Caleb Bentley

The Madison House in Brookeville was originally owned by Caleb Bentley. The house provided refuge for President James Madison, on August 26, 1814, after the British burned Washington, D.C. during the War of 1812. Caleb Bentley (1762–1851) was an American silversmith, shopkeeper, and first postmaster in Brookeville, Maryland. Bentley was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, in 1762.

Biography In the early 1780s, Caleb emigrated with his brother, spending some time in York, Pennsylvania, and then moved to Leesburg, Virginia, in 1786. While in York, Bentley became a Quaker. In the early 1790s, Bentley established himself as a silversmith in Georgetown, Washington, D.C.

Bentley relocated to Montgomery County, Maryland, in 1794, settling in Brookeville, where his wife's (Sarah Brooke) family owned a large tract of land. His first wife died in 1805, and two years later, he remarried to Henrietta Thomas. during the Burning of Washington, in retaliation for burning Upper Canada's Parliament Buildings in the Battle of York. On August 26, 1814, President James Madison fled Washington, D.C., initially going to Virginia, but then turning north towards Rockville, where he expected to find General William H. Winder and his troops. Winder's troops had already proceeded on towards Baltimore. Madison continued on eastward and arrived in Brookeville on horseback,

The Bentleys continued to live in Montgomery County for years, though he returned to live for a period of time in Georgetown in the late 1830s. Bentley died in 1851 in Sandy Spring, Maryland. Prior to their marriage, Bentley's wife Henrietta Thomas owned as many as six enslaved people. Henrietta joined the Society of Friends when they declared slavery to be morally wrong, freeing all six of her slaves in 1801.