Tench Ringgold
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Tench Ringgold | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | July 31, 1844 | (aged 67)
Occupation | United States marshal of Washington, D.C. |
Tench Ringgold (March 3, 1777 – July 31, 1844) was a businessman and political appointee in
Ringgold was the son of Mary (Galloway) and Thomas Ringgold,[1] and was from a prominent early-American family that came to the British colonies in the early seventeenth century. He had accompanied James Madison when the president and his cabinet were forced to flee Washington, D.C., during the War of 1812. Afterward, he was named as a member of the Presidential Commission in charge of restoring important Washington buildings after the burning, including the Capitol.
In 1825 he built a house in the capital; it is now known as the
Ringgold married and had a family. Through his daughter Catherine, who married
Ringgold owned slaves,[3] among them was Thomas H. Ringgold, a Mulatto who was reportedly fathered by Tench. Thomas was born in Maryland and later became a runaway slave. Thomas married Mary E., who was born a free Black. He then made his way to Springfield, Massachusetts via the "underground railroad," circa 1848. There, he became a successful barber in Chicopee, MA. In response to a newspaper notice, he returned to buy his freedom. Using a lawyer in Alexandria, VA, he secured his freedom and returned to Massachusetts. His wife died shortly after childbirth of their daughter, Henrietta B. S. Ringgold. Henrietta died a few months later, that same year. He re-married and moved, leaving his wife and two children in Springfield Cemetery, Massachusetts.
References
- ^ Hanson, George Adolphus (1876). "Old Kent: The Eastern Shore of Maryland ; Notes Illustrative of the Most Ancient Records of Kent County, Maryland, and of the Parishes of St. Paul's, Shrewsbury and I.U. And Genealogical Histories of Old and Distinguished Families of Maryland, and Their Connections by Marriage, &c., with an Introduction".
- ^ "www.oyez.org".
- ^ Walz, Terry. "The Enslaved Household of Tench Ringgold". The White House Historical Association. Retrieved 7 July 2020.