George Calvert was born in Yorkshire, England and never traveled to Maryland. His parents were Leonard Calvert and Grace Crossland and he married Anne Mynne in 1604. The couple had eleven children: six sons and five daughters. His eldest son, Cecilius, became the second Lord Baltimore while Leonard Calvert, his second son, became the first proprietary governor of Maryland.

Having been, in effect, secretary of state to King James I, George Calvert was given the title Baron of Baltimore in 1625, after petitioning the king for a grant of land north of the Potomac River. The Charter of Maryland was granted in June 1632, shortly after his death in April of the same year. George Calvert’s son, Cecilius, received the Charter and planned the planting of the colony of Maryland.