[The Material from which this Article is taken on the Carroll Family in Maryland was gathered together by the late Mr. D. J. Scully, who had compiled a great mass of material for the purpose of publishing a History of the Irish in Maryland, when he was unfortunately stricken down with a fatal illness. This material has been placed at my disposal by Mr. Peter J. Scully, who is a brother of the late Mr. D. J. Scully and his Executor. I want to offer my thanks to Mr. Scully for so kindly tendering the material collected by his late brother at a great sacrifice of time.]

The Carroll family of Maryland has been for three centuries a prominent one in the Province and the State, and may be said to have left an indelible impress upon the history of the Commonwealth. It would be gratifying to members of the Irish race to know that the family is distinctively a Gaelic one and occupied for centuries a high position in Ireland, being one of royal origin. The Carrolls are descended from Cian, the youngest brother of Eoghan (Owen or Eugene “Mor” great) and son of Olioll Olum, first king of Munsters, who was the ancestor of O’Cearbhaill (Cearball)—Irish for massacre or slaughter—referring to some incident possibly of the bearer’s life, Anglicized O’Carroll Ely, Karwell, Carroll, Gervil and McCarrell. It is therefore not to be wondered at that the descendants of this knightly race achieved equally knightly distinction in America. There were several different branches of the O’Carroll family all from the same parent stock, the principal one of which was that of the princess of Ely O’Carroll, territory which comprised the barony of Lower Ormond in Tipperary, with the barony of Clonlisk and part of Ballybut in the kings county, extending to the Slieve Bloom Mountains, in the Queens County.

The title “Ely” as prefixed to the O’Carrolls is derived from Eile, a prince of the fifth century. Cearbhaill or Carroll was also the last king of Leinster who lived in Naas, the capitol in the County of Kildare. He died in 909 and was a noted warrior, his sword being treasured for centuries as a precious relic by fighting men. It is evident from what is known of this sword of Carroll that sword-making was a fine art in Ireland in those days. There is extant an ancient poem in the Gaelic dedicated to the sword of Carroll which was recently translated by Prof. Kuno Meyer of the Liverpool University, who is a noted Gaelic scholar. The poem is addressed to the famous blade and is taken from the “Book of Leinster.” It is written in that intricate metre known as “Derbhde” which it is impossible to reproduce in English on account of its difficulty and has long ceased to be practised by the Gaelic poets. Its opening lines are as follows:

The O’Carrolls belonged to the second order of the Irish royal line that is the provincial kings, of whose ancestors sat on the imperial throne, although in the later days of the kingdom, since the dawn of the Christian era, the Ard Righs were chosen from the four great families of O’Melaghlin of Meath, O’Neill of Tyrone, O’Brien of Thomond and O’Loghlin of Tirconnell and O’Connor of Connaught.

Archbishop John Carroll.

Baltimore and Maryland have had no citizen more distinguished or generally respected than the Most Reverend John Carroll, first Archbishop of Baltimore and first Primate of the United States. He was universally beloved while living and generally regretted at his decease. Dr. Carroll was born in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, in 1735, and was a kinsman of Charles Carroll of Carrollton and Charles Carroll, Barrister, springing from the same noble stock. He was the son of Daniel and Eleanor Carroll and first saw the light within a few miles of the birthplace of Thomas Clagget, the first bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Maryland, and the first one of that Church consecrated in the United States. The little old-fashioned house in which he was born is still standing. In his veins ran the blood of two old Maryland families, his mother being a woman of many accomplishments and one who left a deep impress upon the mind and habits of her distinguished son. Dr. Carroll’s early training was directed by her. As a youth of eleven years, he entered the Jesuit School at Bohemia Manor, named St. Xaverius, where he spent one year as a preparation for entrance into the school at St. Omers, in French Flanders. After six years of study at St. Omers, he entered in 1753 the novitiate of the Jesuits at Watton, where he spent two years in preparation for an ecclesiastical career and four years later at the college of the Society at Liege. On February 2, 1771, he was ordained a Priest and a member of the Society of Jesus. He surrendered his patrimonial fortune to the Jesuits under the laws of the Order. The agitation against the Jesuits being then under way in France, and the Government having suppressed the Order, Dr. Carroll with his colleagues was expelled from St. Omers and fled to Bruges in Belgium. He was later chosen by the Order in France to act as Secretary in correspondence with the French Court. His correspondence with the Government was extensive, but was without avail as far as causing the prohibition against the Society to be removed, yet he created a favorable impression on both sides by his thorough knowledge of French and Latin, and the manner in which he handled the situation. Pope Clement XIV finally on August 16, 1773, promulgated his famous Brief, which he had signed a month before, suppressing the Society of Jesus, and Dr. Carroll, having shared the prosecutions and brief captivity of his colleagues, sought and found refuge in England, where he was selected by Lord Houston, a Roman Catholic nobleman, to be tutor to his son and in that capacity made a tour of Europe with his pupil.

