Preceded by John Henry Resigned November 10, 1801 | Parents Samuel Ogle Name Benjamin Ogle | |
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Children Elizabeth Ogle,Benjamin Ogle II Spouse Rebecca Stilley, Henrietta Hill | ||
Benjamin Ogle (January 27, 1749 – July 7, 1809) was the ninth Governor of Maryland from 1798 to 1801.
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Early life
The Ogle family was quite prominent for many centuries in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Northumberland, England, dating from the medieval period. Born in Annapolis, Benjamin Ogle was the son of former Provincial governor, Samuel Ogle and Anne Tasker. Upon his death in 1752, Samuel left his estate to his 3-year-old son Benjamin, but appointed Benjamin Tasker, Sr. as his son's guardian and to manage the estate. Tasker sent young Ogle to England when he was 10 to further his education.
Ogle returned to Maryland in 1770 to find Tasker's daughters (his aunts) were occupying his father's estate, the Belair Mansion, so he resided in his father's city home at 247 King George Street in Annapolis (which is now Alumni House for the United States Naval Academy). Ogle took possession of the Belair Mansion in 1774 after a lawsuit to reclaim his father's home from the Tasker family.
Career
Benjamin Ogle became a member of the Maryland colonial council and would support the American Revolution. Ogle became a friend of George Washington whose presidential records show he dined at Belair on October 1, 1773.
Governor of Maryland
He was elected Governor of Maryland by the Legislature in 1798, serving until 1801.
Upon George Washington's death in 1799, Ogle issued a proclamation that February 11, 1800 be observed throughout the State as a day of mourning. His precedent started the tradition of observing a holiday on February each year, now known as President's Day.
Legacy
Gov. Benjamin Ogle only had one wife and she was Henrietta Margaret Hill with whom he had a son, Benjamin Ogle II. Rebecca Stilley was married to another Ben Ogle of Frederick, MD and not the Governor of the State. Gov. Ogle left his estate, Belair, to Benjamin Ogle II upon his death in 1809 in Annapolis. He is buried in Annapolis.