Dorchester, Ishmael and Peggy

Ishmael and Peggy Dorchester

Sullivan, NH

On November 2, 1783, Ishmael Dorchester of Lancaster, MA, married Peggy Rogers in Sterling, MA.  According to the Lancaster, MA, marriage record, the couple was married during the haying season.  Both husband and wife were listed as free persons of color in the marriage record. 

Five months later a daughter, Seraphena, was born to the family in Sterling, MA, on March 8, 1784. Six more children followed during the Dorchester’s time in Massachusetts during the 1780s and 1790s.  Children included Elothena/Allethina in February 1785, Fanny in July 1786, Rhoda in September 1788, Arethusa in April 1792, David in November 1797, and Maria in November 1799.  

Census records for the years 1790 and 1800 document the Dorchester family’s presence in Sterling, MA. Ishmael Dorchester was listed as a male head of household in the racial category of “all other free persons.”  All other household members were also listed as free people of color; this most likely included wife Peggy, the children and perhaps one additional person. 

According to Lancaster, MA, historian and Black history researcher Joy F. Peach (2016), Ishmael Dorchester ran up debt while the family was in Sterling.  This may have caused the Dorchesters to move out of Massachusetts and into southwest New Hampshire.  Daughter Serophena is documented as having paid her father’s debts, saving the family from ruin.

By the 1810s, the family had moved to Sullivan, NH, residing at the "Dunn Place.”  The Sullivan town history contains excerpts about the family’s presence in the community. 

The Dorchester family didn’t stay long in New Hampshire.  Death records verify their move back to Sterling, MA.  On April 9, 1816, Ishmael’s mother Peggy Dorchester died of dropsy, reportedly at the age of 107.  On June 24, 1822, Ishmael’s wife Peggy died after falling down a flight of stairs in their home.  And on June 25, 1828, Ishmael Dorchester died in Sterling. 

~Written by Keene State College student, Amanda Rotigliano, and Historical Society of Cheshire County Director of Education Jennifer Carroll, 2024.

GENEALOGICAL SUMMARY

ISHMAEL DORCHESTER (d.1828) married PEGGY ROGERS (d.1822) in Sterling, MA, in November 1783. They had: Seraphena (1784-1857), Elothina/Allethine (1785), Fanny (1786-1811), Rhoda (1788), Arethusa (1792), David (1797), Maris/Maria (b.1799).  Ishmael died in Sterling, MA, in 1828; his wife Peggy (Rogers) Dorchester died in Sterling, MA, in 1826.

SOURCE MATERIALS

Massachusetts Town Vital Records, Births, Sterling- 1784, 1785, 1786, 1788, 1792, 1799- Ancestry.com

Massachusetts Town Vital Records, Deaths, Grafton- 1857- Ancestry.com

Massachusetts Town Vital Records, Deaths, Sterling- 1816, 1822, 1828- Ancestry.com

Massachusetts Town Vital Records, Deaths, Boylston- 1803- Ancestry.com

Massachusetts Town Vital Records, Deaths, Boston- 1811- Ancestry.com

Massachusetts Town Vital Records, Marriages, Sterling and Lancaster- 1783- Ancestry.com

New Hampshire Vital Records, Deaths, Sullivan- 1810- Ancestry.com

New Hampshire Vital Records, Marriages, Sullivan- 1805, 1808- Ancestry.com

Nugent, Karen. “Black History of Lancaster Told.” Telegram & Gazette, Feb. 7, 2006.

Seward, Josiah Lafayette. A History of the town of Sullivan, New Hampshire, 1777-1917 (1921), pages 940-941.

U.S. Federal Census, 1790, 1810, 1820- Ancestry.com