Charles Carroll the Settler

Charles Carroll (1661–1720), sometimes called Charles Carroll the Settler to differentiate him from his son and grandson, was a wealthy lawyer and planter in colonial Maryland. Carroll, a Catholic, is best known because his efforts to hold office in the Protestant-dominated colony (of Maryland) resulted in the disfranchisement of the colony's Catholics. The second son of Irish Catholic parents, Carroll was educated in France as a lawyer before returning to England, where he pursued the first steps in a legal career. Before that career developed, he secured a position as Attorney General of the young colony of Maryland. Its founder George Calvert and his descendants intended it as a refuge for Catholics. Carroll supported Charles Calvert, the colony's Catholic proprietor, in an unsuccessful effort to prevent the Protestant majority from gaining political control over Maryland. Following the overthrow of the Calvert proprietorship and the subsequent exclusion of Catholics from colonial government, Carroll turned his attention to planting, law, business, and various offices in the proprietor's remnant organization. He was the wealthiest man in the colony by the time of his death. In the last years of his life, Carroll attempted to regain some vestige of political power for Catholics in the colony, but the Protestant colonial assembly and Governor John Hart disfranchised them. His son, Charles Carroll of Annapolis, became a wealthy planter and his grandson, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, also wealthy, was the only Catholic signer of the United States Declaration of Independence. Early life and emigration Carroll was the second of four sons born to Daniel Carroll of Aghagurty and Littermurna (c. 1642–1688), a Catholic Irishman whose family lost much of their land and wealth in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. The exact place of his birth is unclear, though it likely occurred near the small town of Aghagurty that Carroll's father took as part of his name. Some of the family property near Aghagurty was obtained by a friend, Richard Grace, who made Daniel Carroll the head tenant. This action gave the family a livelihood, but the family continued to have limited means compared to their former status. It is likely that Charles Carroll was fostered by the wealthier Grace, who had no son; his greater resources could provide for the child's education.