Charles Carroll, known as Charles Carroll of Carrollton or Charles Carroll III to distinguish him from his similarly named relatives, was a wealthy Maryland planter and an early advocate of independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain.
Background
The Carroll family were descendants of the Ó Cearbhaill lords of Éile (Lords of Ely) in King's County (now County Offaly), Ireland. Carroll's grandfather was the Irish-born Charles Carroll the Settler (1660–1720) from Litterluna; he was a descendant of Daniel O'Carroll of Aghagurty Clareen, three miles south of Kinnitty, and a clerk in the office of Lord Powis. Carroll left his native Ireland (King's County) around the year 1659, and emigrated to St. Mary's City, capital of the colony of Maryland, in 1689, with a commission as Attorney General from the colony's Catholic proprietor, Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore.
Education
The young Carroll was educated at a Jesuit preparatory school known as Bohemia Manor in Cecil County on Maryland's Eastern Shore. At the age of eleven, he was sent to France where he continued in Jesuit schools; first at the College of St. Omer, and later the Lycée Louis-le-Grand (Louis the Great College) in Paris, graduating in 1755. He continued his studies in Europe, and read for the law in London before returning to Annapolis in 1765.
Career
His ability to speak French and his standing as a lay Catholic were factors in his selection by the Continental Congress in 1776 as one of three emissaries sent to Canada to make an effort to persuade that country to ally herself with the revolutionary cause.
Upon his return, Carroll was elected to Congress, and signed the Declaration of Independence.
He served in the Continental Congress from 1776 to 1779 and in the United States Senate from 1789 to 1792, becoming a strong Federalist.
He out-lived all of the other signers.
He was the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Membership
From 1777 until 1800 he was a member of the Maryland senate.
He was a member of the United States Senate from 1789 to 1792.
Personality
Of unusual ability, high character and great wealth, he exercised a powerful influence, particularly among his co-religionists of the Roman Catholic faith, and he used it to secure the independence of the colonies and to establish a stable central government.
Connections
Charles Carroll of Carrollton married Mary Darnall (1749-1782), known as Molly, on June 5, 1768. She was a granddaughter of Henry Darnall. They had seven children before Molly died in 1782, but only three survived infancy:
Mary Carroll (1770-1846), who married Richard Caton (1763-1845), an Englishman who became a Baltimore merchant. From 1820 to 1832, Carroll would winter with the Catons in Baltimore. Their daughters were:
Marianne (Caton) Patterson (1788-1853), sister-in-law of Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte, and later married the British statesman Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley (1760-1842), who was the brother of the legendary military commander Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, who was believed to have been previously Marianne's paramour.
Elizabeth Stafford-Jerningham (1790-1862), Baroness Stafford,
Louisa Hervey-Bathurst (1793-1874) then Louisa D'Arcy-Osborne, Duchess of Leeds
Emily Caton (1794/5-1867), married John McTavish (1788-1852), British Consul at Baltimore, and were parents of four children including Mary Wellesley McTavish (1826-1915), The Hon. Mrs Henry George Howard (of the Earls of Carlisle).
Charles Carroll Jr. (1775-1825) (sometimes known as Charles Carroll of Homewood because he oversaw its design and construction), who married Harriet Chew (1775-1861) and lived in Philadelphia. Harriet was the daughter of Benjamin Chew, the chief justice of Pennsylvania, and her sister married John Eager Howard who had served in the Senate with Charles Carroll of Carrollton. Charles Jr. was an alcoholic who reportedly consumed up to two quarts of brandy a day. This led to erratic behavior that resulted in his separation from Harriet.
Catherine ("Kitty") Carroll (1778-1861), who married Robert Goodloe Harper (1765-1826), a lawyer and U. S. senator.