Colonel Benjamin Tasker Jr. (February 14, 1720–21 – October 17, 1760) was a politician and slave trader in colonial Maryland, and Mayor of Annapolis from 1754 to 1755. He was the son of Benjamin Tasker Sr.,

Provincial Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

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 Horatio Sharpe (1718 – November 9, 1790) was the 22nd proprietary governor of Maryland from 1753 to 1768 under the restored proprietary government of Maryland. Early life Horatio Sharpe was born in Hull, Yorkshire, England in 1718 to ...

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 chamber ...

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 United States Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen States of America, is the pronouncement and founding document adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at Pennsylvania State House ( ...

. 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 13 British colonies in British America: Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, ...

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 who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...

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, 1713 – January 8, 1785) was a leading merchant in colonial Bladensburg, Prince George's County, Maryland. He was named Commissioner of the town of Bladensburg in 1745, and in 1753 he was appointed one of ...

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

Horse racing

An owner of

thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are ...

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 million yea ...

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

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

the mare " Selima" between 1750 and 1752. Sired by Godolphin Arabian, "Selima" was raced until the end of the 1752 season then was sent to

Samuel Ogle Samuel Ogle (c. 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, ...

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 ...

Collington, Maryland Collington is a now defunct settlement in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, dating from colonial times. Collington has been subsumed by the city of Bowie. Geography Collington is located at 38°58'6" North, 76°45'35" West (38.9684 ...

. 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 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. 1720 births 1760 deaths American racehorse owners and breeders Mayors of Annapolis, Maryland American planters People of colonial Maryland American slave traders Tasker family

Early life

Career

Horse racing

See also

References

Notes