Whatever happened to the Calverts (Barons Baltimore)?

[Shyriath]

Being both a resident of Maryland and a person inexplicably drawn to
learning (however clumsily) about royalty and nobility, it is perhaps
understandable that I am inclined to find out more about the line of
Calverts, who, prior to the American Revolution, were the de jure
administrators of Maryland (however troubled or indirect their rule may
have been).

Aside from being Proprietary Governors of Maryland, the Calverts also
held the title of Baron Baltimore (Irish peerage) in succession,
beginning with George Calvert and ending with the sixth Baron, Frederick
Calvert. The sixth Baron apparently had a number of children, but all
were illegitimate; one of them, his son Henry Harford, became proprietor
of Maryland after his father's death, but the title of Baron Baltimore
became extinct.

But it is not made especially clear just what the circumstances were as
relates to the extinction of the title, and this is my first question:
couldn't another Calvert have become Baron after Frederick's death? Was
there something in the rules of inheritance that prevented it, or was he
simply the last legitimate male-line descendent of the first Baron?

My next question relates to living descendents; are there any remaining
legitimate male-line Calvert heirs? For that matter, is anything known
about illegitimate male-line descendents? Not many sources go much
further than Henry Harford's loss of Maryland during the Revolution, it
seems, so I don't know whether he had any offspring. Charles Calvert,
the fifth Baron, had an illegitimate son that apparently got the last
name (Benedict Swingate Calvert); in one family tree I found, this
individual is shown as having some fifteen children, ten of which were
sons (the mother was apparently also a Calvert, a daughter of the fourth
Baron's brother).

And the last question is bound to be one of those exercises in
speculation that I imagine you get too often around here: in the
unlikely event that a descendent of the Calverts were to be created
Baron Baltimore, who would have the "best" claim?

Many thanks for listening to the tedious questions of nobility fanboy. :P

Respectfully,
Shyriath

[Don Aitken]

Post by Shyriath
Being both a resident of Maryland and a person inexplicably drawn to
learning (however clumsily) about royalty and nobility, it is perhaps
understandable that I am inclined to find out more about the line of
Calverts, who, prior to the American Revolution, were the de jure
administrators of Maryland (however troubled or indirect their rule may
have been).
Aside from being Proprietary Governors of Maryland, the Calverts also
held the title of Baron Baltimore (Irish peerage) in succession,
beginning with George Calvert and ending with the sixth Baron, Frederick
Calvert. The sixth Baron apparently had a number of children, but all
were illegitimate; one of them, his son Henry Harford, became proprietor
of Maryland after his father's death, but the title of Baron Baltimore
became extinct.
But it is not made especially clear just what the circumstances were as
couldn't another Calvert have become Baron after Frederick's death? Was
there something in the rules of inheritance that prevented it, or was he
simply the last legitimate male-line descendent of the first Baron?

Just a matter of running out of heirs (there is a convenient genealogy
of the Calverts at
http://www.stirnet.com/HTML/genie/british/cc4aq/calvert01.htm although
it does not attempt to cover all illegitimate descendants).

Post by Shyriath
My next question relates to living descendents; are there any remaining
legitimate male-line Calvert heirs?

Not of the first Baron, although there may be other lines of the
family, who would not be in line to the barony. A title limited to
male-line issue always become extinct sooner or later, mainly sooner;
there are few now surviving which are older than the 1620s.

Post by Shyriath
For that matter, is anything known
about illegitimate male-line descendents? Not many sources go much
further than Henry Harford's loss of Maryland during the Revolution, it
seems, so I don't know whether he had any offspring. Charles Calvert,
the fifth Baron, had an illegitimate son that apparently got the last
name (Benedict Swingate Calvert); in one family tree I found, this
individual is shown as having some fifteen children, ten of which were
sons (the mother was apparently also a Calvert, a daughter of the fourth
Baron's brother).

While that is not impossible by any means, it is necessary to keep
one's bogosity detector turned well up when reading the kind of
genealogical publication designed to provide the author with a link to
such a family. The British went in for this in a big way in the 19th
century, but more recently it has become something of an American
speciality. There is a great mass of material, both in print and
online, on the ancestries of the early colonists, with particular
stress on links to the aristocracy. Some of it is excellent, but a
great deal is not - and anything which does not quote sources is
worthless.

Post by Shyriath
And the last question is bound to be one of those exercises in
speculation that I imagine you get too often around here: in the
unlikely event that a descendent of the Calverts were to be created
Baron Baltimore, who would have the "best" claim?

