USA > Maryland > Anne Arundel County > The founders of Anne Arundel and Howard Counties, Maryland. A genealogical and biographical review from wills, deeds and church records > Part 57
USA > Maryland > Howard County > The founders of Anne Arundel and Howard Counties, Maryland. A genealogical and biographical review from wills, deeds and church records > Part 57
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At ten years of age young Carroll was sent to school at Jesuit College, of Bohemia, on "Herman's Manor," in Maryland. His cousin, John Carroll, later Archbishop of Baltimore, was a student there with Robert Brent, who married a sister of John Carroll. The two Carrolls, in 1748, went to St. Omers, in French Flanders, thence to the College of Louis le Grand, at Paris. In 1757 Charles entered the temple to study law, remaining three or four years.
There was, also, in Annapolis, in 1731, Dr. Charles Carroll, of an older branch of the Irish house. He and his cousin, Charles Carroll, of Annapolis and of Doughoregan, became partners in the Patapsco Iron Works, founded in 1731. This was a very valuable enterprise.
Daniel Carroll, of Duddington, died in 1752, and Charles Carroll, his brother, made an arrangement with Charles Carroll (of Daniel) to divide the estate of the immigrant. Charles Carroll (of Charles) was to hold "Doughoregan" of 10,000 acres, and "Chance" of 969 acres, whilst Charles, Jr. (of Daniel), was to hold "Clymalyra," "Vale of Jehosophat," "Ely O'Carroll" and "Litterlouna" and parts of two tracts in Frederick County, in order to give "more than an equivalent for the exchange." "Carrollton," in Frederick County, was patented in 1733 by Charles, Daniel, Mary and Eleanor Carroll, being the half of 20,000 acres granted them in 1723 by their father. It was then in Prince George's County. Daniel, in 1734, after the death of Eleanor Carroll, left his claim to his sister Mary. In 1764 Charles Carroll, of Annapolis, wrote to his son at school, and gave him the following estimate of his estate:
"40,000 acres of land, two seats alone containing each upwards of 12,000 acres, would now sell at 20 shil- lings sterling per acre. £40,000
"One-fifth of an Iron Work, with two forges built, a third erecting, with all convenient buildings; 150 slaves; teams and carts, and 30,000 acres belonging to the works; a very growing estate, which pro- duces to my fifth annually at least £400 sterling, at twenty-five years' purchase.
10,000
"20 lots and houses in Annapolis.
4,000
"285 slaves on the different plantations, at £30 each. .
8,550
"Cattle, horses, stock of all sorts on my plantations, with working tools
1,000
"Silver household plate.
600
"Debts outstanding at interest in 1762, when I balanced my books
24,230 97
£88,380 97
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FOUNDERS OF ANNE ARUNDEL AND HOWARD COUNTIES.
"You must not suppose my annual income to equal the interest of the value of my estate. Many of my lands are unimproved, but I compute I have a clear revenue of at least £1,800 per annum, and the value of my estate is annually increasing.
"I propose, upon your coming into Maryland to convey to you my manor of "Carrollton," 10,000 acres, and the addition thereto of 2,700 acres, now producing annually £250 sterling, not one-half of which is let. Also my share of the iron works, producing at least £400.
" On my death I am willing to add my manor of "Doughoregan," 10,000 acres, and also 1,425 acres called "Chance," adjacent thereto, on which the bulk of my negroes are settled. As you are my only child, you will, of course, have all the residue of my estate at my death. Your return to me, I hope, will be in the next fall."
Mrs. Elizabeth (Brooke) Carroll was then dead.
In 1765 "Charles Carroll, Jr.," arrived at his father's house in Annapolis, after about sixteen years from his natal country at his studies and on his travels. He came home at twenty-seven years, an amiable, upright, accomplished young man, with the polish of European society and the social acquirements of studious culture. Debarred by his religion from political honors, he came to occupy, in ease and comfort, his manorial estates, but he was not long to rest in retirement. In 1768 he was married to his cousin, of the same name and family into which his grandfather, the immigrant, had- married. She was, also, Mary Darnall, daughter of Henry and Ra- chel (Brooke) Darnall.
His first appearance in the political arena of that eventful era was his answer, under the name of "The First Citizen," to " Antilon," who proved to be the distinguished Daniel Dulany, Jr. Reference, elsewhere in this history has been made to that memorable debate through the "Maryland Gazette." Young Carroll was unknown, but his courage in meeting so able an antagonist, and the ability with which he met and vanquished him, amazed the people and carried their sympathies with him. The thanks of the Assembly, through two of its members, were tendered the unknown writer through the press, and when it finally became known that the able defender of the people was the young student many sought him to express their hearty appreciation. Thenceforth Charles Carroll, of "Carrollton," was foremost in popular favor.
