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Charles Benedict Calvert

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For other people named Charles Calvert, see Charles Calvert (disambiguation).
Charles Benedict Calvert
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Maryland's 6th district
In office
March 4, 1861 – March 3, 1863
Preceded byGeorge Wurtz Hughes
Succeeded byDistrict abolished
Member of the Maryland House of Delegates
In office
1839
1843
1844
Personal details
Bornthumb
August 23, 1808 (1808-08-23)
Riversdale, Maryland
Charles Benedict Calvert
DiedMay 12, 1864(1864-05-12) (aged 55)
Riverdale Park, Maryland
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Charles Benedict Calvert
Resting placethumb
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Charles Benedict Calvert
SpouseCharles Benedict CalvertCharlotte Augusta Norris (1816–1876)
Parent
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  • Charles Benedict Calvert
OccupationPolitician and Businessman

Charles Benedict Calvert (August 23, 1808 – May 12, 1864) was an American politician who was a U.S. Representative from the sixth district of Maryland, serving one term from 1861–1863. He was an early backer of the inventors of the telegraph, and in 1856 he founded the Maryland Agricultural College, the first agricultural research college in America, now known as the University of Maryland. He was a direct descendant of the Lords Baltimore, proprietary governors of the Province of Maryland from 1631 until 1776.

Early life

Calvert was born on August 23, 1808 at his family's estate at Riversdale, Maryland. His mother was Rosalie Eugenia Stier (1778–1821), the daughter of a wealthy Belgian aristocrat, Baron Henri Joseph Stier (1743–1821) and his wife Marie Louise Peeters. The Stiers had fled to America in the early Nineteenth Century as Napoleon's armies occupied their home town of Antwerp. Calvert's father, the wealthy planter George Calvert (1768–1838), was the son of the Loyalist politician Benedict Swingate Calvert (c.1730–1788) - a natural son of the penultimate Proprietary Governor of Maryland, Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore - and his wife Elizabeth Calvert (1731 – 1788).

Education

Calvert completed his preparatory studies at Bladensburg Academy of Maryland. Later, he received a certificate of completion from the University of Virginia at Charlottesville in 1827, even though he attended the university spuriously, and engaged in agricultural pursuits and stock breeding.

Science and agriculture

Calvert was a strong backer of the inventors of the telegraph, Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail. On April 9, 1844, Morse and Vail successfully tested their device by transmitting a message from the nation's capital to the Calvert home, Riversdale.[1] This test came 45 days before the more celebrated event when Morse sent the message "What hath God wrought?" from Washington to Baltimore, along telegraph lines that ran above the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad line near Riversdale.

Calvert became president of the Prince George's County, Maryland Agricultural Society and the Maryland State Agricultural Society, and served as vice president of the United States Pomological Society.[2] He founded the first agricultural research college in America (later known as the Maryland Agricultural College at College Park, and presently known as the University of Maryland, College Park) which was chartered in 1856. Calvert was also one of the early advocates for the establishment of the United States Department of Agriculture.

Politics

Calvert served as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates in 1839, 1843, and 1844.[3] In 1860, Calvert was elected as a Unionist to the Thirty-seventh Congress, serving from March 4, 1861 until March 3, 1863, but was not a candidate for renomination in 1862. He resumed agricultural pursuits until his death at Riversdale, and is interred in Calvert Cemetery.

Marriage and children

Charles Calvert married Charlotte Augusta Norris (Baltimore, March 11, 1816 - December 7, 1876) in Baltimore on June 6, 1839. They had six children: [4]

