VII. Charles Carroll of Annapolis

Charles Carroll the Settler died in 1720, leaving a wife and
four children: Charles Carroll of Annapolis (his legal heir), two
daughters,  and another son, Daniel Carroll. The Settler's estate
was approximately ninety-thousand pounds sterling and included
sixty-thousand acres of land which passed to the brothers as
tenants in common. Among the landholdings was the claim to the
approximately five hundred acres on the north shore of the
Patapsco Basin. In 1723 Charles Carroll of Annapolis attained
majority and assumed control of the family's fortune. Since the
Maryland Assembly excluded Catholics from the political life of
the colony, the task had his complete attention.29

A test of young Carroll's ability to manage the family
holdings was not long in coming. His first actions were defen-
sive. Around 1725 Edward Fell, a Quaker from Lancashire, England,
set up a store within the ancient metes and bounds of Cole's
Harbour on the east bank of Jones Falls ( Figure 3). Fell was an
"enterprising land-hunter" who was looking for opportunities to
obtain land at a discount.30

Under the procedures established by his "Lordship's agent
for management of land affairs within the Province", land
discovered to be escheat would be patented to the discoverer at
one-third off the ordinary price. Fell sought escheat warrants to
both the waterfront portion of Bold Venture and to all of Cole's
Harbour. He employed Richard Gist to prepare surveys. The Carroll

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