Richard Stanhope: Local Link to the 250th
Richard Stanhope, one of Champaign County’s connections to our nation’s founding – and first president – will be the subject of a 2 p.m. Saturday, March 28 presentation at the Champaign County Historical Society Museum.
As a free Black man and landowner, Stanhope resided, and was buried, in Concord Township of Champaign County. But before that, as a slave, he served General George Washington during the American Revolution, accompanying him to several battles, and later as chief of servants at Washington’s Virginia estate, Mount Vernon.
Stanhope was freed upon the death of President Washington’s widow Martha, in 1802, three years after the president’s passing. For his service in the war, Stanhope received a 400-acre land grant in the Virginia Military District in Ohio.
Kim Snyder, who serves as CCHS treasurer and registrar of the Urbana Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), will share Stanhope’s story in the free program at the CCHS Museum, 809 East Lawn Ave., Urbana.
In 1958, the Urbana DAR Chapter placed a marker at Stanhope’s burial site in the Levi Johnson Cemetery in Concord Township. And in 2008, joined by two other DAR chapters, the Urbana chapter added a bronze marker to the site to commemorate Stanhope’s life.
Stanhope died at age 114 in Champaign County on September 20, 1862. He was born in Fredericksburg, Virginia, March 1, 1748.
His long life also included three marriages, 28 children, service as pastor of the Kings Creek Baptist Church and brief involvement in the War of 1812, when he drove a four-horse wagon team accompanying General William Hull to Detroit.
About the Champaign County Historical Society
The museum collects, preserves, and interprets artifacts, documents, and other resources from Champaign County to educate current and future generations about our history.
The museum, which recently completed a capital improvement project, has been located at 809 East Lawn Ave., Urbana, since 1972. Originally established in 1934, the CCHS Museum first housed its collection at the former location of the Champaign County Library on West Market Street, and then moved to the Nutwood Barn, south of Grimes Field on North Main Street.
The Historical Society is open to the public 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.
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