- Charles Carroll of Annapolis
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For information about other persons with the name Charles Carroll, see Charles Carroll.
Charles Carroll of Annapolis
Charles Carroll of Annapolis, painted by John WollastonBorn 1702
Annapolis, MarylandDied 1782 Nationality USA Occupation Planter Charles Carroll of Annapolis (1702–1782) was a wealthy Maryland planter and lawyer. His father was Charles Carroll the Settler, an immigrant to Maryland who had arrived in the colony in 1689 with a commission as Attorney General, and had accumulated a vast fortune, emerging as Maryland's wealthiest citizen. Charles Carroll of Annapolis inherited and extended his father's fortune but, as a Roman Catholic, was barred from participation in Maryland politics. It would fall to his son, Charles Carroll of Carrollton (1737–1832), one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, to see religious toleration restored to Maryland.
Contents
Early life
Carroll was born in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1702, the second son of Charles Carroll the Settler and Mary Darnall, daughter of the wealthy Roman Catholic planter Henry Darnall, a strong ally of the Carrolls and the ruling Calvert family. His older brother Henry died shortly before their father, in 1719.
Charles Carroll the Settler had come to the colony in 1688 with a commission as Attorney General from the colony's Catholic proprietor, Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore, but after only a year had lost that position as a result of the so-called Protestant Revolution, a rebellion of Protestant settlers associated with the Glorious Revolution in England. The royal government that took over the colony banned Catholics from holding office, bearing arms, serving on juries, and eventually from voting. Barred from a political career, Carroll the Settler turned his attention to business, an amassed a fortune so large that he was the wealthiest man in Maryland at the time of his death in 1720. Thus, while the younger Carroll was born into a religious minority with few rights, he would have all the advantages that wealth could provide.
Like many sons of wealthy Marylanders, Carroll was sent to England to study law, but he returned to Maryland on his father's death in 1722, in order to inherit the family estates. [1]
Religion and Family Life
In around 1726 Carroll married Elizabeth Brooke, the daughter of Clement Brooke and Jane Sewall. [1]
The Carroll family were enthusiastic horse breeders and raced thoroughbreds, competing with other well-to-do families at annual racing events, which also formed an important part of the social and political life of the colony. Charles Carroll of Annapolis's horse was beaten in 1743 by George Hume Steuart's "Dungannon" in the Annapolis Subscription Plate, the first recorded formal horse race in Maryland. [2]The plate itself (actually more of a bowl than a plate) now forms part of the collection of the Baltimore Museum of Art.
Legacy
Like his father, Charles Carroll of Annapolis never gave up hope of overcoming Maryland's religious intolerance. His son Charles Carroll of Carrollton, eventually secured his family¹s vision of personal, political and religious freedoms for all citizens when he became the only Roman Catholic to sign the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
The Carroll family's substantial Eighteenth century home, known as the Charles Carroll House, can still be visited in Annapolis today.[1]
See also
- Colonial families of Maryland
- Carroll family
Notes
- ^ a b c Official website of the Carroll House in Annapolis Retrieved November 2010
- ^ History of Maryland Jockey Club Retrieved Jan 21 2010
References
- Andrews, Matthew Page (1929). A History of Maryland. Doubleday Doran & Co.
- Hoffman, Ronald, Princes of Ireland, Planters of Maryland: A Carroll Saga, 1500-1782 Retrieved August 9 2010
External links
- Official website of the Carroll House in Annapolis Retrieved February 22 2010
- Article on Annapolis Subscription Plate at www.hometownannapolis.com Retrieved February 22 2010
- History of Maryland Jockey Club Retrieved February 22 2010
- Article on Carroll Family Retrieved February 22 2010
- Article on Carroll family at http://teachingamericanhistorymd.net Retrieved February 22 2010
Categories:- Maryland colonial people
- American planters
- 1702 births
- 1782 deaths
- People from Annapolis, Maryland
- Carroll family
- American Roman Catholics
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