Colonel Benjamin Tasker Jr. (February 14, 1720–21 – October 17, 1760) was a politician and slave trader in colonial Maryland, and

Mayor of Annapolis The Mayor of Annapolis is the chief political figure in the city of Annapolis, which is the capital city of Maryland. The mayor is elected to a four-year term. List of Mayors of Annapolis *1708–1720 Amos Garrett *1720–1721 Thomas Lar ...

from 1754 to 1755. He was the son of Benjamin Tasker Sr.,

Provincial Governor Provincial may refer to: Government & Administration * Provincial capitals, an administrative sub-national capital of a country * Provincial city (disambiguation) * Provincial minister (disambiguation) * Provincial Secretary, a position in Can ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

from 1752 to 1753.

Early life

Benjamin Tasker Jr. was born in Maryland in 1720, the son of Ann Bladen and Benjamin Tasker Sr., the

from 1752 to 1753.

Career

From September 1742 to December 1755, Benjamin Tasker Jr. was Naval Officer for the port of Annapolis (a position previously held by his father). Tasker was Surveyor General of the Eastern Shore from October 1747 to 1755. Benjamin Tasker Jr. was appointed by

, Horatio Sharpe as Commissioner, to secure the assistance of The Six Nations, having been voted £500 by the

Maryland General Assembly The Maryland General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland that convenes within the State House in Annapolis. It is a bicameral body: the upper chamber, the Maryland Senate, has 47 representatives, and the lower ...

for this purpose. This commission resulted in the Confederacy of 1752, a union of colonial interests for defense about a quarter of a century before the

United States Declaration of Independence The Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen States of America in the original printing, is the founding document of the United States. On July 4, 1776, it was adopted unanimously by the Second Continen ...

. He was one of Maryland's delegates to the

Albany Congress The Albany Congress (June 19 – July 11, 1754), also known as the Albany Convention of 1754, was a meeting of representatives sent by the legislatures of seven of the British colonies in British America: Connecticut Colony, Connecticut, Prov ...

of 1754, another attempt on the part of the colonists to deal jointly with a common problem. He served on a committee at the Albany congress with

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...

which was charged with the task of drawing up a plan for a central government of all the colonies. Ath the adjournment of the congress, the plan adopted was submitted to the various legislatures for approval. While it was rejected, its goals were pursued later at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. In 1752 he helped to organize a lottery to pay for a town clock in Annapolis. He was dispatched to settle

Cresap's War Cresap's War (also known as the Conojocular War, from the Conejohela Valley where it was mainly located along the south bank) was a border conflict between Pennsylvania and Maryland fought in the 1730s. Hostilities erupted in 1730 with a serie ...

between Maryland and Pennsylvania. Tasker partnered with his brother-in-law,

Christopher Lowndes Christopher Lowndes (baptized June 19, 1713January 8, 1785) was a leading merchant in colonial Bladensburg, Maryland, Bladensburg, Prince George's County, Maryland. He was named Commissioner of the town of Bladensburg in 1745, and in 1753 he was ...

on the slaving voyage of the ''Elijah''.

Horse racing

An owner of

thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a list of horse breeds, horse breed developed for Thoroughbred racing, horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thorough ...

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 mi ...

s, Tasker is noted in horse racing circles for having imported from

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

the mare " Selima" between 1750 and 1752. Sired by

Godolphin Arabian The Godolphin Arabian (–1753), also known as the Godolphin Barb, was an Arabian horse The Arabian or Arab horse ( , DIN 31635, DMG ''al-ḥiṣān al-ʿarabī'') is a horse breed, breed of horse with historic roots on the Arabian Peninsul ...

, "Selima" was raced until the end of the 1752 season then was sent to

Samuel Ogle Samuel Ogle ( 1694 – 3 May 1752) was the 16th, 18th and 20th Proprietary Governor of Maryland from 1731 to 1732, 1733 to 1742, and 1746/1747 to 1752. Background The Ogle family was quite prominent for many centuries in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, No ...

Belair Stud Belair Stud was an American thoroughbred horse racing stable and breeding farm founded by Provincial Governor of Maryland Samuel Ogle in 1747 in Collington, Prince George's County, Maryland, in Colonial America. Colonial period Queen Mab and ...

in Collington, Maryland. As a broodmare, "Selima" produced ten foals that would become an important bloodline in American racing with important racing offspring such as "Hanover" and is even the ancestress of George Washington's stallion, "Magnolia." Tasker and Franklin became friends, and when Franklin visited

Annapolis Annapolis ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland. It is the county seat of Anne Arundel County and its only incorporated city. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east o ...

in the spring of 1755, he visited Tasker at the Belair Mansion, then being run by Tasker. Tasker died on October 17, 1760, around 40 years of age.

References

*Andrews, Matthew Page, ''History of Maryland'', Doubleday Doran & Co, New York City (1929).
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

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tasker, Benjamin Jr. 1721 births 1760 deaths American racehorse owners and breeders Mayors of Annapolis, Maryland American planters People from colonial Maryland 18th-century American slave traders Tasker family 18th-century mayors of places in Maryland

Early life

Career

Horse racing

See also

References

Notes