Leonard Calvert, 1st Proprietary Governor of Maryland

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Leonard Calvert (1606 – June 9, 1647) was the first Governor of the Province of Maryland. He was the second son of George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, the first proprietor of the Province of Maryland. His elder brother Cecil, who inherited the colony and the title, appointed Leonard governor in his absence.

Colonization of Newfoundland

When Leonard's father received a patent for the Province of Avalon from James I of England in 1625, he relocated his newly converted Catholic family to Newfoundland. After a few years, he declared Avalon a failure and traveled to the Colony of Virginia, where he found the climate much more suitable, but met with an unwelcome reception from the Virginians.

Establishment of Maryland

In 1632, he returned to England where he negotiated an additional patent for the colony of Maryland from Charles I of England. However, before the papers could be executed, George died on 15 April, 1632.

On June 20, 1632, Cecil, the second Lord Baltimore executed the charter for the colony of Maryland that his father had negotiated. The charter consisted of 23 sections, but the most important conferred on Lord Baltimore and his heirs, besides the right of absolute ownership in the soil, certain powers, ecclesiastical as well as civil, resembling those possessed by the nobility of the Middle Ages. Leonard Calvert was appointed the colony's first Governor.

The Ark and The Dove

Two vessels, the Ark and the Dove, carrying over 300 settlers, sailed from the harbour of Cowes, 22 November, 1633, arriving at Point Comfort at the mouths of the James, Nansemond, and Elizabeth Rivers, in Virginia, 24 February, 1634. On 27 March they landed at what is now St. Mary's, then the site of a Native American village, and they began the work of establishing a settlement there.

Governor of Maryland

Following his brother's instructions, Leonard at first attempted to govern the country in an absolutist way, but in January 1635 he had to summon a colonial assembly. In 1638 the assembly forced him to govern according to the laws of England, and subsequently the right to initiate legislation passed to the assembly.

In 1638, Calvert seized a trading post in Kent Island established by the Virginian William Claiborne. In 1644 Claiborne led an uprising of Maryland Protestants. In 1643 Governor Calvert went to England to discuss policies with his brother the proprietor, leaving the affairs of the colony in charge of acting Governor Brent, his brother-in-law. Leonard Calvert married Ann Brent, daughter of Richard Brent. Later in 1643, Ann gave birth to a son, William Calvert and in 1644 a daughter. Leonard Calvert returned to Maryland in 1644 with his wife and child, but was soon forced to flee to Virginia. He returned at the head of an armed force in 1646 and reasserted proprietarial rule.

Leonard Calvert died of an illness in the summer of 1647. Before he died, he wrote a will naming Margaret Brent the executor of his estate.

In 1890 the state of Maryland erected an Obelisk monument to him and his wife at St. Mary's.

See also

List of colonial governors of Maryland

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colonial_governors_of_Maryland

References

1. "Leonard Calvert MSA SC 3520-198". Maryland State Archives. 2003-03-07.

http://www.msa.md.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/000100/000...

2. Sparks, Jared (1846). The Library of American Biography: George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown. pp. 16-.

http://books.google.com/books?id=RBsNAAAAIAAJ&pg=PR3&dq=Leonard+Cal...

3. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.

4. Dictionary of American Biography Base Set. American Council of Learned Societies, 1928-1936.

From Melissa Thompson Alexander's page on Governor Leonard Calvert:

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=madagtene...

•ID: I12077

•Name: Leonard * CALVERT

•Sex: M

•Title: Gov.

•Birth: 1606 in London, England 1

•Death: 9 JUN 1644 in SMC, MD 2

•Religion: Catholic

•Religion: Governor of MD

•Religion: 1633 passendger, Ark and Dove

•Note:

Charter of Maryland granted June 20, 1632

From Paul Tobler's notes:

According to Descendants of Virginia Calverts

Entry under Leonard's name under his father's (George) section

Born prob. 1610/11, was his father's second son. Lord Baltimore's first mention of Leonard in his will, places him with the three younger sons to whom he left "monies to be paied unto them att theire severall ages of One and Twenty... respectively." Towards the end of his will he says:

"Memorandum upon further Consideracon my will and pleasure is That my sonne Leonard Calvert in regard that he is allreadie a man and my second sonne, he shall have Nyne hundred pounds to be paide him within sixe monthes after my death."

