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A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature 1635-1789 by Edward C. Papenfuse, et. al.
Volume 426, Page 184   View pdf image (33K)
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CAL BIOGRAPHIES

FILE lawyer, admitted to the following courts:
Cecil County by 1727; Talbot County by Novem-
ber 1727; Queen Anne's County by March 1729;
Kent County by June 1731; Provincial Court by
October 1732; Court of Chancery by 1748.
Planter. PUBLIC CAREER. LEGISLATIVE SERVICE:
Lower House, Kent County, 1739-1741 (Laws
Cv-3; Aggrievances 3), 1742-1744 (Laws 1, 2).
LOCAL OFFICE: deputy commissary, Kent County,
in office 1748-1755. WEALTH DURING LIFETIME.
LAND AT FIRST ELECTION: 45 acres in Kent
County, plus 2 lots in Chestertown, Kent County.

SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN LAND BETWEEN FIRST

ELECTION AND DEATH: acquired 3,731 acres in
Kent County (2,900 acres by deed of gift from
Richard Bennett), and sold 45 acres in Kent
County, 1740-1754; bought 1 water lot in Ches-
tertown, Kent County, and sold 3 lots and deeded
another lot as a gift to his daughter and son-in-
law, 1751. WEALTH AT DEATH. DIED: will pro-

bated on April 22, 1755, in Kent County. PER-
SONAL PROPERTY: TEV, £1,058.0.2 current money
(including 15 slaves and 78 oz. silver); FB,
£273.10.9. LAND. 802 acres in Kent County.

CALDWELL, JOHN (?-1747). BORN: of age by
1712. NATIVE: probably second generation. RE-
SIDED in Somerset County, probably in Salisbury.

FAMILY BACKGROUND. FATHER John Caldwell (?-

by 1717/18), who owned land and possibly re-
sided in Sussex County, Delaware; illiterate.
MOTHER: Gennett. BROTHER Robert (?-by
1717/18), who married Margaret. MARRIED Mary.
CHILDREN. SONS Joshua, of age by 1731, who was
the sheriff of Somerset County from 1731 to 1734,
a justice of Somerset County from 1745 to 1756
(quorum, 1751-1756), and who married Elizabeth;
John (?-1775), a mariner, who married Mary; and
Samuel (?-by 1775), a minor in 1747, who was
apprenticed to Robert Mills. DAUGHTERS. Mary,
who married William Venables; Sarah, who mar-
ried Joseph Seroggen. PRIVATE CAREER. EDUCA-
TION literate. RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION: probably
Presbyterian. SOCIAL STATUS AND ACTIVITIES:
Gent., 1719. OCCUPATIONAL PROFILE: shingler,
1713; involved in extensive land speculation, ca.
1713 to ca. 1739; contracted to shingle the State
House, make dormer windows, lay the platform
and build a handsome cupola and good flagstaff
for the building in 1721, for which he was paid
£150.0.0 sterling; owned one-fourth of a sloop and
mills (possibly sawmills) at the time of his death.
PUBLIC CAREER. LEGISLATIVE SERVICE: Lower

House, Somerset County, 1719-1721/22, 1732-
1734. LOCAL OFFICES overseer of the road,

Wicomico Hundred, Somerset County, appointed
1725; justice, Somerset County, by 1725-1733
(quorum, 1725-1733); commissioner to purchase
land and to lay out a town at the head of the
Wicomico River, Somerset County, 1732. WEALTH

DURING LIFETIME. LAND AT FIRST ELECTION: ca.

2,300 acres in Somerset County (ca. 800 acres in-
herited from his father and brother; ca. 1,500 acres
by purchase). SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN LAND

BETWEEN FIRST ELECTION AND DEATH. Obtained

over 1,600 additional acres in Somerset County,
but disposed of over 2,500 acres in Somerset
County; between ca. 1713 and ca. 1739 he was
involved in extensive land speculation, which is
not included in the figures given above. WEALTH
AT DEATH. DIED: between July 11 and August 19,
1747, in Somerset County. PERSONAL PROPERTY:
TEV, at least £449.1.6 (including 5 slaves, books,
one-fourth part of sloop, part of a cargo aboard a
sloop, and 4,000 feet of plank). LAND: ca. 1,000
acres in Somerset County with mills (possibly saw-
mills), plus a house and lot, probably in Salisbury.

CALVERT, BENEDICT (ca. 1724-1788). BORN,
ca. 1724 in England; an illegitimate son who was
known in childhood as Benedict Swingate. IMMI-
GRATED: in 1742 from England; sent by his father
and placed under the care of Dr. George Steuart
(1700-ca. 1784), of Annapolis. RESIDED: in An-
napolis, Anne Arundel County, 1742; "Mt. Airy,"
Prince George's County, by 1765. FAMILY BACK-
GROUND. FATHER: Charles Calvert, 5th Lord
Baltimore (1699-1751). MOTHER: (name un-
known). HALF BROTHER: Frederick Calvert, 6th
Lord Baltimore (1731/32-1771). HALF SISTERS:
Frances Dorothy (1734-1736); Caroline, who mar-
ried Robert Eden (1741-1784); and Louisa, who
married John Browning, Esq. HALF NEPHEW:
Henry Harford (ca. 1759-1834). MARRIED on
April 27> 1748, Elizabeth (1730-1798), daughter
of Charles Calvert (?-1733/34). Her guardians
were George Plater (1695-1755) and Onorio
Razolini. Her brother was Charles (1723-1724).
Her sister was Ann (1726-by 1748). CHILDREN.
SONS. Charles (1756-1774), who died at Eton, En-
gland; Edward Henry (1766-1846), who married
Elizabeth Biscoe (Briscoe); George (1768-1838),
who married Rosalie Stier; John; William; Philip
(?-died young); Leonard (?-died young); Cecilius
(?-died young); and Robert. DAUGHTERS: Rebecca
(1749-?); Eleanor (1753-1811), who married first,
on February 3, 1774, Col. John Parke Custis (?-
1781), stepson of George Washington (1731/32-
1799), and second, in 1783 Dr. David Stuart, of
Virginia; Elizabeth, who married on June 15,

184



 

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A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature 1635-1789 by Edward C. Papenfuse, et. al.
Volume 426, Page 184   View pdf image (33K)
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