Michael Taney (abt. 1750 - 1820)

Ancestors

Husband of Monica (Brooke) Taney — married 25 Jun 1771 in Saint Mary's County, Maryland

Descendants

Died 1820 at about age 70 in Loudoun, Virginia, United States

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Biography

Michael Taney^[1] had seven children, including Supreme Court Chief Justice, Robert Taney.^[2] An 1830 lawsuit names these children of Michael Taney: Michael Taney Jr., Roger B. Taney, Augustus Taney, Octavius C. Taney, Dorothy Taney, and Sarah T. Taney. ^[3]

1 July 1819 Michael Taney killed a neighbor, John Magruder, in a duel. He fled to Virginia, where he died. ^[4]

Occupation

The Taneys were a slave-holding Maryland family of tobacco farmers. ^[2]

Sources

1. ↑

   History of the Brooke Family of Whitchurch, Hampshire, England by Thomas Willing Balch, Philadelphia 1899

2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1}

   Wikipedia: Roger B. Taney

3. ↑ Maryland Gazette. Annapolis MD. 25 March 1830
4. ↑ See account below.

Rob Green

Baltimore Sun. Baltimore MD. 14 June 1898. TANEY-MAGRUDER

The Story Of The Tragedy In Which Chief Justice Taney's Father Figured. Mr. George W. Dowell, clerk of the Circuit Court for Calvert, sends to The Sun an "authentic account of the Magruder-Taney tragedy, which he had prepared, believing It would be of public Interest to do so."

This almost forgotten incident in the life of Chief Justice Taney's father was revived by recent publications. Mr. Dowell gives the following as an "authentlc account" of the affair: A number of conflicting statements have recently been made and published about the killing of John Magruder by Michael Taney, father of Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney, and while some of the accounts attending the tragic affair are partly accurate, they are not correct In every particular, as the proceedings below, taken from the record will show.

The homicide occurred In Calvert county seventy-nine years ago next month. I was enabled to get this authentic account from an old paper, which published the finding of the jury that held the inquest over the body of Magruder, and also the statement of Walter W. Wiggen, the only eye-witness of the tragedy. The original papers filed in the case in the clerk's office were destroyed by fire by the burning of the courthouse In Prince Frederick, In March, 1882. The document In question was thus Indorsed: "Inquisition returned by John Sedwlck, a justice of the peace, over the body of John Magruder," and the jury found " that the said John Magruder came to his death in consequence of a wound received by a dirk from Michael Taney on 1st day of July instant."

The jury returned its Inquisition on the evidence of Wiggen, which was as follows: "The deposition of Walter W. Wiggen, taken before a Jury of Inquisition over the body of John Magruder now lying dead la the house of Alex. Magruder, deposeth and sayeth, upon his oath, that on the 1st day of July, he, (this deponent.) in company with Alfred Wood and John Magruder, was at Mr. Michael Taney's and dined with the said Taney, and was treated politely, and after dinner and a glass of wine, they all took a ride to the river, which John Magruder, Alfred Wood and myself took a bath in the river, Mr. Taney standing on the shore looking on. After bathing we all returned to the house, and a conversation took place between Michael Taney and John Magruder respecting a young lady, and John Magruder told the said Taney that he would oppose him. As soon as Mr. Magruder made use of that expression Mr. Taney told him there was gals enough, and that he (Taney) had been there himself, and he (Magruder) repeated the same expression as above.

Then he (Taney) rose from his chair and went Into another room, and from thence brought a dirk and presented it at Magruder's breast. Magruder rose from his chair and caught him by the arm and held him for the space of half a minute In a position as to defend himself, and whilst he (Magruder) had him by the arm he drew a pistol. Taney made reply to Magruder that he could show pistols, too. From thence Magruder let him go, and he (Taney) went Into another room and took two pistols out of a drawer, and he (Magruder) asked Taney for one of them. which he gave him one. They both walked out of the house into the yard. Taney sayeth to Magruder what Is your distance? Any distance sayeth Magruder. Then they placed themselves about 10 or 12 feet distance from each other. Taney sayeth to Magruder you have no flint in your pistol. This deponent sayeth to Taney, you have none in your pistol. Mr. Magruder at this time appeared to be in a good humor. Mr. Taney at the time appeared to be in a passion. Then he (Taney) threw the pistol away and advanced toward Magruder with a dirk in his hand and stubbed he (Magruder) in the right breast. Then Magruder sayeth to Taney you have hurt me. Taney threw his dirk away, and took the pistol from Magruder and threw that away and put his handkerchief to the wound, and said he was sorry for it, and took Magruder by the arm and assisted him into the house. Magruder after getting Into the house requested the deponent to go after a doctor, which he did and returned, and shortly after Dr. Gantt came In and continued with him until his death, and likewise this deponent sayeth was about four hours from the time he was stabbed until his death, and further sayeth not."

Both Mr. Taney and Mr. Magruder were gentlemen of the highest social position, the former being one of the most prominent men In the county at that day, owning a magnificent estate of a thousand or more acres upon Battle creek and Patuxent river, afterward the property of the late Young D. Hance and now divided into two farms owned by Young D. Hance and the heirs of the late James A. Bond.

To escape the vengeance of the murdered man's brothers, Messrs. Alexander, Benjamin and Howard Magruder, who resided on the opposite side of Battle creek from where the tragedy occurred, it is said Mr. Taney almost Immediately after making the fatal assault stepped into another room of the dwelling, where he slipped through a trap door which led from a closet Into a cellar and passed out Into the open air unobserved. Engaging the services of two of his slaves, he was hurriedly rowed across the Patuxent river and escaped to Virginia, where, In the mountains of the Old Dominion, he is said to have met a tragic death by being thrown from his horse. However, his remains were brought back to Calvert county by his faithful slave attendants who had accompanied him in his flight, and interred by them at night in the family vault, near the fine, old mansion In which the Taneys resided, and now the residence of Mr. Young D. Hance.

Howard Magruder when Informed of the burial of Taney at the old homestead and near the scene of the tragedy, opened the grave, and with a piece of the stone that was set up to mark the resting place of the dead battered the face of the corpse. The aspersions cast upon Chief Justice Taney from some quarters that he was irascible and inherited the extreme passionate temper of his father are erroneous. Mr. Richard H. Hagner, the oldest member of the Prince Frederick bar, in speaking of the late distinguished Chief Justice recently, said he was the mildest mannered man he had ever met, and during his intercourse with him, both in Calvert county and In Washington, socially and otherwise, covering a period of years, he was always the same placid and amiable gentleman. The crime of his father, It Is thought, caused Roger Brooke Taney to leave Calvert county and take up his residence in Frederick city, Md.