On the breaking out of the American Revolution, Father Carroll returned to Maryland to share the fortunes of his native land, his experiences in England having by no means created within his breast respect or love for her much vaunted institutions. He rejected many solicitations to remain in England, preferring to cast his lot with his own countrymen in what appeared at that time to be a struggle to the death. He secured faculties as a secular Priest from the Vicar Apostolic of London “in partibus infidelium” as it was then known in the annals of the Vatican, and landed in Virginia on June 27, 1774. Passing over into Maryland he took up his abode with his mother, on Rock Creek, and having placed himself under the direction of the Vicar General, in Maryland, Rev. John Lewis, he carried on mission work from Rock Creek to Aquia Creek, in Virginia. The congregation gathered in a small room in his mother’s mansion. It soon grew so large that St. John’s Church was built with Dr. Carroll as pastor. The Revolution when it broke found the old Catholic families in Maryland on the side of the colonists and Dr. Carroll naturally was one of the most ardent adherents of the patriot cause. During the Revolution he established himself near Baltimore, where he became the assistant to the Rev. John Ashton, a zealous priest, who had the honor of celebrating the first mass ever said in Baltimore. Father Carroll’s talent as a Pulpit Orator soon attracted attention even from non-catholics. St. Peter’s Church was often thronged with persons of many religious faiths, who came to hear his sermons. Because of the fact that his reputation for piety, learning and eloquence became so extensive and that through his long sojourn in France, he had become thoroughly familiarized not only with the French language but with the French people, he was appointed in February, 1776, by the Continental Congress, in company with Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Dr. Benjamin Franklin and Judge Samuel Chase, on a commission to proceed to Canada in behalf of the patriot cause. The object of the journey was to create sympathy in Canada among the French Canadians in particular, with the American cause and to induce them to revolt against Great Britain. However, the Canadians proved indifferent; a survival of the intense hatred which had existed for generations previous between the French Catholic Colonists of Canada and the Protestant Colonists of the Colonies, who were prior to the Revolution pro-English and anti-French in sympathies. Therefore all hopes were disappointed and the mission failed. This refusal to throw off the yoke of the oppressor was a decision which it is but reasonable to suppose that the French Canadians have long regretted, as their present unrest and discontent illustrates they have not, even today, succeeded in securing happiness under the rule of the English and are still an alien people in Canada. The defeat of Montgomery before Quebec and the strong opposition of the Canadians to union with the Colonies rendered all efforts toward inciting revolt during the Revolution unavailing. Father Carroll and Judge Chase finally gave up the undertaking in disgust and returned home, leaving Franklin and Charles Carroll to continue the negotiations, which, however, proved fruitless.

After the American Revolution was begun, the Catholics within the several states, and they were most numerous in Maryland, became anxious for a separation from England. Many attempts had been made to give the Colonies now embraced in the United States a bishop of their own, as it had been deemed impossible for them to live under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Quebec, who was under English rule, and the Archbishop of Mexico, who was under Spanish rule. As political reasons had kept a Protestant Episcopal bishop or church of England bishop from the Colonies, so State reasons had also made the Catholics Colonists unwilling to accept an English prelate to govern them spiritually. The Revolution precipitated many things and solved many problems concerning the Colonies and their inhabitants. The year of 1783 for instance after liberty had been established found both the Catholic and the Anglican churches in the United States both considering the question of having bishops of their own who would be Americans and the founders of American hierarchies. As is known, the efforts of the Protestant Episcopal churches or Anglican, as they were then termed in Maryland and later of those in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Virginia, resulted in the consecration of Bishop Seabury of Connecticut, by the Scotch non-jurors in 1784, and of Bishop White of Pennsylvania and Samuel Prevost of New York in 1787 by English prelates. Father Carroll, while he did not engage actively in the War of the Revolution, was an ardent and active patriot, the more so because the Bill of Rights adopted by the First Assembly of Maryland held under the free Government, had bestowed full citizenship upon him and all Catholics and he was therefore in an unfettered position to work for the cause.

A portion of what Father Carroll did for the patriot cause was told in an interesting article published in the Catholic Mirror of February 10, 1900, which is quoted: “A century ago, on February 16, 1801, it was publicly announced that the sleeplessness of George IV. was occasioning extreme anxiety to the British royal family. On that day William Pitt resigned, because of the king’s refusal to give effect to the spirit of the recent union of Great Britain and Ireland by removing the disabilities of his Catholic subjects. It is interesting to note that an American bishop, as recalled in the following paragraphs, was responsible in part for the King’s insomnia: Benjamin Franklin was sent by Congress to France to intercede with the King in behalf of the Colonies. He was not successful. One bright morning he was sitting in the waiting room of the King’s palace for an audience, looking downhearted and forsaken, for he had received a letter from Washington, saying: ‘If France did not send over her army, the cause must fail, for his troops were commencing to mutiny and he could not raise funds to pay them; they had no rations, their feet were on the ground and cut and bleeding from the cold.’ Franklin, looking downcast and woebegone, as he was revolving Washington’s letter in his philosophical mind, was aroused from his melancholy stupor by a voice calling: ‘Mr. Franklin! Oh, Mr. Franklin!’ Franklin jumped up and rubbed his eyes. It was the Pope’s nuncio. ‘I have good news for you,’ he said. ‘I have just got consent of the King to send over a French army and navy to aid your countrymen.’ Franklin, astonished, threw himself on his knees and clasped the hand of the nuncio, kissing it several times. ‘Oh,’ he said, ‘Rome has saved my country. America will never forget it for Rome! The Catholics shall have all the rights the Protestants have. Convey to his Holiness the Pope my thanks for all the American people. We shall never, no never, forget it for Rome.’ The nuncio said: ‘Mr. Franklin, you must thank Father Carroll (Bishop Carroll) for it was he who induced the Pope of Rome to send me here in the interest of the American people. His letters in favor of your cause were laid by me before the French King and Cabinet, and success has crowned his efforts.’”