The baptisms of St. Martins in the Fields carries the following: Josiah Caulford fil Mr. Geoge, Nov.21, 1610. There is no doubt in my mind that this was the record for Leonard Calvert. It is not the first time that an "L" has been called a "J." and a poorly written "Leonard" might easily be mistaken for "Josiah." Entry under Leonard's section

Bap. prob. Nov 21, 1610 (St. Martins in the Fields); d. June 9, 1647, St. Mary's Md.; m. abt 1643, prob. in England In the early part of his father's will, dated 14th April, 1632, Leonard Calvert is spoken of as being under age along with his brothers George and Henry. The latter part of this will changes that statement and says:"That my sonne Leonard Calvert in regard that he is already a man and my second son, he shall have Nyne hundred pounds to be paid him within sixe monthes after my death,"etc. (See will of Lord Baltimore in Part I.) This places his birth at 1610 or 1611.

No record has been found as yet of the time or place of Leonard Calvert's marriage, nor of the name of his wife, which has frequently been given as Anne Brent.

The following "Gleanings from English Wills" by Mrs. Russel Hastings in Maryland Magazine, Vol. 22, p.307,says:

"The identity of Leonard Calvert's wife (now that it is known that Margaret Brent's sister Anne was a non-juring spinster in 1651, ten years after the birth of Leonard Calvert's children) is undiscovered, although she was quite possibly a member of the prolific Brent family."

None of the Brents showed any interest in the children of Leonard Calvert, by will or otherwise, as it seems natural they would have done, had the children been nephew and niece.

Leonard Calvert accompanied his father to Newfoundland, and in August 1628, with his brother-in-law, William Peaseley, returned to England where he petitioned the king that his father might have a share in certain prizes taken from the French by the ships Benediction and Victory.

After the death of his father his brother Cecilius, Second Lord Baltimore, appointed him Governor of Maryland. The Calvert Papers state that he sailed from Gravesend, England, for Maryland with his brother George and other colonists, October 18, 1633. (See the First Settlement of Maryland, Part I)

Proceeding to Cowes, Isle of Wight, they took on Fathers White and Altham, and lay there at Cowes until November 22, 1633, when they weighed anchor and sailed for the Needles, the southwest point of the Isle of Wight, and began their adventurous voyage across the Atlantic in the two ships the Ark and the Dove.

They reached Maryland March 3, 1634, and landed founding the city of St. Mary's, March 27, 1634, which was named in honor of the Virgin Mary, it being the Feast of the Annunciation. (Spark's American Biography, 2d Series, Vol. 9, states: "The intended name for Maryland was Crescentia, but in compliment to the Queen, Henrietta Maria, a Catholic, daughter of Henry the Fourth of France, the name was changed to Maryland."

Neill in Founders of Maryland says: "His life as Governor of Maryland was not distinguished for boldness and originality, and his relative George Evelyn, the Commander of Kent Island, once sneeringly said, 'Who was his grandfather but a grazier? What was his father? What was Leonard Calvert himself at school but a dunce and a blockhead?'"

On April 1, 1643, before sailing for England on a summons from his brother, Lord Cecil Calvert, Leonard Calvert issued a proclamation appointing Mr. Giles Brent to be Lieutenant Governor, Admiral and Chief Captain of the Province during his absence. Sailing from Maryland about April 1, 1643, Governor Leonard Calvert must have arrived in England in the late spring of that year.

