Henrietta M. Ogle (b. 1751 - d. 1815)
MSA SC 5496-050631
First Lady of Maryland, 1798-1801
War of 1812 Claimant, Anne Arundel County, Maryland, 1814

Biography:

    Henrietta Margaret Hill was born about 1751 to Henry and Mary (Thomas) Hill.¹ She was often called Henry Margaret by family and friends. Henrietta M. Hill married Benjamin Ogle at All Hallows Church on September 13, 1770.² The Ogle's were the parents of four children: Anne, Samuel, Benjamin, and Mary.³ Mrs. Ogle inherited several parcels of land in Anne Arundel County in and around Annapolis from her grandfather, which included Talley's Point and Horn Point.⁴ The Ogle's later moved to Belair in Prince George's County, which her husband, then governor, inherited. The home was originally built for his father Samuel, who was also a Governor of Maryland.⁵

    As part of Maryland's elite society, the Ogle's participated in special events of the time. In the late 1700s, Charles Willson Pealle painted a head size for Mrs. Ogle.⁶ Many prominant figures of the day had portraits done by Pealle. Her husband Benjamin Ogle was well acquainted with the leadership of the day. In 1773, George Washington dined with Benjamin and Henry Margaret Ogle at their residence on King George Street.⁷ He once visited with President James Madison and his wife Dolly Madison in 1809.⁸ Henrietta did not attend, having had two teeth drawn that day. Instead, she visited Mrs. Madison that morning, who gave her a tour of the White House.⁹ Benjamin Ogle died July 7, 1809, leaving his widow all of his real and personal estate.¹⁰ Unfortunately, Henrietta also incurred Benjamin's heavy debt to his mother, Anne Tasker Ogle. Consequently, Henry Margaret mortgaged one of her properties "The President" to her mother-in-law to lower the debt.

    During the War of 1812, twenty slaves (consisting of men, women, and children) escaped from Ogle's properties to the British fleet, then lying off of Kent Island.¹¹ Most of the slaves escaped from her home at Talley's Point, but Thomas Timmons, a waiter, escaped from her home in Annapolis and another slave, Sam, escaped from her property at Horn Point.¹² When Henrietta received word of the escapes, she and Lewis Neth boarded the British ship Menelaus to ask for the return of her slaves.¹³ The British forces let her know that the slaves were carried to Bermuda and turned her away. Mrs. Ogle left the Menelaus without her slaves. However, one of Ogle's slaves, Sam, was captured and returned to her.¹⁴

    Henrietta Margaret Ogle died on August 14, 1815, in Annapolis.¹⁵ In her will, she made her daughter, Mary Ogle Bevans Connor, and her four children the main beneficiaries.¹⁶ Mrs. Ogle freed four of her slaves, Cesar Peterson, Orson, Nan Bowser, and Nance Timmons, who waited on her during her illness.¹⁷ In 1828, Henry Margaret’s son Benjamin Ogle II made a claim for the 20 slaves that fled to the British.¹⁸  Benjamin Ogle was the agent for the children of his sister Mary Bevans, which said children were benefactors of the claim. Fielder Cross, who lived near Tolly Point, made a deposition stating that his slave Joe had run off with the slaves of Mrs. Ogle. Benjamin Ogle II and the Bevans children were awarded $280 dollars per slave that ran off.¹⁹

^{2.   SPECIAL COLLECTIONS (St. Margaret's Church Collection) All Hallow's Church, Parish Register 1711-1857 [MSA SC 2915 M 1012], 61.}

^{3.    Baltz, 43-44.}

^{4.    ibid, 47.}

^{5.     ibid, 9.}

^{6.    ibid, 55.}

^{7.    Jane McWilliams, Annapolis, City on the Severn: A History. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011), 81.}

^{8.    Baltz, 87.}

^{9.    ibid.}

^{10.    "The Knell," The Maryland Gazette, 9 July 1912.}

^{11.    Claim of Henrietta Margaret Ogle, St. Mary's County, Case Files Ca. 1814-28, 3.5 ft., entry 190, Record Group 76, National Archives, College Park.}

^{12.    ibid.}

^{13.    ibid.}

^{14.    McWilliams, 127.}

^{15.    "Obitury," The Maryland Gazette, 17 Aug. 1815, 3.}

^{16.    ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY REGISTER OF WILLS (Wills) 1788-1791, Liber JG 3, 115.}

^{17.    ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY REGISTER OF WILLS (Certificates of Freedom), 1805-1864, 133.}

^{18.    ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY REGISTER OF WILLS (Wills) 1788-1791, Liber JG 3, 115..}

^{19.    Claim of Henrietta Margaret Ogle, St. Mary's County, Case Files Ca. 1814-28, 3.5 ft., entry 190, Record Group 76, National Archives, College Park.}

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