So, readers, if you want to learn something of the man who next to Almighty God and Washington gave your flag and country, turn to the Catholic Cathedral at Baltimore and see his tomb. Washington himself said: “Of all men whose influence was most potent in securing the success of the Revolution, Bishop Carroll of Baltimore was the man.” The English King called him “the rebel bishop, Washington’s Richelieu, the prime minister and adviser of Congress, the man who got the Pope of Rome to use his influence at the French Court for the Americans.” “No, no, sir,” he said, turning to Mr. Pitt, the prime minister of England, “I shall never sign a bill granting Catholic emancipation after the action taken by the rebel Catholic Bishop of Baltimore. He had America detached from my dominions by the aid of the French army and navy and by the force of Irish Catholics. No, no, Mr. Pitt, you need not stop to argue the question with me, my mind is made up on that question.” “Then,” said Mr. Pitt, “if that’s your majesty’s determination, I cannot remain in office, for I am pledged in one of the articles of union between England and Ireland to grant Catholic emancipation. It is necessary to save the union of the British empire. I must resign.” “Then,” said the King, “do so, do so.” So Pitt resigned like a man and Catholic emancipation was not granted for twenty years after this.

This shows what Ireland suffered for American independence. It also shows that Bishop Carroll’s influence was instrumental in securing our independence. The people of Boston turned out to receive the French army, which was led by a Catholic priest, with a crucifix in his hand, through the streets of Boston. All the ancient burgesses of Boston turned out and went to the Catholic Church in compliment to the French and all the old English statutes against the Catholics were repealed.

This is the record of the day. The incidents narrated in the foregoing article throw some light on the services of the illustrious clergyman to the American cause and also show why he was elevated to the primacy of the Catholic Church in America. Subsequent to the Revolution, when full freedom dawned on the former Colonies, the Catholics in the several states, and they were most numerous in Maryland, desired no connection with England, religiously, because English Catholics were at that time proscribed persons and without political rights or standing before the law, although it is true that active persecution had ceased. Yet still although freemen the American Catholics were under the jurisdiction of the English Bishops, or Vicars Apostolic, and it was this connection that it was desired to sever, so that the Americans could have absolute independence religious as well as political. Father Carroll was one of the six priests who met on June 27, 1783, in Baltimore and held a conference at which the necessity of being independent of England was considered. At this conference were present Father John Ashton, the ex-Jesuit priest, who may be fitly styled the Nestor of the Catholic priesthood of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, and Rev. Leonard Neale, afterwards Archbishop of Baltimore. On October 11, 1784, Father Carroll took part in a second conference, at which a plan of Government for the Catholic Church in the United States was drawn up, which included nineteen rules for the Government of the Clergy, was also adopted and a chapter of body corporate was formed, of which Father Ashton was chosen procurator general and he was given charge of all the church property in the Union. The chapter at a subsequent meeting at Whitemarsh, Prince Georges County, resolved to found Georgetown College, Father Ashton being named as one of the first board of directors. Father Carroll was made vicar general in 1786; in 1788 in company with Father Ashton and Rev. Robert Molyneux, afterwards vicar general, drew up a petition asking that the American Catholic Church be given greater liberty by being put under the charge of a bishop directly responsible to the Congregation of the Propaganda, which at that time was understood to be dominated by French influence. This petition was successful, and Father Carroll was unanimously nominated for the proposed prelacy.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin, at that time residing at Passy near Paris, as the American Ambassador to the Court of France, who was aware of Father Carroll’s charming manner, learning and ability, was able to use his personal friendship to assist in having the distinguished divine elevated to the episcopacy. But at first Father Carroll had no idea of aspiring to be bishop, and in fact the petition which was sent to a friend of his in Rome to be brought before the Pope asked that the Rev. John Lewis be appointed for the United States, with power to confer confirmation and to do temporarily other duties pertaining to the office of bishop. But, it is said that through the French minister to the United States a plan had been started to place a French bishop over the church in this country and Dr. Benjamin Franklin, ignorant of the position of the Catholics of the United States and of their wishes, was induced at first to lend his aid to the plan; but Father Carroll’s name was mentioned and he immediately recommended him to the Authorities at Rome. The Vatican was impressed with the recommendations of Dr. Franklin, whose fame was then as universal as that of Washington and who was the idol of the Courts of the Continent; thus a Protestant Quaker became a potent power in naming the first Primate of the Catholic Church in the United States. On June 7, 1784, Pope Pius VII., ratified the appointment of Father Carroll as prefect apostolic and the nuncio at Paris calling on Dr. Franklin to acquaint him with the appointment notified him that Father Carroll would be probably made a bishop.

