Charles Benedict Calvert (August 23, 1808 – May 12, 1864) was an American politician who was a U.S. Representative from the sixth district of Maryland, serving one term from 1861–1863. He was an early backer of the inventors of the telegraph, and in 1856 he founded the Maryland Agricultural College, the first agricultural research college in America, now known as the University of Maryland. He was a direct descendant of the Lords Baltimore, proprietary governors of the Province of Maryland from 1631 until 1776.
Calvert was born on August 23, 1808 at his family's estate at Riversdale, Maryland. His mother was Rosalie Eugenia Stier (1778–1821), the daughter of a wealthy Belgian aristocrat, Baron Henri Joseph Stier (1743–1821) and his wife Marie Louise Peeters. The Stiers had fled to America in the early Nineteenth Century as Napoleon's armies occupied their home town of Antwerp. Calvert's father, the wealthy planter George Calvert (1768–1838), was the son of the Loyalist politician Benedict Swingate Calvert (c.1730–1788) - a natural son of the penultimate Proprietary Governor of Maryland, Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore - and his wife Elizabeth Calvert (1731 – 1788).
Calvert completed his preparatory studies at Bladensburg Academy of Maryland. Later, he received a certificate of completion from the University of Virginia at Charlottesville in 1827, even though he attended the university spuriously, and engaged in agricultural pursuits and stock breeding.
Science and agriculture
Calvert was a strong backer of the inventors of the telegraph, Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail. On April 9, 1844, Morse and Vail successfully tested their device by transmitting a message from the nation's capital to the Calvert home, Riversdale. This test came 45 days before the more celebrated event when Morse sent the message "What hath God wrought?" from Washington to Baltimore, along telegraph lines that ran above the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad line near Riversdale.
Calvert became president of the Prince George's County, Maryland Agricultural Society and the Maryland State Agricultural Society, and served as vice president of the United States Pomological Society. He founded the first agricultural research college in America (later known as the Maryland Agricultural College at College Park, and presently known as the University of Maryland, College Park) which was chartered in 1856. Calvert was also one of the early advocates for the establishment of the United States Department of Agriculture.
Calvert served as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates in 1839, 1843, and 1844. In 1860, Calvert was elected as a Unionist to the Thirty-seventh Congress, serving from March 4, 1861 until March 3, 1863, but was not a candidate for renomination in 1862. He resumed agricultural pursuits until his death at Riversdale, and is interred in Calvert Cemetery.
Marriage and children
Charles Calvert married Charlotte Augusta Norris (Baltimore, March 11, 1816 - December 7, 1876) in Baltimore on June 6, 1839. They had six children:
Ella Calvert (Baltimore, March 20, 1840 - Washington, February 17, 1902), married on September 3, 1861 Duncan George Campbell, and had issueGeorge Henry Calvert II, of Washington, D.C. (Riversdale, November 29, 1841 - Washington, 1919), married on December 26, 1872 Frances Seybolt, and had issue:Julia Stuart Calvert (Washington, December 1, 1873 - 1957), unmarried and without issueCharles Benedict Calvert II (Riversdale, July 21, 1875 - 1935), unmarried and without issueGeorge Henry Calvert IV, of Fayetteville, North Carolina (Riversdale, January 21, 1879 - Fayetteville, May 9, 1946), married in Washington on May 17, 1910 his cousin Rosalie Eugenia Stier Calvert (July 29, 1876 - Fayetteville, September 5, 1964), and had:Rosalie Eugenia Stier Calvert (Springfield, May 14, 1911 -?), married firstly in Frederick on May 31, 1928 John Alfred Myers, without issue, and married secondly in Dunn on