Maltby Goldsmith, Freeman - MALT1

Maltby Goldsmith, Freeman - MALT1

African descent

Jackie Dinan

Enslaved

Male

Southold

Daniel Goldsmith (grandson and probably heir of Zaccheus Goldsmith).

Southold Town Records Volume 3: 89-90 (manumission).
The marriage of "Melbe & Darkis," recorded on March 15, 1807 in Salmon Records: 113.

Long Island Traveler, April 24, 1879, page 3 (death).

Excerpt from "Dorcas" by Reverend Epher Whitaker, published in the Christian At Work, March 6, 1879 (See Whitaker Collection, Southold Free Library, Ref#2008.0011.0007).

Will of Zaccheus Goldsmith (Liber A:372, dated 3 Oct 1794; he died 15 Jan 1795/Salmon Records:64).

Southold

August 15, 1776 (oral tradition). This coincides with a calculated birth year of 1776, based on his reported age (62 years) at the time of his death. A later birth year, 1777, calculated by his reported age (36 years) at the time his manumission certificate was recorded is probably less accurate.

March 13, 1807 (oral tradition). March 15, 1807 (probable marriage recorded in Salmon Records: 113).

March 30, 1838

March 31, 1807 (manumission certificate approved by the Court of General Session upon an appeal presented by Daniel Goldsmith because the Southold Town Overseers of the Poor refused to approve his manumission. No reason for their refusal was provided). April 29, 1813 (manumission certificate confirmed by Suffolk Court of Common Pleas and recorded by town clerk).

Maltby was the third child of Kedar (#1639) and his first wife, Chloe (#377). Reverend Epher Whitaker claimed that as a boy, Maltby “had become the property of” Zaccheus Goldsmith, who subsequently “generously emancipated his servant” in 1801 at age 25. Another source gives the year of Maltby’s emancipation as 1813, at age 36.

In the 1810 and 1820 Federal censuses, Maltby was enumerated as Maltby Goldsmith. (His descendants adopted the surname Freeman, however.) In 1830, a Maltby Edwards was enumerated as the head of household of six free people of color in Southold: 1 male 36-54, 1 female 55-99, 2 males 10-23, 2 females 10-23. These "ticks" correspond with family members ages, although there is no other instance of Maltby using the surname, Edwards.

He married Dorcas (#1642), a daughter of Jedediah Benjamin on March 13, 1807 (oral tradition reported by Epher Whitaker). They had four children: Maria (#1653), Jasper (#1655), Prudence (#1654), and Phillip (#1656).

Maltby was a successful farmer who registered his livestock's ear-mark with the town in 1818. His son, Jasper, took over the family farm.

[NOTE: A search for Maltby's will was conducted at the Surrogate Courthouse in Riverhead (June 24, 2021); no entry was found in the index under the surnames Albertson, Goldsmith, or Freeman.]