Mandeville, John

John Mandeville was born to Robert Mandeville and Margaret Mary Blake in 1750 in Cumberland, England. He immigrated to Alexandria, Virginia, with his wife, Elizabeth Harrison Mandeville, and their first-born child in 1779. 

Mandeville sustained himself monetarily as a miller and as a merchant who specialized in selling alcohol, imported goods, and furniture. He co-owned the Mandeville and Jamesson business. His inventory included a variety of products ranging from everyday items like soap and candles to fine china. Beginning in the early 1780s, John Mandeville began a business relationship with John Sutton and created the Sutton and Mandeville Company. The partnership owned property in Alexandria and the Virginia counties of Fairfax and Hampshire. 

Throughout Mandeville’s lifetime, his business ventures were embroiled in litigation. In 1785, Elisha C. Dick threatened litigation against Mandeville and Sutton with the claim that Sutton obtained 44,000 acres of land in Hampshire County allegedly through fraud. It was public knowledge that Mandeville did not have the strongest financial reputation as a consequence of not settling debts with creditors. On 17 July 1790, Mandeville appointed Sutton as his power of attorney in order to settle his debts in England. This decision would later become a catalyst for their deteriorating business relationship. 

Following Fairfax County’s 1798 seizure and auction of some of his property, Mandeville attributed his bankruptcy to the alleged “mischievous” actions of John Sutton. In 1803, Sutton sued Mandeville for $40,000 in damages. Even in the final years of Mandeville’s life, his entanglement in lawsuits continued: Two lawsuits involving his earlier business partnership, Mandeville and Jamesson, reached the U.S. Supreme Court in 1809.  

John Mandeville died in Alexandria on 26 November 1815. 

by Brandan Culbert