A descendant through a female line would be preferred to one through
an illegitimacy. The obvious candidates are the descendants of the
fifth lord's daughter Caroline, who married Sir Robert Eden, who, as
well as being governor of Maryland at the time of the revolution,
received in 1776 a baronetcy under the style Eden of Maryland, which
still exists. A later member of this family (though not its head,
since he was a younger son) was Sir Anthony Eden, Prime Minister of
the UK from 1955 to 1957, subsequently created Earl of Avon. The
current baronet in 1969 was Sir John Eden, MP; I don't have more
up-to-date reference to hand.

[W***@gmail.com]

Post by Don Aitken

Post by Shyriath
Being both a resident of Maryland and a person inexplicably drawn to
learning (however clumsily) about royalty and nobility, it is perhaps
understandable that I am inclined to find out more about the line of
Calverts, who, prior to the American Revolution, were the de jure
administrators of Maryland (however troubled or indirect their rule may
have been).
Aside from being Proprietary Governors of Maryland, the Calverts also
held the title of Baron Baltimore (Irish peerage) in succession,
beginning with George Calvert and ending with the sixth Baron, Frederick
Calvert. The sixth Baron apparently had a number of children, but all
were illegitimate; one of them, his son Henry Harford, became proprietor
of Maryland after his father's death, but the title of Baron Baltimore
became extinct.
But it is not made especially clear just what the circumstances were as
couldn't another Calvert have become Baron after Frederick's death? Was
there something in the rules of inheritance that prevented it, or was he
simply the last legitimate male-line descendent of the first Baron?

Just a matter of running out of heirs (there is a convenient genealogy
of the Calverts at
http://www.stirnet.com/HTML/genie/british/cc4aq/calvert01.htm although
it does not attempt to cover all illegitimate descendants).

Post by Shyriath
My next question relates to living descendents; are there any remaining
legitimate male-line Calvert heirs?

Not of the first Baron,

Actually, that may not be true.

Leonard Calvert, a younger son of the first Baron, lived in a county in Maryland
where all the records from that time were destroyed in fires. A generation or
so later, there are some Calverts living in that same county, with known and
traced legitimate male-line descendants to the present time, but with no clue as
to where these Calverts came from. If they were legitimate sons of Leonard,
then the Barony would survive, but the documents which could establish (or
refute) that connection no longer exist.

So the best that can be said is that there are no *traceable* legitimate
male-line Calvert heirs.

[Shyriath]

Post by W***@gmail.com

Post by Don Aitken

Post by Shyriath
Being both a resident of Maryland and a person inexplicably drawn to
learning (however clumsily) about royalty and nobility, it is perhaps
understandable that I am inclined to find out more about the line of
Calverts, who, prior to the American Revolution, were the de jure
administrators of Maryland (however troubled or indirect their rule may
have been).
Aside from being Proprietary Governors of Maryland, the Calverts also
held the title of Baron Baltimore (Irish peerage) in succession,
beginning with George Calvert and ending with the sixth Baron, Frederick
Calvert. The sixth Baron apparently had a number of children, but all
were illegitimate; one of them, his son Henry Harford, became proprietor
of Maryland after his father's death, but the title of Baron Baltimore
became extinct.
But it is not made especially clear just what the circumstances were as
couldn't another Calvert have become Baron after Frederick's death? Was
there something in the rules of inheritance that prevented it, or was he
simply the last legitimate male-line descendent of the first Baron?

Just a matter of running out of heirs (there is a convenient genealogy
of the Calverts at
http://www.stirnet.com/HTML/genie/british/cc4aq/calvert01.htm although
it does not attempt to cover all illegitimate descendants).

Post by Shyriath
My next question relates to living descendents; are there any remaining
legitimate male-line Calvert heirs?

Not of the first Baron,

Actually, that may not be true.
Leonard Calvert, a younger son of the first Baron, lived in a county in Maryland
where all the records from that time were destroyed in fires. A generation or
so later, there are some Calverts living in that same county, with known and
traced legitimate male-line descendants to the present time, but with no clue as
to where these Calverts came from. If they were legitimate sons of Leonard,
then the Barony would survive, but the documents which could establish (or
refute) that connection no longer exist.
So the best that can be said is that there are no *traceable* legitimate
male-line Calvert heirs.

Many thanks to both yourself and Mr. Aitken.

I had thought I'd seen mention of some Calverts running around in
Maryland, but I wasn't sure where they came from either... now that I
know that NO one is sure, I can feel a bit better about that. :P

[Joseph McMillan]

Post by W***@gmail.com

Post by Don Aitken

Post by Shyriath
My next question relates to living descendents; are there any remaining
legitimate male-line Calvert heirs?