Returning to the Colony in the summer or early fall of 1644, probably places the date of his marriage almost immediately after his arrival in England, the birth of his son William as of 1644, and his daughter Anne as of 1645-this latter after his return to Maryland. No record of his marriage nor name of his wife has been found. The first mention of Govenor Leonard Calvert's son William Calvert is contained in the record of a suit recorded in Maryland Probate Records, 1658-1662. (Also see Chronicles of Colonial Maryland by James Walter Thomas, p. 62)

The suit brought by "the Lord Proprietary, guardian of William Calvert (then in England), son and heir-at-law of Governor Leonard Calvert, vs. Thomas Stone, son, and Verlinda Stone, widow of Governor William Stone," for the recovery of Governor Calvert's house and lot, at St. Mary's, and which Stone in 1650 had purchased of Margaret Brent, executrix of Governor Calvert, under the supposition that she had the power to convey it. The verdict was for the plaintiff for the land and costs-thus establishing the fact of both marriage and issue.

Calvert Papers, Vol.I, p. 244, states: September, 1663, Governor Charles Calvert wrote his father, Lord Cecil Calvert: "Att the same time my Cousin William's sister arrived here and is now at my house and has the care of my household affairs. As yett no good match does present, but I hope in a short time she may find one to her own content and yr. Lspp's desire."

In 1889, the State of Maryland purchased the eastern half of the old State House lot at St. Mary's to commemorate the spot where "civilization and christianity were first introduced into our state," erected on it an imposing and classic building knowns as the "Saint Mary's Female Seminary."

Since then the state of Maryland has done tardy justice to Maryland's first Governor, Leonard Calvert, by erecting to his memory a handsome granite shaft, placing it on the site of the "Old Mulberry"; and at the same time, in order to perpetuate the foundation lines of the old State House, planted at each of its twelve corners a massive granite marker. "The Shaft is thirty-six feet high and six feet square at the base. Above the inscription blocks are two bronze medallion plates bearing the Coat-of-Arms of Maryland."

(Thomas' Colonial Maryland.) The monument bears the following inscription: To the Memory of

LEONARD CALVERT

First Governor of Maryland

This monument is

Erected by

The State of Maryland

Erected on the site of the

OLD MULBERRY TREE

Under which the

First Colonists of Maryland Assembled

To Establish a Government

Where the Persecuted and Oppreseed of Every Creed

And every Clime might repose in peace and security,

Adore their common God, and enjoy the priceless

Blessings of civil and religious liberty.

Leonard Calvert

Second Son of George Calvert,

First Baron of Baltimore

and Anne, his wife,

Led the First Colonists to Maryland

November 22, 1633 - March 3, 1634

Founded Saint Mary's March 27, 1634

Died June 9, 1647

By his wisdom, justice, and fidelity, he fostered the

Infancy of the colony, guided it through great

Perils, and dying, left it at peace.

The Descendants and Successors of the men

He governed, here record

Their gratefule recognition of his virtues

November MDCCCXC

· The evidence that Leonard married Anne Brent is strong - very strong - but unproven, probably because of the religious envrionment at the time which caused many Catholic marriages to be made secretly and without written records.

Anne's sister, Margaret, was a remarkable, prominent and colorful character in her own right: an attorney (!) and very vocal advcate of womens' right to vote. She served both as Leonard's personal attorney and as Lord Baltimore's (Cecil) representative to the legislative body.

As regards your question specifically, I only know that the Brents, quite aside from association with the Calverts, were a large and very influential family both in England and in Maryland. Also quite controversial - Margaret was not particularly different from her relatives in that respect. It is highly likely that Brent descendants remain in the Maryland / Virginia region.

You might find my "Calvert Chronicles" (URL noted in the signature below) of some interest. The Chapter on "Cecil & Leonard" goes into more detail and includes portraits of Leonard and Margaret (the latter quite clearly "reading the Riot Act" to a room full of men)

Hope this helps to at least give you some general direction. Good luck

Pete Faoro & Shirley Calvert-Faoro

Visit "The Calvert Chronicles" at

http://calvert.cjb.net

Father: George * CALVERT b: 1579 in In or Near Kiplin, Yorkshire, England (Bolton Castle?)