Accepting the office in 1785, Father Carroll began his visitation and made a call for more priests. At this time his salary, 210 pounds sterling, was paid by the Chapter, the organization formed in 1784, which was composed solely of ex-Jesuit Fathers. A few years only were necessary to show the propaganda as well as all others interested in the growth of the Catholic church in America, the necessity for the appointment of a bishop for the new country, one who would be endowed with full powers of consecration and authority. So a petition to that effect was again forwarded to Rome signed by Father Carroll and the Reverends Robert Molyneux and John Ashton. This petition was sent through the Spanish minister, with whom Father Carroll had talked in reference to the subject, during a visitation to New York. Through his energetic course and his knowledge of the needs and hardships of the American mission as shown in his “Address to the Roman Catholics of the United States,” published in 1784, in reply to a paper of the Rev. Charles H. Wharton and in his report to Cardinal Antonelli, prefect of the Propaganda, in 1785, Father Carroll had demonstrated the wisdom of his having been chosen prefect apostolic. Cardinal Antonelli replied to the petition on July 12, 1788, and communicated to the signers authority from the Pope to call a meeting of the American Clergy and nominate a candidate for bishop and select a See. Accordingly they called a synod or conference at Whitemarsh, Md., and by a vote of 24 to 2 selected Father Carroll as the candidate for bishop and Baltimore was unanimously selected as the place of the See. Father Carroll wrote in reply to a communication from his fellow clergymen, notifying him of what they had done, that “he was by that event deprived of all expectation of rest and pleasure henceforward” and filled “with terror with respect to eternity.” The nomination was approved on September 14, 1780, by the Cardinals of the Sacred Congregation and Pius VI. issued on November 6th following the bill erecting the See of Baltimore and appointing Rev. John Carroll bishop. Father Carroll accepted the appointment and sailed at once for England to be consecrated.

Father Carroll was the recipient of numerous courtesies while in England, but soon hurried back to organize and develop his See. He returned to America early in October, landing at Baltimore on December 7th. He was received at Light Street dock by the Catholic laity and escorted to a palace which had been provided for him at the corner of Charles and Saratoga Streets. On the following Sunday old “St. Peter’s church,” which was selected as a pro-Cathedral, was crowded with citizens of all denominations, to hear the new bishop speak. He made an impressive address, in which he said: “In this, my new station, if my life be not one continued instrument of instruction and example of virtue to the people committed to my charge, it will become in the sight of God a life not only useless but even pernicious.” Shortly after his accession, Bishop Carroll received the Rev. Charles Nagot and several other Sulpitian Fathers, who had been sent to Baltimore by the Superior General of the Order at Paris, Father Emery, at the request of Father Carroll, to establish a seminary for the education of young men for the priesthood.

Father Emery had laid before Bishop Carroll in England shortly after his consecration a plan for the establishment of a seminary in Baltimore. To this plan Father Carroll had given his approval. Five seminarians accompanied the Sulpitians to this Country. It is told that on the same ship there was a young Frenchman who was then misled by Voltaire’s infidel teachings, but who later became converted to the doctrines of Christianity and consecrated his brilliant imagination and fascinating style to the service of religion and became the author of “The Genius of Christianity.” He was the illustrious Count de Chateaubriand. Acting under Bishop Carroll’s advice, Father Nagot and his companions rented a house in West Baltimore located on the present Paca Street, near Franklin, known as “The One Mile Tavern,” and there they opened on October 3, 1791, the now famous institution, St. Mary’s Seminary. This institution may be indeed styled the mother of the American Catholic priesthood. Probably more Irish-American young men have been educated within its walls than of any other nationality.

