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(president), 1762-1763 (president), 1765-1766
(president), 1768 (president 1, died during the 1st
session of the 1768-1770 Assembly). OTHER PRO-
VINCIAL OFFICES: assistant clerk, Governor's
Council, appointed 1713; clerk, Prerogative Of-
fice, by 1714/15-July 1718 (resigned); surveyor
and searcher, Annapolis, August 1718-July 1734
(resigned), September 1746-death; naval officer,
Annapolis, by May 1719, recommissioned July
1733-September 1742 (resigned in favor of his
son); commissioner, Paper Currency Office, by
December 1733-1734; rent roll keeper of the
Western Shore, 1733-1752; joint commissary
general, commissioned February 1733/34-1734
(resigned), August 1754-January 1756; sole com-
missary general, January 1756-December 1758,
resigning in favor of his son-in-law Daniel Dulany,
Jr. (1722-1797); agent and receiver general,
commissioned November 1734, November 1742-
1753 (resigned); justice, Provincial Court, 1726-
1731 (quorum, 1729-1731); one of three agents
under the Supply Act of 1740 to provision men
for the expedition to the Spanish Indies; one of
three agents appointed in July 1746 to recruit and
pay volunteers for a military mission to Canada;
judge. Land Office, 1746-1747; member, Gov-
ernor's Council, 1722-death (president 1737, 1741,
1742-death). In his capacity as president of the
Council, Tasker acted as chief executive, chan-
cellor, and surveyor general of the Western Shore
from Gov. Ogle's death on May 3, 1752, until the
arrival of Gov. Sharpe on August 10, 1753. Tas-
ker again acted as chief executive while Sharpe
was absent from Annapolis on military duty dur-
ing the French and Indian War. LOCAL OFFICES:
justice, Anne Arundel County, by 1714-1717,
1720 (quorum); churchwarden, St. Anne's Par-
ish, Anne Arundel County, 1714-1715; St. Anne's
Parish Vestry, Anne Arundel County, 1715-1717,
1722-1727, 1730-1733; deputy commissary, Anne
Arundel County, by 1715-1718; sheriff, Anne
Arundel County, 1717-1720; justice. Court of
Oyer, Terminer, and Gaol Delivery, Anne Arun-
del County, 1715, 1716 (quorum), 1720 (quo-
rum), 1728; alderman, Annapolis, 1720, 1754-
1766 (inactive 1761-1765, resigned 1766); mayor.
Annapolis, 1720-1721, 1725-1726, 1747-1748,
1757-1758. STANDS ON PUBLIC/PRIVATE ISSUES:
contributed to a fund established to send the artist
Charles Willson Peale to London to study paint-
ing, ca. 1766. WEALTH DURING LIFETIME. PER-
SONAL PROPERTY: Sometime before 1760, Tasker
gave his son the one-fifth share in the Baltimore
Ironworks. After Benjamin. Jr., died in 1765,
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Tasker purchased the share from his estate for
£5,200.0.0 sterling. At that time, the company
had two forges working and another under con-
struction. ANNUAL INCOME: as agent and receiver
general: salary of £150.0.0 sterling per annum; as
rent roll keeper of the Western Shore: 5 percent
of net amounts paid in by rent roll farmers and
collectors in the counties; as surveyor of Annap-
olis: salary of £60.0.0 per annum (1760 estimate).
Tasker also held mortgages and loaned money to
men in Maryland and Virginia, including Col.
William Byrd and Peyton Randolph. He appar-
ently had some difficulty collecting the interest
and principal due him. LAND AT FIRST ELECTION:
ca. 550 acres in Calvert County (probably all in-
herited from his father). SIGNIFICANT CHANGES
IN LAND BETWEEN FIRST ELECTION AND DEATH:
with his wife received the gift of 1 lot in Annapolis
from his father-in-law, 1717; purchased 435 acres
in Anne Arundel County and 7 lots in Annapolis,
1717-1724 (two of the Annapolis lots were part
of his father-in-law's estate and contained his
dwelling house); surveyed 7,000 acres in Prince
George's (later Frederick) County, 1725, and pat-
ented the tract in 1727; between 1725 and 1734
purchased 1,000 acres in Anne Arundel County,
ca. 500 acres in Baltimore County, 300 acres in
Calvert County, and one-half interest in 2,000
acres in Queen Anne's County, repatented three
Anne Arundel County tracts for net gain of 191
acres, sold one-half of a lot in Annapolis, and
patented 1,852 acres in Baltimore County, which
he immediately deeded to the Baltimore Iron-
works; sued successfully in the Chancery Court
in 1736 for title to at least 150 acres in Calvert
County that had belonged to his father and de-
scended to Benjamin's brother John and his heirs,
who had died without progeny, and then gave the
land to his son Benjamin, Jr.; between 1735 and
1744 repatented 2 tracts in Anne Arundel County
for a net gain of 58 acres, purchased 522 acres in
Anne Arundel County, 1 lot in Annapolis, and
ca. 1,100 acres in Baltimore County, and sold
1,184 acres in Anne Arundel County and 7,000
acres in Frederick County; between 1745 and 1754
purchased ca. 124 acres in Anne Arundel County
and 1 lot in Annapolis, sold 2 lots in Annapolis,
and gave 1 lot in Annapolis and at least 500 acres
in Anne Arundel County to his son, 1745-1754.
In 1753 and 1754, Tasker was paying taxes on
4,734 acres in Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Calvert,
Frederick, Prince George's, and Kent counties,
and 9 lots in Annapolis. The Kent County land
had formerly been part of Queen Anne's County,
800
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