The Revolution was at hand. In 1775 he was one of ten mem- bers of the Council of Safety which met that year at Chestertown.
His associates from Anne Arundel were Charles Carroll, barrister; Thomas Johnson and Samuel Chase.
He was next one of the agents to secure the assistance of Canada. His religion and influence peculiarly fitted him for that mission, and his notes upon that adventure are very interesting bits of our Revo- lutionary history, but the mission proved a failure. During his ab- sence the Maryland Convention had sent delegates to Congress with instructions not to urge independence.
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FOUNDERS OF ANNE ARUNDEL AND HOWARD COUNTIES.
Upon his return, finding the delegates thus hampered, whilst the whole Congress was ready for the declaration, Mr. Carroll and Samuel Chase went to Annapolis, ably represented the necessity for a withdrawal of those instructions, succeeded in convincing the representatives that the hour for action had arrived, and returning as a delegate, carried back the glad news that Maryland, too, was in line for independence. And when that vote had been taken and the Declaration of Independence was to be signed he wrote his name Charles Carroll, of "Carrollton."
From Rev. M. Hayden, son of the first clerk of Howard County, I quote:
"So much of the mythical has grown up around that remarkable scene, the "Signing of the Declaration of Independence," that it becomes a duty to separate the history of the event from the fiction. It must have been a moment of solemn stillness when John Hancock stepped forward to the table on which the Declaration lay to affix to it his bold signature. And as each signer, whenever it was done, followed his example there was doubtless now and then a word of cheer or of wit to relieve the tension of the hour."
But the story of Charles Carroll's signature has varied until truth has been lost in imagination. Lossing says that at the signing "Charles Carroll" to enable the British minister to identify him as an arch-rebel, and not mistake his cousin of the same name, added 'of Carrollton' to his signature on that great instrument."
General Bradley T. Johnson, in Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography, writes, "on the 2d August, 1776, . he signed the Declaration of Independence. It is said that he affixed the addition 'of Carrollton' to his signature in order to distinguish him from his kinsman, Charles Carroll, barrister, and to assume the cer- tain responsibility himself of his act." Both these writers give the impression that the suffix was used August 2, 1776 for the first time.
Hon. Robert C. Winthrop in his Centennial Oration at Boston, July 4, 1876, gives another version thus:
"'Will you sign?' said Hancock to Charles Carroll. 'Most will- ingly,' was the reply. 'There goes two millions with the dash of a pen,' says one of those standing by; while another remarks, 'Oh, Carroll, you will get off, there are so many Charles Carrolls!' And then we may see him stepping back to the desk and putting that addition, 'of Carrollton,' to his name, which will designate him for- ever, and be a prouder title of nobility than those in the peerage of Great Britain, which were afterward adorned by his accomplished and fascinating granddaughters."
None of these stories have more than a shadow of truth for a basis. It is barely possible that when Carroll stepped forward and affixed to the Declaration the name that he had invariably signed since he had first learned to write, that of "Charles Carroll, of Car- rollton," some such conversation as Mr. Winthrop records may have occurred. But it is not possible that Carroll signed his name at this time by instalment.
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FOUNDERS OF ANNE ARUNDEL AND HOWARD COUNTIES.
His biographer, J. H. B. Latrobe, Esq., now dead, wrote me in 1877: "I have a bond signed by him as 'Charles Carroll, of Carroll- ton,' dated and filed many years before the Declaration. In Mary- land the 'pretty story' of the signing was long, long ago dropped, and I am a little surprised that the correction escaped Mr. Winthrop's notice." Again he wrote me in 1889: "I have no recollection of having heard the reason given in Appleton for attaching the 'of Car- rollton' to the signature of Charles Carroll, to the Declaration of Independence. No such reason was given to me by Mr. Carroll in my conversation with him during the preparation of his biography."
It can be readily seen that if Mr. Carroll had invariably signed his name with the suffix until he appended his name to the Declara- tion and then omitted it, adding it only as a second thought after the suggestion that the king could not identify him by so common a name as Charles Carroll, this act would at once have stamped him as a man void of independence and lacking in that high sense of honor which his history proves him to have possessed to a marked degree.
In the numerous mention of Mr. Carroll in Force's Archives, 1774-1776, which record his various public actions in the Maryland Convention and the United States Congress, he is invariably named as "Charles Carroll, of Carrollton."
