Leonard d’Auge/Dozier and the importance of consulting primary sources and not accepting undocumented information.

It is important to check sources and to use primary sources whenever possible. The Internet has made finding and using primary sources much easier, but it has also allowed the proliferation of mis-information, often copies from books and other sources which are only partially documented or not documented. The following items about Leonard d’Auge/Dozier are offered to correct information about him from primary source documents in the files of the Huguenot Society of South Carolina and recent research in the Proprietary records of Carolina.

Leonard d’Auge/Dozier was in Westmoreland County VA by 1673.  According to land records (Thank you, Susan Bates and Mrs. Gay, for telling me to follow the land.), on 20 Aug 1673 Leonard Dozier bought 300 acres from Morgan Jones. Dozier received a bond dated 24 Sept 1673 from Morgan Jones of Copely Parish, Westmoreland County for 8000 pounds of tobacco.[1] This places Leonard Dozier in Virginia by 1673.

Leonard Dozier did not go first to Charleston, SC. Charles Towne in Carolina was settled by the English in 1670. The passenger list from one of the three original ships does not include the surname d’Auge, nor has it been found in any of the early records of the colony.[2]

No references to a marriage in Charles Towne c. 1696 between Mary Bonney and Jacques/James Dozier, son of the ancestor, were found in the published records of Carolina prior to 1700.[3]

Leonard Dozier was naturalized 28 Jan 1684. The naturalization papers for him were “Given under my hand and the seal of the Colony this 28th day of Jan., 1683/4.” by Nicholas Spencer. The first line of the document refers to an “Assembly made at James City the eighth day of June … 1680” which gave the authority to grant naturalization to those who were qualified. The document was admitted to record 23 Jan 1734 and recorded 3 Feb 1734.[4]

Please help us update and correct information by consulting primary sources whenever possible.

[1] Westmoreland County, VA, Deeds and Patents, p. 162A-163 – this is from an abstract, not the original. HSSC Member File #1256 (McKinney, MV 1976).

[2] Baldwin, AL – First Settlers; Bates and Leland – Database of Colonial Settlers in Carolina. The identity of “Capt. Robert Auger, Cmdr. of the sloop Endeavour of VA” is not known. Moore, Secretary of the Province 49.

[3] Published abstracts of marriages, deeds, wills and other documents in Proprietary South Carolina from 16700 to 1721 were consulted. No documentation was found for this marriage or for the name Bonney in the Proprietary records of Carolina.

[4] Evidently, people have taken the date of the authorization for naturalization in Virginia (1680) as the date of his naturalization, but the document makes it clear that Dozier was naturalized 28 Jan 1684. Westmoreland County, VA Records, page 147 in HSSC Member File #1256 (McKinney, MV 1976).