Daniel Jenifer (1756-1809)
MSA SC 3520-18226
Biography:
Born in 1756 into a family of immense wealth and power, Daniel Jenifer served as a doctor in the Continental Army from 1776 until the war's closing days in 1782. Jenifer's family had lived in Maryland since the 1660s, and had amassed significant riches and clout. His father, also named Daniel, held a number of public offices in Charles County, Maryland during the colonial era, and was active in the Revolutionary movement. Daniel Sr.'s brother, Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, was one of the most prominent leaders in Maryland, and also one of the state's richest men. Daniel Jr.'s first cousins included Thomas Stone, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and John Hoskins Stone, governor of Maryland 1794-1797, and a distinguished officer in the Maryland Line during the Revolutionary War. [1]
Accordingly, Daniel Jr. came of age within the highest ranks of Maryland's gentry. His mother Elizabeth (Hanson) died in 1757, after having three children: Daniel, and his two older siblings: Walter Hanson Jenifer (1751-1785) and Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer (d. 1774). Daniel Sr. married again, and he and his second wife Mary (Hanson) Briscoe had a son named Warren Dent Jenifer around 1778. [2]
Daniel Jr. was educated at Princeton, beginning as an undergraduate in the fall of 1773, after a stint at the college's preparatory academy; he gave a pair of orations in Latin in order to ensure his admission. Jenifer started at the same time as John Jordan, another Charles County native, with whom Jenifer served in the army in 1776. When Jenifer arrived on campus, his older brother, Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer was already a student; their classmates distinguished them as "Tom" and "Dan." However, the two brothers were only together for a short period, as Tom died in September 1774, after a short illness. Dan, for his part, seems to have received education in medicine among his other studies. Although he was part of the Class of 1777, he left the college before he graduated, probably at the end of 1775. [3]
Whenever Jenifer returned home to Maryland, he arrived amid fevered preparations for war. In early 1776, the state raised a regiment of troops for the Continental Army, the First Maryland Regiment, commanded by Colonel William Smallwood, and another seven companies to patrol the coast of the Chesapeake Bay. These troops, known as the state's Independent Companies, were soon dispatched to join Smallwood's troops in New York, preparing for an attack by British. On August 27, 1776, Jenifer was named the surgeon's mate for the Independents, the assistant to regimental surgeon John Hanson Briscoe. [4]
Jenifer was appointed to the position on the same day that the Maryland troops fought at the Battle of Brooklyn. The battle was a major defeat for the Americans, and the Marylanders lost 256 men killed or captured. Jenifer presumably was not present for the fighting that day, but likely arrived in New York within a week or two. His days were then filled with caring for the men wounded at Brooklyn, and the other battles that fall, including Harlem Heights in September. The Americans' medical system was severely taxed and the soldiers suffered from shortages of supplies and doctors, and administrative problems. John Allen Thomas, captain of the Fifth Independent Companies, wrote that
We have now and have had for some time a number of our men sick, a number very ill. I have had from fifteen to twenty of my men extremely ill and have not yet been able to procure them the least assistance. The Province have but two surgeons here, one of them very ill, and none can be procured here...[the Marylanders] have at this time near two hundred men unfit for duty and most of them without any assistance from the Doctor. The neglect of the troops when sick discourages them more than any other circumstance...
Not long after Thomas's letter, another surgeon's mate, Barton Tabbs, was attached to the Independents to help improve their medical care. However, in mid-October, Jenifer left the Maryland regiment to joining the staff of the Continental Army's General Hospital. [5]
While the army had hospitals in several locations, Jenifer probably worked at the main facility in Philadelphia for most of his time in the army; he also worked in Virginia later in the war. In September 1781, he was promoted from surgeon's mate to hospital physician and surgeon, a rank he held until he left the army in the fall of 1782, as the war ended and the hospitals were closed. [6]
Returning to Maryland, Jenifer settled into the life of a young gentleman. On January 25, 1785, he married Sarah (Sally) Craik, whose father James Craik had been a senior doctor in the Continental Army. While Jenifer was a physician himself, whether he was practicing during this time is not clear. If he was, he also had several other jobs. In February 1785, Jenifer was appointed as the assistant Intendant of the Revenue, a good opportunity for a young man to get himself established. The Intendant himself was Jenifer's uncle, Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, who used the position's control of the state's finances to make himself one of the most powerful politicians in the state. In the 1780s and 1790s, Jenifer worked for George Washington, with whom both he and his wife were well acquainted, helping him to manage his property in Charles County. [7]
Daniel and Sarah Jenifer had six children who survived to adulthood (they may have had another who died young): Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, Ann Jenifer, Walter Hanson Jenifer, Elizabeth Jenifer, Mariamine Jenifer, and Daniel Jenifer (1791-1855), who served in the U.S. House of Representatives 1831-1841 and was Minister to Austria 1841-1845. Sadly, Sarah died on March 19, 1800, while her children were all quite young. [8]
In the 1790s, Jenifer inherited a vast amount of land and slaves. His uncle Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer died in 1790, and had no wife or children. Instead, he left virtually all of his property to his nephew Daniel--several thousand acres of land, and many slaves. The slaves were supposed to be manumitted by 1796, but Jenifer's property assessments suggest that never occurred. Then, in 1796, Daniel Jenifer Sr. died. His eldest son Walter had died in 1785, and he left Warren, his youngest son, seventeen slaves. The rest went to Daniel Jr., the only other surviving child. In 1798, Daniel Jenifer was assessed as owning almost 4,100 acres of land, plus numerous lots in Port Tobacco, and 78 slaves, making him the fourth-richest person in the county. [9]
Jenifer moved his family to "Retreat," the plantation he inherited from his uncle, in the early 1790s. He practiced medicine from the house, and was active in the community. In 1794, he was commissioned as the regimental surgeon for the Forty-Third Regiment of Maryland Militia, an appointment which reflected his position and influence in the county. He held that post until his death in the middle of 1809, when he was about fifty-three. Jenifer's estate was large and complicated, and took several years to settle. His personal property was valued at more than $19,600. In 1811, his land-holdings were calculated at 5,891 acres, as well as lots in Port Tobacco and Baltimore City, though he may have owned other land as well. He also owned eighty slaves, who were disbursed among his heirs. [10]
Owen Lourie, 2019
Notes:
[2] Papenfuse, et al., 484-485; W. Frank Craven, "Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer," in Richard A. Harrison, ed., Princetonians 1769-1775: A Biographical Dictionary (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1980), 484-485.