A letter to General Washington congratulating him on his open advocacy of religion and morals and upon the many notable honors that had been paid him, was presented to the great tribune by Bishop Carroll, Thomas Fitzsimmons and Thomas Lynch in 1792, on behalf of the Catholic clergy and laity of Baltimore. This letter contained many lofty sentiments, among them the following: “You encourage respect for religion. There is prospect of a nationality peculiarly Democratic, because while our country preserves independent politics and policies we shall have a well-founded title to claim from her justice, equal rights of citizenship, as well as the price of our blood spilt under your eyes, as of our warm exertions for her defence under your auspicious conduct—rights indeed the more dear by the remembrance of former hardships. While we pray for the preservation of these rights we expect the full justice of them, from the justice of those states which still restrict them.” It will be observed that the gentlemen who signed this letter were all of Irish connection, judging from their names, which are distinctively Gaelic. At this time the Federal Constitution was being discussed and the American Catholics had good reason to fear that the persecution and intolerance as well as the deprivation of political rights which had prevailed in regard to them in Colonial days, might be favored and legally declared in the provisions of that instrument. For there were those in and out of the State of Maryland who despite what Catholics and Dissenters had done in the battlefield for the achievement of American liberty and despite the aid of Catholic France which made the securement of that liberty possible were disposed to establish a State religion and to deny religious liberty at least to their fellowmen, excluding Catholics from all political rights, although there had been many Catholics in the Continental armies battling for the political rights of New Jersey and kindred “blue law” states. But these patriotic Catholics did not throw down their arms because of these abominable enactments, for their patriotism was too intense to be weakened by impulses of resentment. Therefore the American Catholic was none too sure of his status in this Country and it is even a fact that efforts were made before the Maryland Legislature to have an established church; in other words, a state religion in Maryland, and that the Anglican or Episcopalian church should retain the same relation to the State of Maryland as it had to the colony of Maryland. But a vigorous agitation led by Bishop Carroll on behalf of the Catholics and Rev. Dr. Allison for the Presbyterians effectually prevented such a proposition from being made a law. On February 22, 1800, Dr. Carroll delivered a memorable sermon in his Cathedral on the life and character of the illustrious Washington, who had died on the December 14 preceding.

Charles Carroll of Carrollton.

As an Irish-American, Charles Carroll of Carrollton easily stands first among all of his race in the history of the past of this Republic, at least so far as the State of Maryland is concerned, in character, in patriotism, in self-sacrifice and in services, if not in abilities. He was born at Annapolis on September 30, 1737, and was the son of Charles and Elizabeth Brooke Carroll and grandson of Charles Carroll of Kings County, Ireland. At eight years of age he was sent by his parents to France, where he received his education, remaining six years at the Jesuit College at St. Omers, six years at the Jesuit College, Rheims, two years at the College of St. Louis le Grand, Paris, and one year at Bruges, Belgium, to study civil law; returning again to college at Paris. Mr. Carroll went to London, in 1757, and commenced to study law in the Middle Temple, where he took his degree in 1764, and returned to Maryland, equipped with all of the attributes and capacities of a trained scholar and lawyer. Yet with it all as a Catholic, he had no political rights in the Colony, where he was born and where by right of inheritance he was the wealthiest man in the realm.

Mr. Carroll, however, had no need to earn his living in the Courts and first rose to fame through his memorable controversy with Daniel Dulany, in which he took the popular side, although politically without personal status, and posed as the foremost champion of freedom. In this contest Mr. Carroll proved an able controversialist and it was generally conceded the victor. His superb education had equipped him with every advantage; he was the inferior of no man in the Colony. The effect of his bold assertions and declarations against the Proprietary Governor was electric on the people and made them the more apt for revolution. Mr. Carroll wrote under the nom de plume of “First Citizen” and it was not until the controversy was at an end that his identity became known. His popularity became intense throughout the Province. It was but natural that when the clamors of revolution became potent among the people that he should become a candidate for public favor and honors. In December, 1774, he was selected as one of the Commissioners of Observation for Anne Arundel County and also on the Committee of Safety of the Province. He was elected to represent Anne Arundel County in Maryland Convention on December 7, 1775, and in February, 1776, was appointed by the Continental Congress a commissioner with Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Chase and Rev. John Carroll to visit Canada and endeavor to kindle the fires of revolt in that Country. Congress then took up the discussion of a Declaration of Independence from England, and on June 28, 1776, the Maryland Convention in session at Annapolis resolved that the Congressional Deputies from the State be empowered and authorized to concur with the United Colonies or a majority thereof in declaring all of the Colonies “Free and Independent.” On July 4, 1776, Messrs. Charles Carroll, Matthew Tilghman, Thomas Johnson, William Paca, Samuel Chase, Thomas Stone and William Alexander were elected delegates to Congress then in session at Philadelphia. Mr. Carroll took his seat on July 18th, having just returned from Canada. It is related that on August 2 an engrossed copy of the famous Declaration of Independence was placed on the desk of the Secretary of Congress for the signature of the members. Mr. John Hancock, the President of the body, in a conversation with Mr. Carroll, asked him if he would sign the document. “Most willingly,” said Mr. Carroll, who then took up a pen and signed his name—“Charles Carroll of Carrollton.” He affixed the name of his manor of Carrollton in order to be distinguished from his eminent relative, Charles Carroll, Barrister, and not, as is generally supposed, to show his defiance of England and of the consequence which might accrue in case the Revolution would be crushed by Great Britain, which would be, at least, the confiscation of his estates and his own reduction to poverty, if not execution as a traitor. His act is generally interpreted to have been caused by such an impulse alone, but chivalry as well as the fine sense of honor, which then governed men and women, was evidently his motive in doing so. He was then the richest man in the Colonies and his action simply meant also that if Great Britain won, he was prepared to sacrifice more than any man in the Colonies at the time. His cousin, Charles Carroll, Barrister, was almost as rich as he was, however, and either would have been a rich prize to the British if the Revolution had failed. “There goes a few millions,” said one of the delegates who stood around and who had seen Mr. Carroll sign the Declaration, thus showing that all agreed at the time that Carroll’s action was regarded as extraordinary. It was a truth that no single signer of the greatest Charter of Human Rights ever written risked as much intrinsically as Mr. Carroll. He was a member of the Board of War, and served in Congress until November 10, 1776, with marked ability; being succeeded by his namesake, Barrister Carroll. In December, 1776, he was a member of the first Maryland Senate and in 1777 he was returned to Congress and in 1781 was re-elected to the Maryland Senate. In 1788 he was elected one of the first United States Senators from Maryland, and in 1789 and 1806 was elected and reëlected to the Senate of Maryland. He was also appointed in 1797 one of the Commissioners from Maryland to settle the boundary line dispute between Maryland and Virginia. Mr. Carroll continued a member of the Maryland Senate until 1824, when he retired from public life. In April, 1827, he was elected a director of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company, and on July 4, 1828, he laid the corner stone of the railroad at Mount Clare, Baltimore. While in Baltimore he resided at the mansion located at the corner of Lombard and Front Streets, which was also the home of his son-in-law, Richard Caton, and his famous granddaughters, the beautiful Misses Caton, called “The Three Graces.” On November 30, 1832, Mr. Carroll died in Baltimore, full of years and of honors, having been for many years the last of the signers of the famous Declaration. Physically he was of slight build and below the middle size, his face being strongly featured, his eyes quick, inquisitive, piercing and therefore thoroughly Gaelic; his countenance was noble, and while in action and general bearing replete with energy. His manners were graceful and easy, as became a man of gentle breeding and education, and his expressions elegant, refined and usually considerate, even in conversation with his servants.

