An American Family History

Captain Benjamin Douglas and Elizabeth Land married about 1707. They lived in Charles County, Maryland where they owned Blythswood Manor.

Benjamin Douglas was born about 1707.

John Douglas was born about 1709.

Charles Douglas was born in 1714.

In 1714 Benjamin sold his share in Cold Spring Manor to Francis Collier.

A letter dated March 24, 1717/18 from Thomas Pallin to Walter Story mentioned that Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Douglas were bound for Jamaica, then Liverpool, and then Virginia.

Mary Douglas Wilson was born about 1718.

Joseph Douglas was born about 1721.

Penelope Douglas was born about 1724.

Sarah Douglas Stone was born in 1727.

Thomas Douglas

Jesse Douglas was born in 1733.

John Douglas married in 1734 in Charles County. Mary Douglas married in 1740 in Charles County.

In 1738 George Thomas made him the guardian of his son, Benjamin.

Benjamin and Elizabeth both died about 1749.

He died before February 13, 1749/50 at Causine's Manor [also known as Causin's Manor or Mount Air], Charles County, Maryland. Causine's Manor was originally 1,000 acres granted to Nicholas Causine It was in Port Tobacco Lower Hundred, five miles from the town of Portobacco.

Benjamin's estate was probated on October 13, 1749. His wife, Elizabeth. was the executrix. She received her dower right of one third the estate. He left his son, John, Blythswood and he left his son, Benjamin, part of Causine's Manor with the stipulation that his wife, Elizabeth, could use the land while she remained a widow. He passed on to his daughter, Penelope, an enslaved woman named, Jane. The remainder of the estate went to his children.

The tax list of 1783 shows that Richard Land Douglas was taxed for 157 acres of Causine's Manor.

Prince George's Land Records 1739-1743 - Liber Y - Page 282.
May 11, 1741 from Francis Collier of Prince George, planter, son and heir of Charles Collier of Prince George, decd, which s^d Charles Collier was heir at law to Francis Collier of Prince George, Gent., his uncle, decd, to James Edmonston of Prince George, Gent.

Whereas by deed dated Mar 27, 1714 between Benjamin Dowglass of Charles County, planter, grandson & heir at law of John Dowglass, late of the same county, Gent., of the one part,

and the s^d Francis Collier (the uncle of the s^d Charles Collier, which s^d Charles Collier was father to the now Francis Collier, party to these presents),

by which deed it was recited that whereas the s^d John Dowglass, in his lifetime, was seized of a parcel of land lying in the Freshes of Patuxent River in Prince George called Cold Spring Manor, containing 1050 acres

& by his will dated Dec 14, 1678, devised to his son, John Dowglass, father to the s^d Benjamin, 550 acres of land, being part of Cold Spring Manor, when he arrived at age 21, with all the privileges belonging to the Lord of a Manor and to his heirs,

which parcel of 550 acres the s^d John Dowglass, father of the s^d Benjamin Dowglass, by his Prince George deed, sold to s^d Francis Collier,

and whereas likewise, by Prince George deed dated May 27, 1701 between Joseph Dowglass of Charles County, Gent., of the one part, and the afd Francis Collier dec^d of the other part, s^d Joseph Dowglass sold to s^d Francis Collier, part of a tract of land containing 1050 acres of land called Cold Spring Manor,

formerly granted to Capt Josias Fendall, bounded by a parcel of land that John Dowglass sold to s^d Collier standing on the brow of a hill between the two branches of Fendalls Fresh, containing 100 acres.

Now this deed witnesses that the s^d Francis Collier, party to these presents, for 30 £, sells to s^d James Edmonston, all the s^d tract of land containing 550 acres, and all that other tract of land containing 100 acres.

Signed - Francis Collier.
Wit - Thos Dawson, James Kendall, Thos Owen, Jno Hawkins Jr.
Received of Mr. James Edmonston (by the hands of Mr. John Hawkins Jr), the alienation fine.
Recorded May 20, 1741.

A gentleman had no title, but descended from an aristocratic family, was of the landed gentry, and had a coat of arms.

The Patuxent River in Maryland drains into the Chesapeake Bay. It marks the boundary between Montgomery, Prince George's, Charles and St. Mary's counties on the west and Howard, Anne Arundel, and Calvert counties on the east.