Mrs. Charlotte (Walker) Toop is buried in Western Chapel Cemetery in Carroll County, Maryland.
She was born about 1785 in Maryland. She was likely enslaved, as were 95% of the African Americans in Maryland at the time. By 1830, Mrs. Toop was enumerated as free in the Census, with two young children under 10 years old. Her husband, Mr. Henry Toop, was not listed in the Census with the family because he was enslaved by Mr. David Shriver.
In 1840, Mr. Henry Toop is listed as the head of the household, having been manumitted in 1833. The family has four girls under 10 and one boy under ten. The two older children, who by 1840 would be in their teens, were likely working out, apprenticed to local farming families as servants. No schools existed for African Americans at that time, and — while free-born — their options were limited. Interestingly, another Toop family, headed by Ms. Eliza Toop is living nearby (enumerated on the next line).
Mrs. Toop received a pension in 1886 of over $2000 as a result of a son’s death. A search of Civil War records show four Toop brothers from Carroll County. Allen, Dennis, Norris and Singleton Toop all died during the war, Private Allen Toop died from wounds received during the Battle of New Market Heights. Until we review the pension records for these four soldiers, we cannot confirm that these were her sons. They were certainly close relations of hers and if not sons, they would have been nephews.
We haven’t found Mrs. Toop in the census for 1850 or 1860. By 1870, Mrs. Toop is living with her daughter and son-in-law. In 1880, she is enumerated as being 86 years old, which would place her birth year as 1794.
Mrs. Toop died in May of 1891.
Her obituary in the Democratic Advocate lists her age as 105 years old. Additionally, her memorial lists her birth date as Nov 15, 1808 and her age as 83 years old. Therefore, she may have been born as early as 1785 or as late as 1808. In 1830, at the age of 22, it’s not unreasonable to think that she had two young children. If she had been born in 1785, her younger children (enumerated in the 1850 census), would have been born after she was 55 years old. Given the ages of her children, her birth year is most likely closer to 1808 (the marker date) than 1785 (her obituary date). Counties in Maryland did not routinely issue death certificates until 1897, so we have no hope of learning more through that type of official record.
