Legislator, land speculator, and investor, Benjamin Tasker is believed to have been born in Calvert County in 1690. The youngest son of Thomas and Rebecca Isaacs Brooke Tasker, Tasker married Anne Bladen (?-1775), the daughter of William and Anne Bladen, in 1711 in Anne Arundel County. They had ten children, six of whom survived to adulthood. His eldest surviving son, Benjamin Tasker Jr., emulated his father's financial success and record of public service, while his eldest daughter, Anne (1723-1817), married Samuel Ogle, who served as governor of Maryland from 1747 to 1752.

Tasker accumulated considerable wealth as a planter, land speculator, and investor in the Baltimore Iron Works. In 1725 he surveyed a 7,000-acre tract in an area of Prince George's County that today is in Frederick County. This tract, which he patented as "Tasker's Chance" in 1727, was sold to Tasker's son-in-law's father, Daniel Dulany in 1744. From Tasker's Chance Dulaney surveyed the lots for the town of Frederick.

During his long and distinguished career in Maryland, Anne Arundel County, and Annapolis government he served in various offices including Justice of Anne Arundel County from 1714 to 1717. He vacated that position to serve as Anne Arundel County sheriff for about two years. Tasker also served as mayor of Annapolis during five non-consecutive terms beginning in 1720.

Tasker served on the Provincial Council from 1722 until his death in 1768. During his last twenty-four years on the council, he served as its president. In that capacity, he became acting governor of Maryland for fourteen months following the death of Governor Ogle, Tasker's son-in-law, on May 3, 1752. As council president, Tasker created a digest of the provincial laws of Maryland and was actively involved in virtually all official matter of the proprietary.

A member of St. Anne's Church in Annapolis, Tasker was a churchwarden from 1714 to 1715. He also served on the St. Anne's Parish vestry for eight years and owned a pew in the church by at least 1735.

Benjamin Tasker died on June 19, 1768, after a brief illness. His obituary in the June 23 Maryland Gazette acknowledged his significance in the state by stating: "our expressions of regard for him will be anticipated by every reader in Maryland; for as the sphere in which he moved, made him universally known, so did his natural affability and philanthropy engage the esteem of all." He was buried in St. Anne's Cemetery in Annapolis.

Land, Aubrey C. The Dulanys of Maryland: A Biographical Study of Daniel Dulany, the Elder (1685-1753) and Daniel Dulany, the Younger (1722-1797). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1968.

Warfield, J.D. The Founders of Anne Arundel and Howard Counties, Maryland: A Genealogical and Biographic Review from Wills, Deeds and Church Records. Baltimore: Kohn & Pollack Publishers, 1905. Pp. 799-801.