David McMechen (c. 1754-1810)
MSA SC 3520-896
Biography
Born: ca. 1754.
Died: July 15, 1810, at "Pot Spring Farm," Baltimore County.
Immigrated: by 1774.
Resided: Baltimore County by 1775; Baltimore Town, Baltimore County,
by 1778; owned a house at Calvert and Second streets, Baltimore Town,
and also maintained a summer residence at "Pot Spring Farm," Baltimore
County, after ca. 1787.
Family Background
Brother: William, who married in 1800 Eleanor B. Armistead.
Sister: (first name unknown) Lee "of Cambdon."
Additional Comment: His father may have been Capt. William McMechen,
who emigrated from Ireland to the Ohio River Valley before the
Revolution and who died in 1797 at the age of 73.
Married: October 22, 1803, Margaret (ca. 1777-1813), daughter of
Daniel Carroll, Esq. (?-1826), of Mt. Dillon, Baltimore County. Her
brother was Richard, who married in 1813 Judith M. Riddell. Her sister
or half sister was Frances, who married in 1825 Alexis Martin. Margaret
Carroll McMechen married second, in 1812, Samuel D. Harvey of
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Baltimore County.
Children: None surviving.
Private Career
Education: Literate.
Social Statue and Activities: Esq., by 1776; member of the Whig Club,
Baltimore Town, 1777.
Occupational Profile: Lawyer, admitted to the following courts:
Frederick County, March 1774; Harford County, August 1774; attorney for
the commissioners of Harford County, 1783. McMechen was also involved
in the development of Baltimore Town, and he owned a warehouse and
wharf on the harbor by the late 1790s. He purchased the rights for a
water course and dam on Peterson's Run, Baltimore County, in 1804, and
may have built a mill.
Public Career
Legislative Service: Lower House, Baltimore Town, 1779-1780 (Grievances
3; Manufactories 1, 2), 1780-1781 (Manufactories 1, 2), 1781-1782
(Elections 1, 2), 1782-1783 (Elections 1, 2; Manufactories 1, 2), 1783,
1784 (Laws to Expire), 1785 (Grievances), 1786-1787 (Elections 1, 2;
Laws to Expire 2), 1787-1788 (Grievances 1), 1790, 1791-1792, 1792,
1793, 1795, 1796 (resigned); Senate, Western Shore, Term of 1796-1801
(elected on December 8, 1796, to fill vacancy): 1796, 1797, 1798, 1799,
1800.
Local Office: Commissioner, Baltimore Town, 1795-1796.
Military Service: Probably a private in Captain Nathaniel
Ramsay's Fifth Company of the First Maryland Regiment, 1776.
No definite enlistment for McMechen exists, but
circumstantial evidence points to him being part of this company, from
which only a partial muster roll survives. McMechen was with the
Regiment in October, 1776, when he witnessed a will written by another
soldier, Edward
Sinclair. McMechen's return to Baltimore in 1777 would
indicate that he did not reenlist after his one-year term of service
ended in late 1776. The Fifth Company was drawn from Baltimore, and its
leadership included other members of the Whig
Club, prominent merchants, and the like. Read more on Finding the
Maryland 400.
Stands of Public/Private Issues: Antifederalist; appointed as a
commissioner to express disapproval of Jay's Treaty to President
Washington, 1792.
Wealth During Lifetime
Personal Property: In 1781 McMechen was asked by the commissioners of
confiscated British property to inventory the law library of Robert
Alexander (1740-1805). McMechen offered to purchase 61 of Alexander's
volumes, noting that his own library had "burned the beginning of the
war." Alexander's books were sold to McMechen in 1783 for £108.5.9. In
1782 McMechen purchased 36 volumes confiscated from Lloyd Dulany for
£34.17.6.
Land at First Election: 4 lots in Baltimore Town and 2 acres adjoining
Baltimore Town, all held on long-term leases; may have owned land in
Delaware.
Significant Changes in Land Between First Election and Death: Took
leases on more than 10 lots and 11 acres in or adjoining Baltimore Town
and Fell's Point, 1782-1783; with William Hammond took leases on
additional land adjoining Baltimore Town in 1783, most of which they
sublet in 1783-1784; purchased title to 9 of his leased lots and land
between Fell's Point and Baltimore Town, 1786; continued to purchase
lots and either sold them outright or gave long-term leases on them,
1792-1800; began purchasing Baltimore County land in 1784 and had
acquired almost 4,500 acres by 1792, including a 113-acre net loss from
two tracts resurveyed and patented; sold 100 acres in Baltimore County,
1790; purchased probably 600 acres in Washington County, 1791;
purchased 243 acres in Baltimore County, 1793-1800, and patented ca. 12
acres in Baltimore County, 1797; sold 490 acres in Baltimore County,
1793-1800; purchased more than 890 acres in Baltimore County,
1800-1806.
Wealth at Death
Personal Property: Included silver plate, slaves, bank insurance, and road
stock.
Land: About 5,600 acres in Baltimore and Washington counties, plus at
least 17 lots and 20 acres in or adjoining Baltimore City and ground
rents on additional lots in Baltimore City; also owned real estate in
Delaware.
Source: Edward C. Papenfuse, et al, eds. A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature, 1635-1789. Vol II. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1985, p. 590-591. Additional research by Owen Lourie and Taira Sullivan.
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