Benjamin McDaniel

Benjamin McDaniel was born enslaved to the family of James Madison, sometime between 1790 and 1800, likely at the Madison plantation, Montpelier, in Virginia.¹ McDaniel’s descendants claim he drove Madison in a carriage to his presidential Inauguration in March, 1809, and got him there on time. There is no historical documentation verifying this family oral history, but there are records of McDaniel acting as a courier for the Madisons at Montpelier so it is possible.² 

McDaniel remained enslaved by the Madison family until the 1850s when he was sold to Joseph Hiden, likely to settle the estate of Madison's stepson John Payne Todd. Prior to the Civil War, McDaniel purchased his freedom from Hiden.³ 

The 1870 Census lists McDaniel as a cobbler in Orange County, Virginia, living with his wife and two children.⁴ He passed away on June 4, 1875 and was buried at Westview Cemetery in Virginia.⁵ 

Thank you to the Papers of James Madison, to Hilarie M. Hicks, Senior Research Historian, James Madison's Montpelier, and to Holly Shulman, editor of the Dolley Madison Digital Edition, for providing research assistance with this biography.