" Doughoregan Manor," now in Howard County, Maryland, the home of Mr. Carroll, is a very extensive estate which Mr. Carroll devised to his grandson, Colonel Charles Carroll, and to his male heirs forever. It is now owned by Hon. John Lee Carroll, great-grandson of the "Signer,"Ex-Governor of Maryland and President of the Gen- eral Society of the Sons of the Revolution. The Manor house is a large and very handsome residence of the old style, with chapel annexed, built about the year 1717. "Carrollton Manor" was di- vided among Mr. Carroll's daughters. He owned, in various parts of Pennsylvania, 27,691 acres of land, part of which lay in Bradford County. His autograph in my collection is a power of attorney, July 5, 1815, to George Dennison, Esq., of Wilkes-Barre, relating to the Bradford County land, of which he owned 1,038 acres, bought of Josiah Lockhart. It is entirely in Mr. Carroll's handwriting and is signed, as is his will, "Ch. Carroll, of Carrollton."
I have a distinct and delightful recollection of a visit to Dougho- regan Manor in my boyhood, with my father, who was an invited guest of Colonel Charles Carroll. The occasion was a tournament which, as far as my knowledge of tilting extends, was unique. The gentry of the neighboring counties, with their families, were present, and the display of beauty and fashion was such as made a lasting impression on a youth of ten years. The joust was out of the ordi- nary way of such entertainments. Instead of the conventional ring suspended in the air, through which the knights at full gallop were to thrust the spear, the object of their skill was a lay figure of wood, representing a man, life size, caparisoned as a knight and so nicely balanced on a pedestal that a blow in
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FOUNDERS OF ANNE ARUNDEL AND HOWARD COUNTIES.
the face from a well-poised spear would "unhorse" the figure, while a stroke against the body was calculated to shiver the spear, or un- horse the knight.
Against this figure each knight, handsomely attired and mounted, with heavy spears, about twelve feet long and one to three inches thick, with strong, brass point, was to dash himself at full speed. One knight was dismounted and another had his spear shivered, but no injury occurred to man or horse. The victor who overthrew the lay figure three times and so won the right to crown the queen of honor was an officer of the United States Cavalry; but his name, with that of the queen, I have forgotten. After the joust followed the crowning of the queen and then the "menu," and the departure of the many guests.
"The Life of Charles Carroll, of Carrollton," was written and published in 1824, eight years before the death of the "Signer," by the late J. H. B. Latrobe, Esq., of Baltimore. It was submitted to Mr. Carroll for examination before it was printed. But a more ex- tended memoir of this eminent statesman has been prepared by Miss Kate M. Rowland, author of the "Life of George Mason, of Vir- ginia."
Throughout the contest succeeding he was always a leader. In 1783, when peace was declared in the very city of his birth and Congress was sitting in the city of Annapolis, it was on "Carroll's Green" the festivities were held and a "grand dinner on Esquire Carroll's grounds offered a whole ox, sheep and calves, besides a world of good things, including liquor in proportion, concluded with illuminations and squibs, ushered in the new Statehood of Mary- land."
Charles Carroll, barrister, died soon after, but Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, was destined to be a guide through the perils of that critical era. He was elected President of the Senate, in the place of Matthew Tilghman, then sick. Congress was put into possession of the State House, public circle, Governor's house and thirteen dwell- ing-houses for the use of its Thirteen States' Representatives. In the historic Senate Chamber of the State House the final act of Peace was solemnized, when General Washington came to resign his commission. Two of his generals, Gates and Smallwood, went out to meet him and attended by all the principal inhabitants, the con- quering hero was conducted to Mann's Hotel, where room No. 9 was set apart for his accommodation. Formal addresses, a public dinner, illumination of the State House, a ball by the General Assembly, all preceded the final act that has rendered the name of Washington immortal. When that was accomplished "he arose, bowed to Con- gress, withdrew from the chamber, leaving beauty's eye dimmed with affection's tear."
Smallwood, who led from Annapolis the Maryland Line which followed him to victory, was spared to accompany the retired general to South River and witness his departure to Mt. Vernon.
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FOUNDERS OF ANNE ARUNDEL AND HOWARD COUNTIES.
Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, as a State Senator, helped to draft the Constitution of Maryland, and under that Constitution was the first United States Senator serving two terms. Nor did his honors cease there. Called to adjust the boundary line of the State, he was ever prominent in its industrial development. At ninety years of age, in 1822, before an immense concourse of his admiring people, he laid the corner-stone of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad .. Though he had retired from public service in 1800, as a leader of Federalists, when in the Senate, his political influence attended him in his retire- ment. He and Samuel Chase were copartners in the work of Inde- pendence, but when it came to making a Constitution for the State, Carroll was the Federalist and Samuel and Jeremiah Chase, William Paca, William Pinkney, John Francis Mercer and Luther Martin were Anti-Federalists. To this list may, also, be added General Smallwood. These were then known as Federal Republicans.
Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, was always an able opponent of all measures that were not democratic. He opposed high salaries, titles and kingly fawnings. He favored bringing the Capital to the Potomac. Mr. Carroll's own record of his correspondence is of in- terest. "Though well acquainted with General Washington, and I flatter myself in his confidence, few letters passed between us. One, having reference to the opposition made to the Treaty concluded by Mr. Jay, has been repeatedly published. That letter is no longer in my possession."
In 1825 John Quincy Adams wrote to him:
"Mr. Warfield came to see me. He said he had not expressed his determination for whom he should vote in the House on Wed- nesday. His friends, Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, and Roger Brooke Taney, of Baltimore, had urged him to vote for General Jackson, under the impression that if I should be elected the administration would be conducted on principles proscribing the Federal Party. I said I regretted much that Mr. Carroll, for whose character I enter- tained a profound veneration, and Mr. Taney, of whose talents I had heard high encomiums, should harbor such opinions of me."
In 1820 the estate of "The Signer" included 27,691 acres in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, which he devised to his two daugh- ters and four granddaughters of his only son, Charles Carroll, of of "Homewood." A resurvey of Doughoregan, in 1820, with the additions to the original tract, shows 13,361} acres. The beginning was at a stone, heretofore planted near the east side of a public road, leading from Baltimore to Rockville, marked with the following in- scription, to wit: "There stand the Beginning Trees of Doughoregan, Push Pin and the Girls' Portion."
It is said that the Mansion upon Doughoregan Manor was built in 1717 by Charles Carroll, to whom it was granted. It was 300 feet in length, with a wide paneled hall leading to the library, where Charles Carroll, the signer, held his headquarters, among the portraits of the family, beginning with the handsome face and form of Charles Carroll, of Annapolis.
508 FOUNDERS OF ANNE ARUNDEL AND HOWARD COUNTIES.
The Chapel on the right was built by "The Signer." Within it he lies buried. It is kept in excellent repair by Governor John Lee Carroll. Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, lived long enough to build mag- nificent homes for his children and even for his grandchildren.
His daughter Mary, at seventeen years of age, was married, in 1787, to Richard Caton, an English gentleman, who settled in Balti- more in 1785. He was a cotton merchant and geologist. Her mar- riage gift was the magnificent old homestead around which is the suburban town of Catonsville. Her portrait reveals a handsome attractive woman, distinguished for her elegance of manners. She was the mother of three beautiful women, still remembered as "The American Graces," all married into the distinguished families of England. A fourth married in her own country and was the only one who left descendants.
In 1800 the only son of "The Signer," Charles Carroll, of " Home- wood," married Harriet, daughter of Hon. Benjamin Chew, Chief Justice of Pennsylvania. Upon this estate, north of Baltimore, was built the stately brick mansion of "Homewood," now the country school for boys upon Charles-Street Avenue and the future site of Johns Hopkins University. One mile south of it was "Homestead," wherein Jerome Bonaparte and his brilliant American bride, Miss Patterson, lived for one short year.
In 1801 Catharine Carroll, second daughter of "The Signer" was married in Annapolis to Robert Goodloe Harper, of South Caro- lina. This gentleman, eminent in law and statesmanship, was in Congress in 1794, and was a leader of the Federalists. Removing to Maryland, he became United States Senator, in 1815. His country home was "Oakland."
The granddaughters of Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, the Caton beauties, were the attraction at a grand ball given at Hampton in 1807.
Mary Caton became the wife of Robert Patterson, who was a brother of Madame Jerome Bonaparte.
Louisa Caton married Colonel Sir Tilton Bathurst Hervey, who had fought under Wellington in Spain and was his aide at Waterloo.
Mrs. Robert Patterson became a widow in 1822. She and her two sisters, Mrs. Hervey, afterwards Duchess of Leeds, and Eliza- beth Caton, who became later Lady Stafford, were together in Eng- land at the country-seat of the Duke of Wellington, where they were visiting. The fair widow met the Duke's elder brother, Marquis of Wellesly, a widower of sixty-three. They were married in Dublin, where the Marquis was then living in vice-regal state as Lord Lieu- tenant of Ireland. Here the Marchioness of Wellesley presided at a grand ball in 1826, seated on a throne under a canopy of scarlet and gold.