Mother: Ann * MYNNE b: 20 NOV 1579 in Bexley, Hertfordshire, England

Marriage

1 Anne * BRENT b: BET 1612 AND 1622 in Admington, Gloucestershire, England

•Married: 1642

•Note: George Calvert , cybercat@ntr.net writes:

..."I have not any proof of Leonard's marriage to Ann. The belief has long been that Leonard Calvert did mary a "Brent", and many of us continue to show "Ann Brent" as being his wife. Actually, he probably married one of Ann's cousins, since there is written evidence that Ann was sitll using her maiden name (Brent) long after Leonard's death.

Children

1. William * CALVERT b: 1642 in MD or Yorkshire, England

2. Ann CALVERT b: 1644 in Yorkshire, England

Sources:

1.Paul Tobler e-mail tobler@hctc.net

2.Title: Maryland Calandar of Wills, Vol 1

Leonard Calvert, second son of the first Lord Baltimore, b. 1606, in England; d. June 9, 1647, in Maryland. He was Prothonotary and Keeper of the Writs in Oonnaught and Thomond (Ireland) in 1621. In 1633 he was appointed by his brother, Cecil, second Lord Baltimore, Governor of Maryland, whither he sailed with his brother, George Calvert, Jr., and their fellow settlers on the "Ark" and the "Dove." He governed the Province wisely and returned to England in 1641/2 to consult with his brother, the Baron. After a lengthy visit (during which his marriage was solemnized) he returned to Maryland in 1643/4 (Giles Brent, his brother-in-law, having been left in charge of the Province during his absence) and continued to govern until his death four years later. While in England he had married (1642) Anne Brent (of whose life little or nothing has been found, but it would seem that she pre-deceased him), a sister of Mary, Giles, Fulke and "Mistress Margaret Brent," who came to Maryland in 1638. Anne Brent was a daughter of Richard and Elizabeth (Reed) Brent of Larke Stoke and Admington in Gloucestershire and a granddaughter of Giles and Katherine (Greville) Reed of Tusburie and Witten. Thru Katherine Greville the lineage runs back to John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, sons of King Edward III, of England. Upon his death-bed Governor Leonard Calvert appointed Margaret Brent, his sister-in-law, executrix and attorney for his estate. He was Lord of St. Gabriel's, St. Michael's and Trinity Manors. ("Colonial Families of the United States," volume W, page 289; Prov. Ct. Archives. 1683, page 366; "Chronicles of Colonial Maryland," page 53, note).

ISSUE:

William, b. 1642/3

Anne, b. 1644; d. c. 1714; m. (1) 1664, Baker Brooke (1628- 1679), Lord of De la Brooke Manor; m. (2), c. 1680, her cousin, Henry Brent (d. 1693) ; m. (3), c. 1694, Judge Thomas Tasker (d. 1699); m. (4), c. 1700, Richard Marsham (d. 1714). Note: The question of Anne Calvert's husbands is still perplexing, but the above account seems the most satisfactory and probable.

William Calvert, b. in England 1642/3; d. in Maryland Jan. 10, 1682. He came to the Province in 1661, received a large grant of land from his uncle (Cecil), Lord Baltimore, and inherited certain property of his father, including "Governor's Fields" and the mansion-house at St. Mary's City. He was Principal Secretary of Maryland and a man of high standing. His life was cut short by drowning when he was trying to ford the swollen Wicomico River in 1682. The grant of land from his uncle, the Lord Proprietory, was called "Pis- cataway Manor," 2400 acres of which he sold to Charles Egerton, Sr. His home was "Calvert's Rest," on Calvert's Bay, which is still standing. He was a member of the House of Burgesses and of the Council; he was also Deputy Governor of the Province. In 1661/2 he married Elizabeth Stone (who survived him), eldest daughter of Governor William Stone (1603-1660) and Verlinda Cotton (d. 1675), daughter of Andrew and Joane Cotton of Bunbury, Cheshire, England, and a sister of the Rev. Dr. William Cotton of Northampton County, Va.

