# Benjamin Tasker Sr. > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Benjamin_Tasker_Sr. > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Benjamin_Tasker_Sr..md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Tasker_Sr. > Source revision: 1345254879 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|American politician (c1690–1768)}} {{Infobox Governor | name = Benjamin Tasker Sr. | image = | caption = | order = 10th [Governor of Restored Proprietary Government](/source/List_of_colonial_governors_of_Maryland) | office = | term_start = 1752 | term_end = 1753 | predecessor = [Samuel Ogle](/source/Samuel_Ogle) | successor = [Horatio Sharpe](/source/Horatio_Sharpe) | birth_date = {{circa|{{birth year|1690}}}} | birth_place = [Calvert County](/source/Calvert_County%2C_Maryland), [Maryland](/source/Maryland), U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1768|6|19|1690||}} | death_place = [Annapolis, Maryland](/source/Annapolis%2C_Maryland), U.S. | resting_place = [St. Anne's Churchyard](/source/St._Anne's_Church_(Annapolis%2C_Maryland)) | party = | spouse = {{marriage|Ann Bladen|1711}} | children = 10 | profession = {{hlist|politician|colonial governor}} }} '''Benjamin Tasker Sr.''' ({{circa|1690}} – June 19, 1768) was the 21st [Proprietary Governor](/source/Proprietary_Governor) of [Maryland](/source/Province_of_Maryland) from 1752 to 1753.{{cite book |last=Richardson |first=Hester Dorsey |title=Side-lights on Maryland History: With Sketches of Early Maryland Families |publisher=Williams and Wilkins Company |year=1903 |location=Baltimore, Maryland |pages=[https://archive.org/details/sidelightsonmar01richgoog/page/n51 17]–18 |url=https://archive.org/details/sidelightsonmar01richgoog |isbn=0-8063-0296-8 }} He also occupied a number of other significant colonial offices, including, on various occasions, being elected [Lord Mayor of Annapolis](/source/Mayor_of_Annapolis). ==Career== Benjamin Tasker was born around 1690 in [Calvert County, Maryland](/source/Calvert_County%2C_Maryland), to Rebecca Isaacs (née Brooke) and Thomas Tasker.{{Cite web |url=https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/001200/001227/html/1227bio.html |title=Benjamin Tasker (ca. 1690-1768) |website=Maryland State Archives |access-date=2021-09-20}} Tasker became a naval officer at [Annapolis, Maryland](/source/Annapolis%2C_Maryland), in 1719 and served until 1742. He also served in the municipal and provincial government as: member and president of the [Governor's Council](/source/Governor's_Council), 1722–1768; member of the [Lower House](/source/Lower_House) of the [Maryland Legislature](/source/Maryland_Legislature), 1715–1717, 1720–1722; member of the [Upper House](/source/Upper_House), 1722–1766, 1768; President of the Upper House, 1734–1766, 1768; Annapolis [alderman](/source/alderman), 1720, 1754–1766; [Mayor of Annapolis](/source/Mayor_of_Annapolis), 1721–1722, 1726–1727, 1747–1748, 1750–1753, 1756–1757; President of the Council in 1752; acting governor of Maryland, 1753. In October 1731, Tasker was one of the founders of the [Baltimore Ironworks](/source/Baltimore_Ironworks) Company. In 1740, Governor [Samuel Ogle](/source/Samuel_Ogle) was dispatched to [England](/source/England) following [England's declaration of war against Spain](/source/War_of_Jenkins'_Ear). He left Tasker with his [power of attorney](/source/power_of_attorney) and in addition "the task of supervising the construction of a new house at Belair." {{cite book |last=Baltz |first=Shirley Vlasak |title=A Chronicle of Belair |publisher=Bowie Heritage Committee |year=1984 |location=Bowie, Maryland |pages=14–19 |lccn = 85165028}} ==Family== [[File:Samuel ogle maryland.png|thumb|right|200px|Governor Samuel Ogle, married Tasker's eldest daughter, Anne. Portrait at [Mount Airy](/source/Mount_Airy%2C_Richmond_County%2C_Virginia)]] Tasker married Ann Bladen, daughter of [William Bladen](/source/William_Bladen) Attorney-General of Maryland, in on July 31, 1711. They had ten children: *William Tasker (1713-1715) *Bladen Tasker (1719-1721) * [Benjamin Tasker Jr.](/source/Benjamin_Tasker_Jr.) (1720–1760), Mayor of Annapolis and slave trader.{{cite book|last=Johnston|first=James H.|title=From Slave Ship to Harvard: Yarrow Mamout and the History of an African American Family|year=2012|publisher=[Fordham University Press](/source/Fordham_University_Press)|isbn=978-0823239504|pages=201|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TqEgt9jIeIYC&q=Benjamin%20Tasker%2C%20Jr.%20married&pg=PA202}} *Bladen Tasker (1722-1723). * Anne Tasker (1728–1817), married the much older Gov. [Samuel Ogle](/source/Samuel_Ogle) (1694–1752).