Dorothy McLeod

Dorothy McLeod (c.1758-????) had six children with Joseph Besly in Hanover, Jamaica, 1785-1796 (the pair were likely unmarried). The children were John and Joseph (both baptised 1 Aug 1785), Henry Thomas (baptised 13 Dec 1789), George and Mary (both baptised 8 March 1793) and Robert (baptised 1 May 1796). It appears that Joseph Besly was a white man who arrived in Jamaica in 1774, aged 23. He died in Hanover and was buried 31 May 1810.

Dorothy McLeod registered four enslaved people in Hanover in each of the years 1817, 1820 and 1823. Collectively she and her adult children registered 29 enslaved in 1817, a significant number in urban Lucea. Dorothy McLeod was recorded as "Mulatto," aged 65, living in Lucea, Hanover in 1823. No record of Dorothy McLeod has been identified after this and the 1823 Slave Register.

Joseph Besly (bapt. Hanover 01/08/1787), the son of Dorothy McLeod and Joseph Besly (Sr.), registered one enslaved person in Hanover in 1817. In 1823 he was recorded as living in Lucea, aged 41, "Quadroon," with his mother, brother George, and four nephews/nieces. No record after this of him has been found.

Henry Besly (bapt. Hanover 13/12/1789), also the son of Dorothy McLeod and Joseph Besly (Sr.), registered 6, 6, 6, 13 and 11 enslaved people in Hanover in successive registrations between 1817 and 1829. In 1823 he was recorded as living in living in Lucea, age 35, "Quadroon", probably with Ann Allen (age 35, "Quadroon"), Ann McCallum (age 13, "Quadroon"), and five Besly children (all "Quadroons").

We are grateful to David Barker for his assistance in compiling this entry.

Jamaica, Select Births and Baptisms, 1752-1920; US and Canada, Passenger and Immigration List Index, 1500s-1900s; Caribbean, Select Deaths and Burials, 1790-1906; Slave Registers, Hanover, 1817-1823; Jamaica, Hanover, Census 1823, 2.