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lots in Joppa, Baltimore County, 1783. His insol-
vency petition in 1792 listed 1 house and lot in
Joppa, plus 1,196 acres in Baltimore and Harford
counties, but 369 acres of this were already mort-
gaged, 200 acres had been given to his son, and
250 acres were still technically owned by his fa-
ther. Howard and his wife deeded the ca. 370
acres in Harford County she had brought with her
at their marriage to his trustee in 1794 to satisfy
his creditors. WEALTH AT DEATH. DIED: buried on
July 17, 1799, in St. John's Parish, Harford
County; size of estate unknown.
HOWARD, JOHN EAGER (1752-1827). BORN
on June 4, 1752, in Baltimore County; third son.
NATIVE: fourth generation. RESIDED, at "Belve-
dere," Baltimore City. FAMILY BACKGROUND. FA-
THER: Cornelius Howard (ca. 1706-1777).
MOTHER: Ruth (ca. 1721-1796), daughter of John
Eager. BROTHERS: George (1740-1766); Joshua
(1745-1767); Cornelius (1754-?), a member of the
Maryland House of Delegates in 1793; James
(1757-1806); and Philip (1762-1764). SISTERS: Ra-
chel (1743-1747); Ruth (1747-?), who married
Charles Elder; Rachel (1749-1750); Violetta
(1759-?), who married Joseph West; and Anne
(1765-1770). FIRST COUSIN: John Beale Howard
(by 1739-1799). MARRIED on May 18, 1787, Mar-
garet (Peggy) Oswald, daughter of Benjamin
Chew (1722-1810), an attorney of Philadelphia,
chief justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court
from 1774 to 1776, a Loyalist, judge, and presi-
dent of the Pennsylvania High Court of Errors
and Appeals from 1791 to 1808. CHILDREN. SONS:
George (1789-1846), the governor of Maryland
from 1831 to 1833, who married Prudence Gough,
daughter of Charles Ridgely, of "Hampton"
(1760-1829), the governor of Maryland from 1816
to 1819; John Eager, Jr. (?-by 1822), who married
Cornelia Reed; Benjamin Chew (1791-1872), a
member of the Maryland House of Delegates in
1824 and a representative to the U.S. Congress
from 1829 to 1833 and from 1835 to 1839; Charles
(1802-?); William; and James, who married Sophia
J. Ridgley. DAUGHTERS. Juliana Elizabeth (1796-
1821), who married John McHenry, son of James
McHenry (1753-1816); Sophia, who married Wil-
liam George Reed, of South Carolina. PRIVATE
CAREER. EDUCATION: received his early education
from private tutors. RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION: An-
glican, St. Thomas Parish and St. Paul's Parish,
Baltimore County. SOCIAL STATUS AND ACTIVI-
TIES: a member of the Jockey Club, Annapolis; a
founding member of the Society of Cincinnati. OC-
CUPATIONAL PROFILE: major developer of
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Baltimore City; planter; officeholder. PUBLIC CA-
REER. LEGISLATIVE SERVICE: Senate, Western
Shore, Term of 1791-1796: 1791-1792, 1792,
1793, 1794 (president), 1795, Term of 1796-1801:
1796 (resigned on December 1, 1796, after his
election to the U.S. Senate), Term of 1816-1821:
1816 (declined to serve because of his "delicate
state of.....health"). OTHER STATE OFFICES: gover-
nor, 1788-1791; associate justice, Third District,
appointed by May 1792, resigned by July 1792;
commissioner, Maryland Penitentiary, in office
1804. LOCAL OFFICES: Committee of Observation,
Baltimore County, elected 1774; committee to li-
cense suits of law, in office 1775; justice, Baltimore
County, 1785-1787; justice, Orphans' Court,
Baltimore County, 1786-1787; Maryland Senate
elector, Baltimore County and Baltimore Town,
elected 1786; commissioner, Baltimore Town, in
office 1792; Committee of Supply, Baltimore City,
War of 1812, in office 1812. MILITARY SERVICE:
captain, Second Maryland Battalion, Flying
Camp, July 1776; commander of a company at the
Battle of White Plains, October 1776; major,
Fourth Maryland Regiment, February 1777; lieu-
tenant colonel, Fifth Maryland Regiment, March
1778, transferred to the Second Maryland Regi-
ment, October 1779; fought in the Battle of Cow-
pens in January 1781 for which he received a
medal for heroism from Congress, March 1781;
fought in the battles of Guilford Courthouse,
Hobkirk's Hill, and Eutaw Springs, 1781;
wounded at the Battle of Eutaw Springs, Septem-
ber 1781; colonel, 1781; retired 1783; major gen-
eral, Third Division, Maryland Militia, commis-
sioned in May 1794, resigned by April 1795. OUT
OF STATE SERVICE: delegate, Continental Con-
gress, 1787-1788 (elected in December 1787, but
did not attend until January 1788); declined the
position as U.S. secretary of war, 1795; senator,
U.S. Congress, 1796-1797 (elected to fill vacancy;
seated on December 27, 1796), 1797-1799, 1799-
1801, 1801-1803; defeated as a Federalist party
candidate for vice president of the U.S., 1816.
STANDS ON PUBLIC/PRIVATE ISSUES: His philan-
thropic endeavors in Baltimore City included a
gift of land for the construction of the Washington
Monument, as well as land for various churches, a
cemetery for the interment of strangers, and a
market house. Howard offered land to the State of
Maryland if the state would move the captial from
Annapolis to Baltimore City. WEALTH DURING
LIFETIME. PERSONAL PROPERTY: 3 slaves inherited
from his father, 1777; 2 slaves inherited from his
mother, 1796; 13 slaves on his Anne Arundel
County farm, 1798. LAND AT FIRST ELECTION, he
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