In June, 1768, he married Miss Mary Darnell, daughter of Henry Darnell, Jr., and had three children by the union, Charles Carroll, who married in 1799, Harriett Chew, daughter of the Hon. Benjamin Chew of Pennsylvania and sister of the famous “Peggy” Chew of “Mischeanza” fame and wife of Gen. John Eager Howard; Elizabeth Carroll, who married Richard Caton, and Catherine Carroll, who married Robert Goodloe Harper. Charles Carroll, eldest son of Charles and Harriett Chew Carroll, married Mary Higgs Lee and was the father of Hon. John Lee Carroll, late Governor of Maryland. Mr. Carroll, in his declining years, particularly, was one of the best known and beloved of Baltimoreans. He attended high mass at the Cathedral regularly every Sunday and dined frequently with the Archbishops of Baltimore, particularly with Dr. Whitefield, with whom he was intimate. The Archepiscopal residence was then located on North Charles Street, on a portion of the site of the former Young Men’s Christian Association Building, at Charles and Saratoga Streets. On one occasion, it is related that Mr. Carroll was introduced to a number of the altar boys, on whose heads he placed his hands as they passed by where he stood and exclaimed: “God bless you, my boys. Love God and obey your superiors. Honor and defend your Country’s flag, venerate your parents and obey the authorities of the civil Government.”

Mr. Carroll at the time of his death was 95 years of age, his frame being bent, although his voice was strong, his walk firm and quick and his eyes and face benevolent in expression. He dressed after the fashion of his day, his apparel including a dark waistcoat and knee breeches, black silk hose, low cut shoes and silver buckles. He attended many functions, even just before his death, and was particularly in request at patriotic gatherings. One of the last public events in which he took part was that of a great dinner given to him by the great Irish merchant William Patterson, at the latter’s country residence, “Cold Stream,” near the City. The dinner was held July 4, 1831, the 54th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration to bring together the remnant of the Revolutionary heroes, then living in Baltimore. The occasion was made notable in every possible way, numerous invitations having been sent out by the hospitable host, who was himself a hero of the great struggle for human freedom. Everything set before the guests except the wines and brandies was produced on Mr. Patterson’s estate and the dinner was, as tradition states, a feast worthy of the distinguished company which attended it. The reception to Mr. Carroll was a most cordial one. He drove out to Cold Stream, as was the fashion of the time, in his own carriage, with his own colored coachman on the box, and was escorted to the shady grove, wherein the dinner was spread by Mr. Patterson and several crippled veterans of the Revolution. There he was greeted by the assembly with uncovered heads and was given a rousing chorus of cheers. Patriotic speeches and songs were given during the dinner, which lasted far into the evening and was enjoyed thoroughly by Mr. Carroll.

