Dorcas Lincoln was born on March 15, 1764, in Rockingham County to David and Dorcas Robinson. She married Captain Jacob Lincoln at the age of 17 on August 29, 1780. Together they had eleven children from 1781-1803. Dorcas would have been heavily involved in the running of her household, which in turn would have influenced how the family farm functioned. While women in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were relegated to controlling the domestic sphere, as their husbands participated in business and public activities, they played a key role that “enhanced the prosperity and comfort” of the household. Women grew vegetable gardens, tended to poultry, and made cloth in addition to their housekeeping, child rearing, sewing, and embroidery. Virginian women helped produce goods such as different types of cloth, vegetables, eggs, and cheese that would have otherwise needed to be purchased; women’s domestic efforts “diminished their family’s expenditures…and thereby benefitted the family economy.” Women who owned enslaved people, however, benefited greatly from the aid of forced labor. Dorcas Lincoln was one of these women and she benefited from enslaved labor for the majority of her life. [1]
Following her husband’s death in February 1822, Dorcas lived for eighteen years as a widow and head of the Homestead. Jacob willed her the land “on which [they lived] with all the Appurtenances thereunto belonging Together with all the Household and Kitchen furniture.” Furthermore, he wished her to have “one Mare call’d the Dice mare and three cows of her choice,” as well as “[his] Yellow girl Jane & her two children…. [and] Allso one Negroe Man Named Jerry, son of Kate.” This meant that Dorcas managed the household, the livestock, the farm, and the enslaved people for eighteen years as the sole mistress of the Homestead. Since Dorcas was 58 when Jacob passed away, it is highly likely that her enslaved people helped support her until her death at the age of 86. Colonel Abraham, her son, could also have aided her since he was living on the adjoining property. [2]
Dorcas’ will was written on February 22, 1837, about three years before her death. She made several disbursements of property and money to her children and grandchildren. The will shows that Dorcas had amassed a good amount of wealth – in land, belongings, and enslaved people – during her life. In particular, Dorcas made sure to provide for her grandchildren whose parents had passed away; John Chrisman, the son of her daughter Elizabeth, received $50 while Caroline and Josephine Evans, daughters of Hannah Lincoln Evans, each received $100, a cow, and “one good bed.” Dorcas also requested that Colonel Abraham, her son, take $100 out of her estate to pay for a gravestone for her son John who had passed away in 1815 and for “keeping up the enclosure around the grave yard on his land.” Included in the property to be sold was her enslaved property, with the exception of “one old Negro Woman named Kate,” who was to be given to her daughter, Dorcas Strayer. It is possible that this is the same Kate who was gifted to Dorcas by her father. [3]
Little over a month before her death, Dorcas made an alteration to her will; she changed her mind about how she wanted her enslaved people to be divided up. While Kate was still going to Dorcas Strayer, she expressed that “On mature reflection” the rest of her enslaved people should go to her family members, rather than be sold at auction. Her granddaughter Caroline Evans Hammon was to receive a nine-year-old girl named Mary on the condition that “[Caroline’s] husband pay a debt [Dorcas owed to] Adam Allen for leather.” Dorcas gave Josephine Evans “one Negroe Girl named Margaret” and allowed Colonel Abraham to have his choice of two enslaved people from those who were left. Dorcas wished for the rest of her enslaved people to go to three of her children: David, Jacob Jr., and Rebekah Dyer. While it is impossible to know what exactly made Dorcas change her mind, it seems likely that she decided that it would be more beneficial for her family members to inherit her enslaved property and the continued economic benefits that would come from their forced labor. [4]
[1] Waldo Lincoln, History of the Lincoln Family: An Account of the Descendants of Samuel Lincoln of Hingham, Massachusetts, 1637 – 1920 (Worcester, Massachusetts: Commonwealth Press, 1923), 205, https://archive.org/details/historyoflincoln 00illinc/page/205/mode/1up; Cynthia A. Kierner, “‘Skillfull in Anie Country Worke’: Red, White, and Black in Colonial Virginia,” in Changing History: Virginia Women Through Four Centuries (Richmond: The Library of Virginia, 2013), 30-32. The first record of the Lincolns owning enslaved people is in 1785 from David Robinson’s will. However, Dorcas’ parents were both slaveowners, so it seems likely that she grew up around enslaved people as well. Nevertheless, as a Lincoln, Dorcas owned enslaved people for 55 years.
[2] Jacob Lincoln, “Copy of Last Will of Jacob Lincoln,” February 7, 1822, Lincoln Family Papers 1746 – 1939, Library of Congress Manuscript Division, MMC-0975, Accession no. 6065A. Colonel Abraham inherited the land which originally belonged to Virginia John, his grandfather, in his father’s will. Abraham and his family lived on the property until Dorcas passed away, when they moved into the Lincoln Homestead.
[3] Dorcas Lincoln, “Copy of Last Will of Dorcas Lincoln,” February 22, 1837, Lincoln Family Papers 1746 – 1939, Library of Congress Manuscript Division, MMC-0975, Accession no. 6065A. There are numerous mentions of the name Kate throughout Lincoln Family records. There are also different spellings, including Caty, Cate, and Kate. It is hard to know if these records are referring to the same women or more than one woman. It seems likely that the family owned more than one woman or girl with the name Kate. Dorcas Lincoln willed the “old..Woman named Kate” to Dorcas Strayer, but her son Abraham later willed another woman named Kate to his widow Mary Lincoln.
[4] Dorcas Lincoln, “Copy of Declaration Made Before Sam Coffman and Jacob Moyers,” December 21, 1839, Lincoln Family Papers 1746 – 1939, Library of Congress Manuscript Division, MMC-0975, Accession no. 6065A.