ISSUE:

Charles, b. 1662; d. 1733; m. (1) 1690, Mary Howson, daughter and co-heir of Robert Howson (or Howison) of Stafford County, Va., where he (Charles Calvert) resided for a time; m. (2) Barbara (Kirke?), daughter of Martin and Mary Kirke, of St. Mary's County, who (Mary Kirke) in her will of 1734 mentions her daughter "Barbary (sic) Calvert." She survived Charles Calvert and married, secondly, Andrew Foy.

Elizabeth, b. 1644; d. 1684; m. Dec. 20, 1681, Captain James Neale, Lord of Woolaston Manor.

George, b. 1668.

-----------------------------------------------

George Calvert, b. 1668; d. after 1739; m. c. 1690, Elizabeth Doyne. (Two other wives have been mentioned, viz: Anne Notley and Hannah Neale).

ISSUE:

Charles, b. 1691.

John, b. c. 1692

George, b. ?

James (?). Elizabeth, William, Thomas (?).

Leonard Calvert, son of Sir George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, and Anne (Mynne) Calvert, was born in England in 1606, baptized 21 November 1610, and died in Maryland 9 June 1647. He married in England, Anne Brent, daughter of Richard and Elizabeth (Reed) Brent of Larke Stoke and Admington in Gloucestershire, and sister of Mary, Giles, Fulke, and Margaret Brent, who came to Maryland in 1638.

   Leonard went to Avalon but returned to England in 1628.  He was admitted to Gray’s Inn 8 August 1633.  As agent for his elder brother, who fitted out the Ark and the Dove for the voyage across the Atlantic to settle Maryland, he and his brother George sailed with the party from Gravesend, England, reaching Maryland 3 March 1633/4.  Upon landing, the party founded the city of St. Mary’s, 25 March 1834.  Leonard was Lieutenant-General of the province and commissioned Governor in 1637. 

Leonard Calvert (1606 - June 9, 1647) was the first Governor of the Province of Maryland. He was the second son of George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, the first proprietor of the Province of Maryland. His elder brother Cecil, who inherited the colony and the title, appointed Leonard governor in his absence.

Colonization of Newfoundland When Leonard's father received a patent for the Province of Avalon from James I of England in 1625, he relocated his newly converted Catholic family to Newfoundland. After a few years, he declared Avalon a failure and traveled to the Colony of Virginia, where he found the climate much more suitable, but met with an unwelcome reception from the Virginians.

Establishment of Maryland In 1632, he returned to England where he negotiated an additional patent for the colony of Maryland from Charles I of England. However, before the papers could be executed, George died on 15 April, 1632.

On June 20, 1632, Cecil, the second Lord Baltimore executed the charter for the colony of Maryland that his father had negotiated. The charter consisted of 23 sections, but the most important conferred on Lord Baltimore and his heirs, besides the right of absolute ownership in the soil, certain powers, ecclesiastical as well as civil, resembling those possessed by the nobility of the Middle Ages. Leonard Calvert was appointed the colony's first Governor.

Two vessels, the Ark and the Dove, carrying over 300 settlers, sailed from the harbour of Cowes, 22 November, 1633, arriving at Point Comfort at the mouths of the James, Nansemond, and Elizabeth Rivers, in Virginia, 24 February, 1634. On 27 March they landed at what is now St. Mary's, then the site of a Native American village, and they began the work of establishing a settlement there.

Following his brother's instructions, Leonard at first attempted to govern the country in an absolutist way, but in January 1635 he had to summon a colonial assembly. In 1638 the assembly forced him to govern according to the laws of England, and subsequently the right to initiate legislation passed to the assembly.

