The earliest family ancestor to arrive in America was a Doughty, believed to be from London, aboard the Mayflower, although he spelled his name "Doty," Edward Doty, to be exact. He was a "Stranger", not a Pilgrim, meaning he was one of a group of adventurers who were added because the Pilgrims lacked sufficient funds. .
HISTORY
Edward Doty lived out his life in Plymouth in what was to become Massachusetts. Arriving as an indentured servant to Stephen Hopkins, he was evidently a bit of a trouble-maker in his younger years, but eventually settled down and married, producing offspring that over the generations migrated down the east coast, arriving in South Carolina (4 generations later) just in time for the American Revolution. [Edward Doty -> Samuel Doty ->Benjamin Doty -> Levi Doughty]
Levi Doughty (who was the first to spell it "Doughty",) was born in Chatham County, in what would become North Carolina. He was the fifth-generation descendant who managed at the age of 16 to ride in a horse company under a Captain Brockaway in the American Revolution. At one point he was captured by the notorious Col David Fanning (a colonel of the Loyal Militia of Chatham,) but managed to escape and survive the war.
The most significant thing about Levi Doughty, at least to his descendants, is the fact that after the war, he saw fit to pack up his belongings, pile them on a flatboat, and with his family in tow, began a perilous journey down the French Broad, the Tennessee, up the Ohio, and then down the Mississippi rivers to Natchez. From there he and his family walked into Spanish Territory in what later became the Republic of West Florida, to take possession of a land grant from the Spanish Governor in 1806. That land lay in beautiful country near a small stream called the Amite. The farm is near Darlington, Louisiana, northwest of Greensburg, Louisiana, and northeast of Baton Rouge. His grave may be found in the woods near where the homestead was located. [gravesite: N3057.079 W09053.378]
These people were pioneers, settlers, in the true sense of the word. Everything they had initially they either made themselves or brought it with them from South Carolina. Eventually they would begin to trade with boats from New Orleans, meeting them at a settlement near the mouth of the Amite River, on the northwest corner of Lake Ponchartrain.
Levi's descendants of interest to us are, his son, Benajah Doughty -> Alexander Sydney -> George Burton Doughty -> Lou Eva Doughty (Frey)
These descendents all lived in the vicinity of Greensburg, Benajah in Hepzebah, just west of Greensburg, with his wife Panthea Miranda Rogers, and did his son, Alexander Sydney, who moved to Tangipahoa, Louisiana for training at Camp Moore during the Civil War, where George Burton was born. George's mother was Nancy Carter, daughter of Burrell Carter, and granddaughter of an old Revolutionary soldier, Issac Carter. Nancy Carter died during the civil war, and Alexander Sydney left the state after the war. George Burton Doughty married Josephine Lee, and lived just east of Greensburg at a place his daughter, Lou Eva Doughty (Frey) called Happy Hollow.
As noted above, there are several Revolutionary Soldiers in the Doughty-Frey family tree, but there are also some Tories from South Carolina who were NOT in favor of American Independence.
These may be found in the ancestors of Mary Josephine Lee, and can be read about in "The Doughtys of Happy Hollow" by Gerald Carley, available as a Print-on-demand book at Lulu.com
George Burton and Mary Josephine Doughty had nine children beginning in 1885: Molly, Cassie, Ruby, Alex, Eva, Henry, Agnes, Berwick, and Flavius Edgar (called "Bill" for somewhat obvious reasons). It was Eva (Lou Eva Doughty) who married Sam Frey, and thus began the Frey branch of this part of the family tree. Sam was the son of Jake Frey and brother of Fred C. Frey. His father, Henry Jacob Frey, a Confederate veteran from Prussia, near Stuttgart, emigrated just before the civil war.
Information about Sam's brother, former Dean of men at LSU, Fred Charles Frey, may be found at blurb.com: Reminiscences of Fred C. Frey. ( In addition, he may be found on Wikipedia: Fred C Frey)
Eva and Sam lived at 301 East Magnolia in Amite, Louisiana. They had four children, Robert, Ruby, Sam, and Eva Mae. Ruby married Joseph Gaines Carley, Jr, of Mobile, Alabama, and thus provided the last connection from the Dotys (Doughtys) to the Carley Family.