At a banquet given the next year in Charleston, South Carolina, Bishop England, in alluding to these granddaughters of "The Signer," gave this toast: "Charles Carroll, of Carrollton-in the land from which his grandfather fled in terror, his granddaughter now reigns a queen."
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FOUNDERS OF ANNE ARUNDEL AND HOWARD COUNTIES.
To Emily McTavish, wife of John McTavish, British Consul, was given 1,000 acres of the western portion of Doughoregan Manor, and in his declining years Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, commenced and, perhaps, finished another magnificent home, popularly known as "Folly Quarter." On the map of Howard County it is known as Carrollton Hall.
"FOLLY QUARTER."
Deserted, yet magnificent in its isolation; its splendid apart- ments, where once gathered the aristocracy and the beauty of Mary- land in revel; dismantled and scourged by the tempests that have swept through the paneless windows; a shelter for tramps and way- farers, and its far-stretching grounds the roaming-place for hogs, there stands, within two hours' drive of Baltimore city, the mansion of "Folly Farm."
The old manor house-by no means a ruin, for its granite blocks would to-day withstand an army of besiegers-is the most prominent of the group of buildings that rose seventy years ago in the midst of as beautiful a tract of land as any of the many held by Charles Carroll, of "Carrollton." It crowns the proudest, loftiest hill of all its thou- sand acres, regal in beauty and sturdy as the mountains of adamant. It stands there silently guarding the history of its past splendor, calmly resisting the lashings of the wind and the beatings of the snows and rains. Its grim desolation is pathetic and absolute, but it seems to say, "They will come back; here I will be found."
When and how this splendid home was deserted is not absolutely clear, but after a week's research "The Sun" presents as complete a tale as appears possible.
"Folly Farm, " or "Folly Quarter," as it is more generally called, lies in Howard County, about seven miles west of Ellicott City, off the Old Frederick Road. It is now owned by Mr. Charles Carroll, son of Ex-Governor John Lee Carroll, of Doughoregan Manor.
"Folly Quarter" has not only a historic interest of its own be- cause of its connection with the long history of the Carroll family and the special attention given it by Charles Carroll, of "Carrollton," the last signer of the Declaration of Independence to survive, but about it cluster local traditions and pleasant memories that have made the name familiar to all in that section of the country.
"Folly Quarter" farm is as fair and beautiful to look upon as that "Garden of the Lord" whose vistas enraptured the Confederate hosts as they gazed first upon the lovely valley encircling Frederick town. Billows of round-topped hills guard fertile valleys, and these in turn clasp leaping, sparkling streams in their embrace. One thousand fertile acres of rich agricultural promise spread around the visitor to "Folly Quarter." Spacious farms indicate the ample har- vests, and sleek, fat cattle contentedly munch fodder in large stable- yards.
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FOUNDERS OF ANNE ARUNDEL AND HOWARD COUNTIES.
"Folly Quarter" is part of the original tract granted to the an- cestors of Charles Carroll by Charles Lord Baltimore. They were given a grant of 10,000 acres in Frederick County, with liberty to se- lect the best land they could find. They first fixed on a spot beyond Frederick town, according to Charles Browning's "Chief Explanation," but finding the land better on this side of Frederick, changed to the country surrounding the present "Doughoregan Manor," in Howard County. This land was not seized, as was so frequently done, but was purchased from the Indians, who were paid in merchandise selected by them. Mr. Browning, in his book published in 1821, has this to say further:
"The grant of this land first appears to have been made April 10, 1723, to the Carroll family, some of whom dying, there were dif- ferent assignments from time to time, up to 1734, but I understand the land was not taken up till just before the Revolution by the present Charles Carroll, of "Carrollton," for his father, and the only money that appears to have been given for the land was a rent of $20 per annum, which the present Mr. Carroll got rid of by the act for the abolition of quit-rent, 1780."
Charles Carroll, of "Carrollton," took a deep interest in the man- agement of his splendid estates, and gave to this labor of love as much time as he could spare from the important services he was called upon to render to his State and nation. A large part of his closing years were spent at "Doughoregan Manor." A loving attendant was his granddaughter, Emily Caton, who married Mr. John McTavish, British Consul at the port of Baltimore. Desiring to bestow a fitting testimonial of his appreciation and affection, the venerable Carroll gave her 1,000 acres of the finest farm land in Howard County-the tract known as "Folly." In order that she might live there in a style conforming her position and wealth, he began, a few years before his death, the erection of a palatial mansion.
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