In 1638 Calvert seized a trading post in Kent Island established by the Virginian William Claiborne. In 1644 Claiborne led an uprising of Maryland Protestants. In 1643 Governor Calvert went to England to discuss policies with his brother the proprietor, leaving the affairs of the colony in charge of acting Governor Brent, his brother-in-law. Leonard Calvert married Ann Brent, daughter of Richard Brent. Later in 1643, Ann gave birth to a son, William Calvert and in 1644 a daughter. Leonard Calvert returned to Maryland in 1644 with his wife and child, but was soon forced to flee to Virginia. He returned at the head of an armed force in 1646 and reasserted proprietarial rule.

Leonard Calvert died of an illness in the summer of 1647. Before he died, he wrote a will naming Margaret Brent the executor of his estate.

In 1890 the state of Maryland erected a monument to him and his wife at St. Mary's.

Leonard Calvert (1606-1647)

Leonard Calvert, lead the sailing expedition of the Ark and Dove to Maryland in 1633. Leonard's older brother, Cecil Calvert, Second Lord Baltimore, had appointed Leonard to be Maryland's first Governor. Leonard carried with him a letter containing Cecil's "Instructions" These "Instructions" described how to establish Maryland's first elected Assembly and provided a set of laws for the colony.

As Governor, Leonard was in charge of Maryland's militia, sea forces, court system and finances1 . When the colonists landed in Virginia, Leonard hired Captain Henry Fleet to act as a guide. Leonard knew that Capt. Fleet would be a good guide, because Fleet had lived with Native Americans and spoke their languages2 .

In February 1634, the two ships approached the Chesapeake Bay for the first time. Leonard and Captain Fleet decided to go out and meet with the head chieftains of the Native Americans before the colonists landed. The Indians called their head chieftains by the title werowance. The Werowance of the Yoacomoco Indians agreed to sell a village to the Calverts in exchange for gifts, trading guarantees and protection from their enemies, the Susquehannock and Iroquois Indians. The Yoacomoco village property purchased by Leonard became the English settlement of St. Mary's City on March 27, 1634.3 .

Leonard's years as Governor of the new colony were often difficult. William Claiborne went to the King of England and claimed that the Calvert family had no right to land in Maryland. Claiborne and his fellow Kent Islanders had settled there and established a trading post with the Indians in 1631. King Charles I ruled in favor of the Calverts and this made Claiborne and other Virginians enemies of the Maryland colony. The Susquehannock Indians also raided and attacked English settlements as well as Piscataway Indian villages during the 1630s and early 1640s.

Leonard did not stay in Maryland throughout the time he was Governor. Twice he left the colony to visit England in 1641/42 and 1643/44. He had a family in England, but because Catholic marriages were kept secret in England we do not know for certain who his wife was. Some historians believe that Leonard's wife was Ann Brent, sister of Margaret and Giles Brent4 . We do know that Leonard had a son named William and a daughter named Anne who grew up in England.

To make matters worse for Leonard, the English Civil War came to the shores of the Chesapeake Bay in the 1640s. Parliamentary supporter, Captain Richard Ingle and his men attacked and plundered St. Mary's City in 1645. Ingle captured some of Maryland's leaders. Some historians believe that Captain Ingle coordinated his attack with William Claiborne5 .

Certainly, Ingle wanted to claim the Maryland colony for England's Parliament. Leonard escaped capture and controlled Maryland's armies from a headquarters in Virginia. Leonard and his militia restored Proprietary control of the Maryland colony in 1647. However, Leonard died of an illness in the summer of the same year. Before he died, Leonard wrote a will naming Margaret Brent, the executor of his estate. As executor, Margaret had to follow Leonard's command to "Take all & pay all." This meant that he told Margaret to use money from both his estate and his brother, Lord Baltimore's estate to pay the militia men who had defended Maryland. Leonard's will also named Thomas Greene as the new Governor of Maryland.

• Reference: FamilySearch Genealogy - SmartCopy: Mar 3 2019, 0:32:48 UTC

Immigration from England 23 November 1633 Cowes, England

Immigration 25 March 1634 Maryland, British Colonial America

from 1633 to 1647 Description 1st Proprietary Governor of Province of Maryland

Emigration 1640s Virginia