Not of the first Baron,

Actually, that may not be true.
Leonard Calvert, a younger son of the first Baron, lived in a county in Maryland
where all the records from that time were destroyed in fires. A generation or
so later, there are some Calverts living in that same county, with known and
traced legitimate male-line descendants to the present time, but with no clue as
to where these Calverts came from. If they were legitimate sons of Leonard,
then the Barony would survive, but the documents which could establish (or
refute) that connection no longer exist.

Could their connection to him not be deduced from succession to landed
estates? Assuming the Leonard you're talking about is the one who
served as the first governor of the colony, he is said in the
biographical profile at the Maryland state archives site,
<http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/megafile/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/000100/000198/html/lcalvbio.html>,
to have died seized of some 9,000 acres of land. Could one not deduce
whether the Calverts in the county a generation or two later were heirs
of Leonard by seeing whether they held the lands that he had originally
patented, even absent the records for the intervening period?

[Guy Stair Sainty]

In article <***@i40g2000cwc.googlegroups.com>, Joseph
McMillan says...

Post by Joseph McMillan

Post by W***@gmail.com

Post by Don Aitken

Post by Shyriath
My next question relates to living descendents; are there any remaining
legitimate male-line Calvert heirs?

Not of the first Baron,

Actually, that may not be true.
Leonard Calvert, a younger son of the first Baron, lived in a county in Maryland
where all the records from that time were destroyed in fires. A generation or
so later, there are some Calverts living in that same county, with known and
traced legitimate male-line descendants to the present time, but with no clue as
to where these Calverts came from. If they were legitimate sons of Leonard,
then the Barony would survive, but the documents which could establish (or
refute) that connection no longer exist.

Could their connection to him not be deduced from succession to landed
estates? Assuming the Leonard you're talking about is the one who
served as the first governor of the colony, he is said in the
biographical profile at the Maryland state archives site,
<http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/megafile/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/000100/000198/html/lcalvbio.html>,
to have died seized of some 9,000 acres of land. Could one not deduce
whether the Calverts in the county a generation or two later were heirs
of Leonard by seeing whether they held the lands that he had originally
patented, even absent the records for the intervening period?

Did they remain Catholic?

[Dan Willis]

I am descended from several of the families in this same area. Because
of the destroyed records, I only have "family legend" to go on which is
highly highly suspect, but seems to be all there is. According to me
family legendary history, this Leonard only had daughters by his wife
but may well have had illegitimate sons. One legitimate daughter was
Elizabeth, from whom I am supposedly descended. She supposed married
one Mr. Nicholls (I'm doing this from memory, I think his first name
was William) What is documentable is that I descend from a William(?) &
Elizabeth Nicholl and that their grandson was called a "cousin of Lord
Baltimore" in a contempory document.

As for the descendants of Benedict Swingate Calvert, they are very
numerous and many are documented on Paul Theroff's website about the
descendants of King James I & VI of England and Scotland. The Baron who
was Swingate's father is a descendant of King Charles II though his
illegitimate daughter, the Countess of Lichfield.

[pilch62]

I *think* (and I'm speaking from memory here) that the illegitimate
descent from the family of the Lords Baltimore of a modern family of
Calverts via Benedict Swingate Calvert has indeed been documented: see
Edward C. Papenfuse, et al. A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland
Legislature, 1635-1789. This is the best single source I know of for
the documentation of the Calvert family in North America.

[pilch62]

BTW, I also think that Harry Harford, illegitimate son of the last Lord
Baltimore, had one or more illegitimate daughters who inherited his
considerable property (again, this is from memory).

[pilch62]

Ignore that last: Harford married and had a legitimate family: it was
his father, Frederick, 6th Lord Baltimore, who also had an illegitimate
daughter.

[alexicon]

A later member of this family (though not its head,

Post by Don Aitken
since he was a younger son) was Sir Anthony Eden, Prime Minister of
the UK from 1955 to 1957, subsequently created Earl of Avon. The
current baronet in 1969 was Sir John Eden, MP; I don't have more
up-to-date reference to hand.

Sir John Eden MP, now Lord Eden, is alive and well, though elderly now
and retired. He is an English baronet as well. I believe his father Sir
Timothy Eden's second Christian name was Calvert.

with many regards,

Eleanor

[s***@hotmail.co.uk]

Post by Shyriath
And the last question is bound to be one of those exercises in
speculation that I imagine you get too often around here: in the
unlikely event that a descendent of the Calverts were to be created
Baron Baltimore, who would have the "best" claim?

Such a creation would be highly unlikely, unless the individual enjoyed
the surname of Baltimore, since the place so named is in County
Longford in (Southern) Ireland.

[Shyriath]

Post by s***@hotmail.co.uk
Such a creation would be highly unlikely, unless the individual enjoyed
the surname of Baltimore, since the place so named is in County
Longford in (Southern) Ireland.

Oh yes, I know... but a boy can dream, y'know.