  • Ella Calvert (Baltimore, March 20, 1840 - Washington, February 17, 1902), married on September 3, 1861 Duncan George Campbell, and had issue
  • George Henry Calvert II, of Washington, D.C. (Riversdale, November 29, 1841 - Washington, 1919), married on December 26, 1872 Frances Seybolt, and had issue:
    • Julia Stuart Calvert (Washington, December 1, 1873 - 1957), unmarried and without issue
    • Charles Benedict Calvert II (Riversdale, July 21, 1875 - 1935), unmarried and without issue
    • George Henry Calvert IV, of Fayetteville, North Carolina (Riversdale, January 21, 1879 - Fayetteville, May 9, 1946), married in Washington on May 17, 1910 his cousin Rosalie Eugenia Stier Calvert (July 29, 1876 - Fayetteville, September 5, 1964), and had:
      • Rosalie Eugenia Stier Calvert (Springfield, May 14, 1911 -?), married firstly in Frederick on May 31, 1928 John Alfred Myers, without issue, and married secondly in Dunn on October 3, 1940 David Randolph Ray, of Fayeteville, North Carolina (Linden, October 18, 1903 - Fayetteville, May 5, 1972), and had issue
    • Cecilius (Cecil) Calvert (Washington, August 18, 1881 - 1947), unmarried and without issue
    • John Wentworth Calvert (Washington, December 12, 1884 - 1947), unmarried and without issue
  • Charles Baltimore Calvert, of Maryland (Riversdale, February 5, 1843 - McAlpine, College Park, August 31, 1906), married in Baltimore on June 14, 1866 Eleanor Mackubin (August 18, 1840 - April 30, 1932), and had issue:
    • Eleanor Mackubin Calvert (November 11, 1867 - 1920), married on June 8, 1892 William Gibson Carey (ca. 1865 - ?), and had issue
    • Hester Virginia Calvert (Riversdale, Bladensburg, July 11, 1869 - Fayetteville, March 22, 1961), married in Washington on September 20, 1899 Henry Walter Lilly, of Fayetteville, North Carolina (Fayetteville, March 10, 1856 - Fayetteville, October 11, 1938), and had issue
    • Charlotte Augusta Calvert (October 12, 1870 - January 11, 1953), married on April 3, 1899 Thomas Spence (March 21, 1867 - February 12, 1937), and had issue
    • Charles Benedict Calvert II (November 8, 1871 - July 2, 1872)
    • Richard Creagh Mackubin Calvert, of Oxford, North Carolina (MacAlpine, College Park, December 31, 1872 - Rustling Oaks, Oxford, April 22, 1947), married in Washington on October 18, 1906 Zoe Ammen Davis (Washington, June 27, 1882 - Oxford, October 1, 1953), and had issue:
      • Richard Creagh Mackubin Calvert, Jr. (Mysore, November 29, 1907 - Newport News, February 28, 1968), married in Oxford on September 8, 1934 Margaret Taylor Lyon (Pittsburg, May 3, 1912 - ?), daughter of Otho De Vane Lyon, of Creedmoor, North Carolina, and had issue:
        • Zoe Antoinette Calvert (born Oxford, August 28, 1935), married in London on October 1, 1961 Keshap Chander Sen (Pakistan, British Raj, July 6, 1926 - 2008), and had issue
        • Richard Creagh Mackubin Calvert III, of Oxford, North Carolina (Rustling Oaks, Oxford, May 2, 1937 - Newport News, June 17, 2009), married in Newport News on August 27, 1960 (Charlotte) Verena Weimer (born West Chester, October 28, 1938), and had issue:
          • Richard Creagh Mackubin Calvert IV (born Raleigh, August 26, 1961), unmarried and without issue
          • Creagh Douglas Calvert (born Portsmouth, March 26, 1964), unmarried and without issue
          • Margaret Christina Calvert (born Newport News, January 6, 1969), married in 1997 James Allan Patterson (born Fort Monroe, March 9, 1963), and had issue
      • George Davis Calvert (Oxford, July 29, 1912 - ?), married in 1934 Jacquelin Marshall Meredith, and had issue:
        • son Calvert (January 1935 - January 1935)
        • George Davis Calvert, Jr. (born Columbia, June 1, 1936), married in Baltimore in 1963 Joanne Yundt, and had issue:
          • George Davis Calvert III (born Baltimore, December 13, 1963), unmarried and without issue
          • Hannah Meredith Calvert (born Baltimore, July 6, 1965), unmarried and without issue
          • William Norris Calvert (born Baltimore, May 3, 1969), unmarried and without issue
          • Zoë Albers Calvert (born Baltimore, April 23, 1974), unmarried and without issue
        • Charles Baltimore Calvert III (born 1937), married in 1967 Elizabeth McClure (born 1943), and had issue:
          • Charles Baltimore Calvert IV (born 1970), unmarried and without issue
          • Robert Nelson Calvert (born 1973), unmarried and without issue
    • George Henry Calvert III, of Washington, D.C. (MacAlpine, College Park, October 2, 1874 - Washington, October 20, 1950), married in Washington on April 26, 1905 Cornelia Russell Peyton Knight (1880 - 1972), and had issue:
      • Eleanor Calvert (Washington, July 25, 1911 - 2006), married firstly Vincent Carr Tompkins, Jr. (1904 - 1962), and had issue, married secondly in Washington on November 12, 1963 Edwin Steven Lewis (Morristown, July 12, 1898 - 1976), without issue, and married thirdly Ralph Wilson Power (died 1996), without issue
      • Margaret Peyton Calvert, of Annapolis, Maryland (Washington, February 17, 1913 - 1996), married in Washington on November 14, 1936 Captain James Dahlman Collett USN (Omaha, May 29, 1909/1911 - 1998), and had issue
    • Rosalie Eugenia Stier Calvert (July 29, 1876 - Fayetteville, September 5, 1964), married in Washington on May 17, 1910 her cousin George Henry Calvert II, of Fayetteville, North Carolina (Riversdale, January 21, 1879 - Fayetteville, May 9, 1946), and had issue
    • Charles Baltimore Calvert, Jr., of Washington, D.C. (MacAlpine, College Park, October 9, 1878 - Washington, April 15, 1964), married firstly on September 10, 1907 Lucy Harrison Dorsey (- May 22, 1910), without issue, and married secondly Mary Augusta Macatee, and had issue:
      • Mary Mackubin Calvert (born Washington, December 18, 1924), married in Washington on November 10, 1951 Stephen McCrea Conger, of Washington, D.C., and had issue
    • Elizabeth Steuart Calvert (February 1, 1882 - ?), married in Washington on June 5, 1906 William Douglas Nelson Thomas (1870 - Baltimore, June 12, 1924), and had issue
  • William Norris Calvert (October 12, 1845 - September 7, 1889), married on March 12, 1888 Laura Mathilda Hunt (August 31, 1855 - March 13, 1921), and had issue:
    • Rosalie Eugenia Calvert (March 15, 1888 - March 4, 1961), married William Westr Holland (September 18, 1881 - April 3, 1956), and had issue
  • Eugene Stier Calvert (December 19, 1846 - November 30, 1894), unmarried and without issue
  • Jules van Havre Calvert (October 30, 1848 - August 4, 1849)

References

  1. ^ "Riversdale Mansion". Retrieved November 2010
  2. ^ Daily National Republican. "Respect to the Memory of the Late Hon. Charles B. Calvert." May 18, 1864: 1 (Second Edition).
  3. ^ United States. Congress. Office of the Historian. Biographical Directory of the United States 1774 - Present. Office of the Historian. http://bioguide.congress.gov/biosearch/biosearch.asp (accessed December 7, 2012).
  4. ^ "Retrieved November 2010". William1.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-05-14.
Academic offices
Preceded by President of the Maryland Agricultural College
1860 (acting) 		Succeeded by
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Maryland's 6th congressional district
March 4, 1861 – March 3, 1863 		Succeeded by
seat abolished
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