The great tribune was eminently social in his nature and many stories are existent which illustrate this trait. One of these relates to the famous collation given by Lloyd Dulany at his private residence at Annapolis, now part of the City Hotel, a few days after the burning of the Peggy Stewart, at which function Mr. Carroll was one of the guests. At this collation there was used a punch bowl which had been brought over from England in the Peggy Stewart, and Mr. Dulany explained how he had come into the possession of the article, which had been sent to him as a present. The Captain, he stated, said to him that the bowl was not a part of the cargo of the Peggy Stewart, as it was not on the manifest. The Captain had placed the bowl in his cabin with his private property and had delivered it in person to him. To this observation Mr. Carroll is said to have smilingly observed: “We accept your explanation, provided the bowl is always used to draw the same kind of tea.” As is well known, the Peggy Stewart was destroyed because she had a cargo aboard of the obnoxious stamp burdened tea, but the bowl was full no doubt of that superior kind of punch which the Marylanders of that day so well knew how to brew. This bowl stood for years on the counter of the City Hotel at Annapolis, and thousands of Marylanders have drank the same kind of “tea” out of it since the time when Mr. Carroll made his famous expression. This function, it may be well observed, was held in the abode of an Irish American Lloyd Dulany, who was a connection of the celebrated Daniel Dulany. Mr. Carroll was also connected in a way with the famous episode of the burning of the Peggy Stewart at Annapolis and the destruction of her cargo of tea by men disguised as Indians. It was he who interceded with the mob at Annapolis in behalf of the owner of the Peggy, Mr. Anthony Stewart, and he harangued the crowd from the steps of Mr. Stewart’s residence and thus prevailed on them not to do violence to the merchant, whose pro-English proclivities were well known. He was the one to suggest that Mr. Stewart himself would destroy the vessel, and its offensive cargo of “tea,” a suggestion which the mob accepted with delight, and which no doubt saved Stewart’s residence from destruction. Mr. Carroll accompanied the frightened and shaking merchant, as a protector, on that eventful day, when he went down to Windmill Point, where the Peggy lay, and himself applied the torch to the brig and her cargo.

Mr. Carroll in those days lived in Annapolis and maintained the life of a wealthy Maryland gentleman. He dwelt in a spacious mansion on what was known as the “Spa,” in the ancient City, a quarter which was then the fashionable one at the State Capitol, and had been the same during the Colonial Government and was known far and wide throughout the Colonies, as the most elegant locality in Annapolis, then termed “The Athens of America.” His terraced garden sloped down to the brink of the lovely “Spa” and was held in by a pavilion with sandstone walls and ornamented by a pavilion where the owner and his guests could sit on a warm afternoon and enjoy the cool breezes from the water. It was here that he wrote his famous “First Citizen” letters attacking the proclamation of Governor Eden (Colonial), imposing an extra tax on the people by increasing official fees and by raising the special assessments on the clergy from 30 to 40 pounds of tobacco per annum. Mr. Carroll, as has been stated, took up the popular side and defended the people, being antagonized by Mr. Daniel Dulany, whose nom de plume was “Antillon.” In a reply as to whom the “First Citizen” was, Mr. Carroll wrote: “Who is the citizen? A man, in the prosperity of his country, a friend to liberty, a settled enemy to lawless prerogatives.” It was in this controversy that Mr. Dulany threw the taunt to Mr. Carroll that he was a disfranchised English citizen and could not vote. All of which was true, for, while he could not vote, he was at that time the richest man in the Colonies and worth at least two million pounds.

Charles Carroll, Barrister.

Charles Carroll, termed “The Barrister,” to distinguish him from his eminent namesake, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, with whom he is often confounded, was of Irish descent and was descended from the elder branch of the Carroll family, in Maryland, thus being derived from the family of Ely O’Carroll of Ireland. About 1681 the estates of the O’Carrolls in Ireland were confiscated to the Crown, the family being accused of being royalists. This confiscation was the cause of the emigration of the first ancestor of Charles Carroll, Barrister, also a Charles Carroll, to Maryland. He accumulated a large landed estate, having friends at Court, in the Calverts, which consisted of large tracts on the Eastern Shore, in Frederick County, in Anne Arundel County, in and near the site of the City of Baltimore, on Carroll’s Island, at Mount Clare near Baltimore’s original site; and at other points. The Plains, an estate near Annapolis, Claremont, for many years the residence of Hon. Carroll Spence, later Minister of Turkey, and The Caves, an estate owned for generations by the Carrolls and last held by Gen. John Carroll, which was located in Baltimore County, were also included in the possessions of this thrifty Gael. This Carroll was in religion a Protestant, as were all of his descendants, including The Barrister, which gave him great advantages politically as well as commercially, under the Colonial Government. He was a Physician by profession and was known as Dr. Charles Carroll. He married Dorothy Blake, daughter of Charles Blake, of an ancient English family and had by her several children, who were Charles Carroll, Barrister, Mary Clare Carroll, ancestress of Gen. John Carroll of “The Cave” and John Henry Carroll, who died without issue.

