<P> On the day of his funeral in 1806, a fire burned Banneker's log cabin to the ground, destroying many of his belongings and papers . A member of the Elllicott family, which had retained Banneker's only remaining journal, donated the document and other Banneker manuscripts to the Maryland Historical Society in 1987 . The family also retained several items that Banneker had used after borrowing them from George Ellicott . </P> <P> In 1996, a descendant of George Ellicott decided to sell at auction some of the items, including a table, candlesticks and molds . Although supporters of the planned Benjamin Banneker Historical Park and Museum in Oella, Maryland, had hoped to obtain these and several other items related to Banneker and the Ellicotts, a Virginia investment banker won most of the items with a series of bids that totaled $49,750 . The purchaser stated that he expected to keep some of the items and to donate the rest to the planned African American Civil War Memorial museum in Washington, D.C. </P> <P> In 1997, it was announced that the artifacts would be loaned to the Benjamin Banneker Historical Park and Museum in Oella and to the Banneker - Douglass Museum in Annapolis, Maryland . After receiving the artifacts, the Oella museum placed the table and the candle molds into an exhibit . </P> <P> A substantial mythology exaggerating Benjamin Banneker's accomplishments has developed during the two centuries that have elapsed since his death (see Mythology of Benjamin Banneker). Several such urban legends describe Banneker's alleged activities in the Washington, D.C. area around the time that he assisted Andrew Ellicott in the federal district boundary survey . Others involve his clock, his almanacs and his journals . </P>

Who invented the wooden clock and wrote an almanac