work as a clerk in his law office. After completing a legal apprenticeship with Plater, Dulany was admitted to the Charles County bar in 1709. In 1710, Dulany married Charity (ca.1692-1711), daughter of Colonel John Courts (1656-1702) and widow of Bayne Smallwood (?-1709).

About 1713, Dulany moved his law practice to Prince George's County, where he began to buy land. In 1716 he spent a brief period in England where he studied law at Gray's Inn, one of the Inns of Court. After his return to Maryland in 1717, Dulany married Rebecca (ca.1695-1737), daughter of Colonel Walter Smith (?-1711) of Calvert County.

In 1720, Dulany moved to Annapolis, a more suitable arena for his talents and ambition. Annapolis voters chose Dulany as a councilman in 1721 and the next year sent him to the lower house of the Maryland General Assembly. Dulany also held the posts of attorney general (1721-25) and commissary general (1721-24, 1734-53). Despite holding these offices, Dulany, during the early years of his political career, led efforts to restrict the Lord Baltimore's powers. Baltimore believed the proprietor held the right to determine which English statutes and common laws applied to Maryland-Dulany, with members of the lower house, claimed that all applied. He articulated his position in The Right of the Inhabitants of Maryland, to the Benefit of the English Laws, an early appeal for the "natural rights" of Englishmen.

Charles Calvert, fifth Lord Baltimore, never responded directly to Dulany's arguments. But when Calvert visited Maryland in the winter of 1732-1733, he offered Dulany three of the most lucrative positions at his disposal-Agent and Receiver-general; Attorney-general; and Judge of the Court of Vice-Admiralty-all of which Dulany accepted. The services of the ablest lawyer in the province were now employed on behalf of the proprietor.

Already one of the province's largest landowners, in the 1720s Dulany began to patent extensive holdings in the piedmont backcountry. He promoted settlement through the sale of small tracts at modest prices. In 1745, to serve the needs of the region's farmers, Dulany laid out a market town, named Frederick after the fifth Lord Baltimore's eldest son. By 1750 it had become the colony's largest town. In 1731, Dulany and four other investors founded the Baltimore Ironworks Company, which became the most profitable of the Maryland ironworks. Dulany also engaged in money lending on a large scale and invested in the slave trade.

Daniel and Rebecca Dulany had three sons and four daughters before Rebecca's death in March 1737. In September 1738, Dulany married Henrietta Maria (?-1766), daughter of Philemon Lloyd (ca.1674-1733) and widow of Samuel Chew (ca.1704-1737). Dulany added six stepchildren (three boys and three girls) to his family by this marriage, and had two more sons with Henrietta Maria.

Dulany's most notable service in his last decade of life occurred when his letters to Lord Baltimore finally convinced the proprietor to allow passage in 1747 of a tobacco inspection act. By improving the quality of exported tobacco, Maryland planters earned higher prices for the crop.

Daniel Dulany died at his home in Annapolis on December 5, 1753, after a long illness and was buried in the family vault in St. Anne's churchyard. He left a substantial estate that included personal property worth £10,921.9.8 current money (including 187 slaves and 2,594 ounces of silver), substantial loans, and about ten thousand acres of land in five counties.

Papenfuse, Edward C. et al., eds. A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature, 1635-1789. Vol. 1. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1979.

Land, Aubrey C. The Dulanys of Maryland: a Biographical Study of Daniel Dulany, the Elder (1685-1753), and Daniel Dulany, the Younger (1722-1797). Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1968.