At an early age, young Carroll was sent to Portugal, where he was educated at a college in Lisbon under the immediate tuition of the Rev. Edward Jones. At ten years of age, his parents removed him to England, where he studied at Eton and matriculated at the University of Cambridge, where his education was completed. Mr. Carroll afterwards studied law at the Middle Temple, London. He returned to Maryland in 1746, where because of his thorough familiarity with general affairs both in Europe and in this country, he made an early entrance into public life. Thus he became one of the people’s trusty guides in the stormy days, before and during that Revolution which accomplished so much for the welfare of mankind. Being a talented speaker and writer as well, he was placed on all important committees and had occasion to prepare many public documents which were in their day influential and are therefore historic. One of these papers, the Declaration of Rights which was adopted by the Maryland Convention, November, 1776, was drawn by him and is a powerful as well as uncompromising elucidation of the rights of the people as well as arraignment of the English tyrant King George III. He was appointed one of the Committee on Correspondence of the Maryland Convention of 1774. The first Constitution and Laws of the State of Maryland was also drawn by him and in August, 1775, he was selected as one of the Committee of Safety. Mr. Carroll was also one of the members of the Maryland Convention which assembled at Annapolis in 1775 and served on a committee which on January 12, 1776, prepared instructions for the guidance of the first Maryland Deputies to the Continental Congress. In 1776, he was selected President of the Maryland convention held at Annapolis, on May 25th of that year, and was also elected a member of the committee of Safety of that year. At this Convention over which he presided the final acts of the separation of Maryland from England was accomplished, in the deposition of Governor Robert Eden and the notification of that personage that the public quiet and safety demanded, in the judgment of the Convention, that he leave the Province. Mr. Carroll was also an active member of the Convention which met at Annapolis on June 23, 1776, and which declared the Colonies free and independent States. At the Convention which assembled at Annapolis on August 17, 1776, he was also a prominent figure and was on August 18 chosen one of a committee to draft a Charter of Rights and a Constitution for Maryland.

On November 10, 1776, he was elected to Congress as the successor of his more famous relative Charles Carroll of Carrollton, by whom he was overshadowed in reputation but not in patriotism or abilities or in services to his country. When the State Government was formed he was appointed Chief Justice, but he declined the honor. He was then elected to the first Senate of Maryland, where he rendered distinguished service. Mr, Carroll was justly regarded as being next to Daniel Dulany, Jr., Maryland’s greatest lawyer. He was indirectly descended, as were all of the Carrolls of Maryland, from Daniel Carroll of Ely, who presented twenty sons all equipped and armed to the Earl of Ormond for service under Charles I. Mount Clare, his home, was a favorite resort of General Washington before and during the Revolution, and there is a copy of a picture extant, showing the illustrious patriot and Mr. Carroll going on a fishing excursion, from the latter’s mansion, their objective point being the waters of the Chesapeake, which were easily accessible from Mount Clare. This mansion is now incorporated in the limits of Carroll Park, in the southwestern section of Baltimore.

Mr. Carroll at his death left his estates to his nephews, Nicholas and James MacCubbin, the sons of his sister Mary Clare Carroll, on the condition that they took their mother’s maiden name, “Carroll,” and that only and use the coat of arms forever after. The will was dated August 7, 1781. The MacCubbins accepted the requirements of the will and their names were changed by special act of the Legislature of Maryland in 1783 and approved by the Governor William Paca. These Carroll-MacCubbins left a numerous progeny, which has intermarried and is connected with many of the leading families of the State. Among the men of this branch who have distinguished themselves in the public service may be mentioned Hon. James Carroll, who was a member of Congress and also ran for Governor against Governor Platt. He afterwards served as a Judge of the Orphans Court, and was a highly educated and accomplished man. Hon. Charles Carroll Spence of Baltimore was also a scion of the family, who became distinguished. He represented Baltimore in the Maryland Legislature in 1845 and was later appointed by President Buchanan to effect the ratification of a treaty between the United States and Persia. Subsequently he was sent as United States Minister to Turkey, filling the post with distinction. Gen. John Carroll of the Caves is also a scion of the family and is a well known citizen of Baltimore County. He was a member of the Maryland Legislature of 1860, when only 22 years of age and was Chief of Cavalry in Maryland, with the rank of Brigadier General in 1870.

Daniel Carroll.

Daniel Carroll was a brother of the great Archbishop and is of a consequence somewhat overshadowed by his name and fame, and yet he was a man who achieved considerable distinction in his day and was a worthy member of his distinguished family. He was born in 1730 at Upper Marlboro and was a man of high character and attainments. As soon as the shackles placed upon the Catholics in Maryland were stricken off by the Revolution and they were given free participation in public affairs, Mr. Carroll was elected a member of the Maryland State Senate and was constantly in public life, either as a member of the Senate or as a Delegate to the Continental Congress, a representative to Congress prior to the adoption of the Federal Constitution, or as a delegate to the Federal Constitutional Convention of 1787. He was also appointed by Washington a member of the commission to select the site of the National Capitol, serving with Governor Johnson of Maryland and Dr. David Stewart of Virginia. He died in May, 1796, aged 66 years. Mr. Carroll was a man of great wealth, possessing in addition to his own share of his father’s property, also that renounced by his brother Archbishop Carroll when he became a Jesuit. He owned considerable real estate in the District of Columbia and in the present boundaries of Washington, D. C., including the site of the Capitol, and also had large real estate holdings within the corporate limits of the City of Baltimore. In fact, with Charles Carroll of Carrollton, he owned practically all of the original site of Baltimore.