{{cite book |last=Richardson |first=Hester Dorsey |title=Side-lights on Maryland History: With Sketches of Early Maryland Families |publisher=Williams and Wilkins Company |year=1903 |location=Baltimore, Maryland |pages=[https://archive.org/details/sidelightsonmar01richgoog/page/n362 190]–193 |url=https://archive.org/details/sidelightsonmar01richgoog |isbn=0-8063-0296-8 }} * Rebecca Tasker (1724–1797) married [Daniel Dulany the Younger](/source/Daniel_Dulany_the_Younger) in 1749. * Elizabeth Tasker (1726–1789) married [Christopher Lowndes](/source/Christopher_Lowndes) (1713–1785), merchant of [Bladensburg, Maryland](/source/Bladensburg%2C_Maryland){{cite book|last=Johnston|first=Christopher|title=Maryland Historical Magazine, Volume 2|publisher=[Maryland Historical Society](/source/Maryland_Historical_Society)|year=1907|pages=276–279|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tS4XAAAAIAAJ&q=christopher+lowndes&pg=PA276|access-date=2009-09-12}} and slave trading partner of [Benjamin Tasker Jr.](/source/Benjamin_Tasker_Jr.) in 1747. *Bladen Tasker (1730-1731). * [Frances Ann Tasker](/source/Frances_Ann_Tasker_Carter) (1738–1787), married the wealthy planter [Robert Carter](/source/Robert_Carter_III) (of Nominy, Westmoreland County, Virginia) at the age of sixteen, in 1754.{{cite book|last=Browne|first=William Hand|title=Maryland Historical Magazine, Volume 4|publisher=[Maryland Historical Society](/source/Maryland_Historical_Society)|year=1909|page=[https://archive.org/details/marylandhistori03dielgoog/page/n202 192]|url=https://archive.org/details/marylandhistori03dielgoog|quote=anne bladen.|access-date=2016-06-09}} ==Death and legacy== Tasker died on June 19, 1768, in Annapolis. He was buried in [St. Anne's Churchyard](/source/St._Anne's_Church_(Annapolis%2C_Maryland)) in Annapolis.{{cite book |last=Ridgely |first=Helen West |title=Historic Graves Of Maryland And The District Of Columbia With The Inscriptions Appearing On The Tombstones In Most Of The Counties Of The State And In Washington And Georgetown |publisher=The Grafton Press |year=1908 |location=New York |url=https://archive.org/details/historicgravesm00ridggoog |oclc=23907948 |page=[https://archive.org/details/historicgravesm00ridggoog/page/n31 5]}} His tombstone reads: {{quotation|Here are deposited the remains of the Honourable Benjamin Tasker who departed this life the 19th of June AD 1768 in the 78th year of his Age which though of a constitution naturally weak and tender he attained through the efficiency of an exemplary temperance At the time of his decease he was President of the Council a station he had occupied for thirty two years The offices of Agent and receiver general and judge of the prerogative Court he successively exercised Such were his qualities his probity equanimity candor benevolence that no one was more respected more beloved So diffusive and pure his humanity so singular the influence of his deportment that he was no one's enemy nor any one his These tombs are erected in the year 1826 in the place of the original ones which have decayed by the liberality and filial affection of Mrs. Ann Dulany of the City of London still longer to perpetuate the memory of those of her respected ancestors whose remains are deposited beneath them.}} ==Legacy== thumb|right|200px|Newspaper advertisement for the sale of Tasker's estate Belle Air in 1771 Benjamin Tasker Middle School, in [Bowie, Maryland](/source/Bowie%2C_Maryland), is named after him. ==See also== *[Belair Mansion (Bowie, Maryland)](/source/Belair_Mansion_(Bowie%2C_Maryland)) ==References== *[https://books.google.com/books?id=TqEgt9jIeIYC&dq=benjamin+tasker&pg=PA201 Johnston, James H., ''From Slave Ship to Harvard: Yarrow Mamout and the History of an African Family'' (May 2012)] Retrieved August 2012. *[https://books.google.com/books?id=eUB5oCNIgJEC&dq=benjamin+tasker&pg=PA212 Warfield, J. D. ''The Founders of Anne Arundel and Howard Counties, Maryland: A Genealogical and Biographical Review from Wills, Deeds and Church Records''] Retrieved August 2012 ==Notes== {{Reflist}} {{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{succession box | before = Thomas Larkin |title=[Mayor of Annapolis](/source/Mayor_of_Annapolis) | years = 1721–1722 | after=[Vachel Denton](/source/Vachel_Denton)}} {{succession box | before = [Vachel Denton](/source/Vachel_Denton) |title=[Mayor of Annapolis](/source/Mayor_of_Annapolis) | years = 1726–1727 | after=[Vachel Denton](/source/Vachel_Denton)}} {{succession box | before = [Michael MacNamara](/source/Michael_MacNamara) |title=[Mayor of Annapolis](/source/Mayor_of_Annapolis) | years = 1747–1748 | after=[John Ross](/source/John_Ross_(mayor))}} {{succession box | before = [John Bullen](/source/John_Bullen) |title=[Mayor of Annapolis](/source/Mayor_of_Annapolis) | years = 1750–1753 | after=[Michael MacNamara](/source/Michael_MacNamara)}} {{succession box | before = [Samuel Ogle](/source/Samuel_Ogle) |title=[Provincial Governor of Maryland](/source/Governor_of_Maryland) | years = 1752–1753 | after = [Horatio Sharpe](/source/Horatio_Sharpe)}} {{succession box | before = [John Brice Jr.](/source/John_Brice_Jr.) |title=[Mayor of Annapolis](/source/Mayor_of_Annapolis) | years = 1756–1757 | after=[John Bullen](/source/John_Bullen)}} {{s-end}} {{Governors of Maryland}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Tasker, Benjamin Sr.}} Category:1690s births Category:1768 deaths Category:People from Calvert County, Maryland Category:Colonial governors of Maryland Category:Mayors of Annapolis, Maryland Benjamin Sr. Category:18th-century mayors of places in Maryland Category:Mayors of places in the Thirteen Colonies --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Benjamin Tasker Sr.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Tasker_Sr.) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Tasker_Sr.?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.