[3] W. Frank Craven, "Daniel Jenifer," in Richard A. Harrison, ed., Princetonians 1776-1783: A Biographical Dictionary (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1981), 190-191; Craven, "Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer," 484-485; Pennsylvania Journal (Philadelphia), 13 October 1773.
[4] Mark Andrew Tacyn "'To the End:' The First Maryland Regiment and the American Revolution" (PhD diss., University of Maryland College Park, 1999), 33-45; Reiman Steuart, The Maryland Line (The Society of the Cincinnati, 1971), 104; Journal and Correspondence of the Maryland Council of Safety, July 7 to December 31, 1776, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 12, p. 242.
[5] Tacyn, 48-73; Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 12, p. 256; Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 12, p. 273; Pay Abstract, First Maryland Regiment, September 1776, Maryland State Papers, Revolutionary Papers, box 6, no. 5, MdHR 19970-6-5 [MSA S997-6-6, 1/7/3/11]; Daniel Jenifer, Receipt for pay as surgeon's mate, 7 November 1776, Maryland State Papers, Revolutionary Papers, box 1, no. 14/28 [MSA S997-1-342, 1/7/3/7]; Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 12, p. 363; Steuart, 104; Daniel Jenifer, deposition re: Dr. James Morgan, 16 October 1778, Papers of the Continental Congress, Letters relating to the charges against Gen. Sullivan and Dr. Morgan, NARA M247, roll 77, p. 308, from Fold3.com. For more on the experience of the Marylanders at the Battle of Brooklyn, see "In Their Own Words," on the Maryland State Archives research blog, Finding the Maryland 400.
[6] Steuart 104; Thomas McKean to John Cochran, Director of Hospitals, 23 September 1781, re: promotions, Papers of the Continental Congress, Letter Books of the President of Congress, NANA M247, roll 24, p. 89, from Fold3.com; Return of officers in General Hospitals, 23 July 1781, Papers of the Continental Congress, Reports of Committees on Hospitals, NARA M247, roll 30, p. 62, from Fold3.com.
[7] Daniel Jenifer, Oath as Assistant Intendant, 1 February 1785, Maryland State Papers, Scharf Collection, box 113, no. 52, MdHR 19999-113-52 [MSA S1005-127-53, 1/8/5/79]. It can be difficult to distinguish between Jenifer and his father, since the son was called Daniel Jenifer, Jr. only sporadically. In this case, an assistant clerkship was a position more suitable for a young man than for his father. Craven, "Daniel Jenifer," 109; George Washington to Daniel Jenifer, Jr., 7 June 1797, Founders Online, National Archives. For the Craik and Jenifer family connections with Washington, see for example “Diary entry: 23 January 1785,” The Diaries of George Washington, Founders Online, National Archives; “Diary entry: 17 February 1785,” The Diaries of George Washington, Founders Online, National Archives; "Diary entry: 15 April 1785,” The Diaries of George Washington, Founders Online, National Archives.
[8] Chancery Court, Chancery Papers, Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, John B. Morris, and Ann Morris v. Daniel Jenifer, Walter Hanson Jenifer, and Mariamine Jenifer, 1811, MdHR 17898-2902 [MSA S512-2985, 1/36/2/96]; Gerson G. Eisenberg, Marylanders Who Served the Nation (Annapolis: Maryland State Archives, 1992), 109-110; "Died," Maryland Gazette (Annapolis), 3 April 1800.
[9] Papenfuse, et al., 485-486; Will of Daniel Jenifer, 1795, Charles County Register of Wills, Wills, Liber AK 11, p. 269 [MSA C681-12, 1/8/10/12]; Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties, "Retreat," CH-10; Federal Direct Tax, 1798, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 729, Charles County, General List of Slaves, p. 1444; Tax List, p. 1482. The "person" with the highest assessed value in 1798 was the estate of William Smallwood, who had died six years earlier.
[10] Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties, "Retreat," CH-10; Jenifer, et al. v. Jenifer, et al.; Adjutant General, Militia Appointments, vol. 2, p. 52 [MSA S348-2, 2/6/5/10]; Inventory of Dr. Daniel Jenifer, 1809, Charles County Register of Wills, Inventories, 1808-1812, p. 160 [MSA C665-14, 1/8/10/25].
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