1788: Enslaved People Brought to Kentucky from Maryland

January 31, 2022

I recently saw a deed that may be of interest to researchers of the Hobbs family or African American families who were in Nelson County, Kentucky.

This day Came Joseph Hobbs before me &
made oath that several Negroes he Brought to this Coun[-]
ty from the State of Maryland was not to make Sale of to
evade the Laws nor they was Imported from Affrica nor the
West Indies since the year 1776. Given under my hand
this 25^th day of Nov^r 1788.
Charles Polke¹

Nelson County, Kentucky, Deeds, 2:142-3, 25 November 1788, Joseph Hobbs; digital images, Family Search (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSKX-S3C4-Z : viewed 17 December 2021).

About Author

Vanessa Wood is a genealogical researcher and writer specializing in American family history, with particular depth in Southern states, California, and families with roots in the United Kingdom. She is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG) and the National Genealogical Society (NGS), and holds a Certificate in Genealogical Research from Boston University. She is a First Prize winner of the 2026 Montana Family History Writing Contest and has 25+ published articles in journals including the National Genealogical Society Quarterly. Vanessa is the author of Pryor Wives: Stories of Family, Fortune, and Fiasco (2023), Board in Venice (2025), and The Kinship Papers, Vol. 1. Her books are available on Amazon.com. She can be contacted via email.