Benjamin T. Fendall (b. circa 1780 - d. 1849)
MSA SC 5496-006713
War of 1812 Claimant, Charles County, Maryland, 1828
Biography:
Benjamin Trueman Fendall was born circa 1780 in Charles County, Maryland to Benjamin Fendall and his wife Mary Truman Fendall. He married Elizabeth Dade (daughter of Townshend Dade) on August 28, 1802 in King George, Virginia. The Fendall's had three children, Townshend, Susan Fitzhugh, and Fendall Marbury. Benjamin Fendall lived on a farm in Charles County lying on the Pomonkey Creek, but would later relocated to Alexandria, Virginia. He sold the land called Southampton to James Fenwick for ten thousand dollars, with the exception of the family grave yard.
In 1814, six of Fendall's slaves, James Stith, Nancy Somerville, and Nancy's four sons, Brookes, Lloyd, Townshend, and Carter, ran from his farm in Charles County along with two of Josias B. Ford's slaves, Peter and Fidelio. Josias B. Ford was the brother in law of Benjamin T. Fendall having been married to Sabina Fendall. The slaves ultimately escaped to Halifax, Nova Scotia. James Stith's work as a sailor on his master's vessel had made him familiar with sailing up and down the Potomac River. Nancy Somerville initially belonged to Fendall's father-in-law, Townshend Dade. In addition to her children, Somerville's husband Primus Mitchell, the property of John T. Stoddert, also went off with the British. Fendall’s schooner Little Eliza which was docked in Alexandria, VA was also stolen by the British. The schooner was taken from the shipyard of John Hugh.
In 1828, Benjamin Fendall made a claim (docket no. 551) for the six slaves stolen by the British. In the claim, John Wheelwright of New York City stated that in 1820 he was in Halifax, and went over to the town of Dartmouth, opposite Halifax, where he met all the Negroes mentioned in this claim (except, perhaps, one child)," and that
while in the aforesaid town of Dartmouth, in conversation with the aforesaid negroes, many persons calling themselves British sailors, and stating that they had been in and belonged to the British squadron that was in the Chesapeake bay, would come up, while the deponent was conversing with the aforesaid black people, and confirm what they, the said black people, would say to him, viz: that the said blacks left the Tangier islands after they got the news of peace. The deponent did not know the sailors who came up while the negroes and himself were conversing, but they were white persons, and said they were sailors and were with the aforesaid British squadron when they left the United States.Fendall gave a deposition on behalf of himself and Josias B. Ford for the slaves that they lost.
Another of Fendall's enslaved servants escaped from
his Alexandria property in 1845. Chloe Ann Hanson, a mulatto slave, aged
about twenty-three years, managed to escape from Fendall during the night.
Fendall offered $100 for Chloe's capture. Benjamin Fendall died September
25, 1849 and is buried in Prince George's County, MD.
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