October 3, 1940 David Randolph Ray, of Fayeteville, North Carolina (Linden, October 18, 1903 - Fayetteville, May 5, 1972), and had issueCecilius (Cecil) Calvert (Washington, August 18, 1881 - 1947), unmarried and without issueJohn Wentworth Calvert (Washington, December 12, 1884 - 1947), unmarried and without issueCharles Baltimore Calvert, of Maryland (Riversdale, February 5, 1843 - McAlpine, College Park, August 31, 1906), married in Baltimore on June 14, 1866 Eleanor Mackubin (August 18, 1840 - April 30, 1932), and had issue:Eleanor Mackubin Calvert (November 11, 1867 - 1920), married on June 8, 1892 William Gibson Carey (ca. 1865 - ?), and had issueHester Virginia Calvert (Riversdale, Bladensburg, July 11, 1869 - Fayetteville, March 22, 1961), married in Washington on September 20, 1899 Henry Walter Lilly, of Fayetteville, North Carolina (Fayetteville, March 10, 1856 - Fayetteville, October 11, 1938), and had issueCharlotte Augusta Calvert (October 12, 1870 - January 11, 1953), married on April 3, 1899 Thomas Spence (March 21, 1867 - February 12, 1937), and had issueCharles Benedict Calvert II (November 8, 1871 - July 2, 1872)Richard Creagh Mackubin Calvert, of Oxford, North Carolina (MacAlpine, College Park, December 31, 1872 - Rustling Oaks, Oxford, April 22, 1947), married in Washington on October 18, 1906 Zoe Ammen Davis (Washington, June 27, 1882 - Oxford, October 1, 1953), and had issue:Richard Creagh Mackubin Calvert, Jr. (Mysore, November 29, 1907 - Newport News, February 28, 1968), married in Oxford on September 8, 1934 Margaret Taylor Lyon (Pittsburg, May 3, 1912 - ?), daughter of Otho De Vane Lyon, of Creedmoor, North Carolina, and had issue:Zoe Antoinette Calvert (born Oxford, August 28, 1935), married in London on October 1, 1961 Keshap Chander Sen (Pakistan, British Raj, July 6, 1926 - 2008), and had issueRichard Creagh Mackubin Calvert III, of Oxford, North Carolina (Rustling Oaks, Oxford, May 2, 1937 - Newport News, June 17, 2009), married in Newport News on August 27, 1960 (Charlotte) Verena Weimer (born West Chester, October 28, 1938), and had issue:Richard Creagh Mackubin Calvert IV (born Raleigh, August 26, 1961), unmarried and without issueCreagh Douglas Calvert (born Portsmouth, March 26, 1964), unmarried and without issueMargaret Christina Calvert (born Newport News, January 6, 1969), married in 1997 James Allan Patterson (born Fort Monroe, March 9, 1963), and had issueGeorge Davis Calvert (Oxford, July 29, 1912 - ?), married in 1934 Jacquelin Marshall Meredith, and had issue:son Calvert (January 1935 - January 1935)George Davis Calvert, Jr. (born Columbia, June 1, 1936), married in Baltimore in 1963 Joanne Yundt, and had issue:George Davis Calvert III (born Baltimore, December 13, 1963), unmarried and without issueHannah Meredith Calvert (born Baltimore, July 6, 1965), unmarried and without issueWilliam Norris Calvert (born Baltimore, May 3, 1969), unmarried and without issueZoë Albers Calvert (born Baltimore, April 23, 1974), unmarried and without issueCharles Baltimore Calvert III (born 1937), married in 1967 Elizabeth McClure (born 1943), and had issue:Charles Baltimore Calvert IV (born 1970), unmarried and without issueRobert Nelson Calvert (born 1973), unmarried and without issueGeorge Henry Calvert III, of Washington, D.C. (MacAlpine, College Park, October 2, 1874 - Washington, October 20, 1950), married in Washington on April 26, 1905 Cornelia Russell Peyton Knight (1880 - 1972), and had issue:Eleanor Calvert (Washington, July 25, 1911 - 2006), married firstly Vincent Carr Tompkins, Jr. (1904 - 1962), and had issue, married secondly in Washington on November 12, 1963 Edwin Steven Lewis (Morristown, July 12, 1898 - 1976), without issue, and married thirdly Ralph Wilson Power (died 1996), without issueMargaret Peyton Calvert, of Annapolis, Maryland (Washington, February 17, 1913 - 1996), married in Washington on November 14, 1936 Captain James Dahlman Collett USN (Omaha, May 29, 1909/1911 - 1998), and had issueRosalie Eugenia Stier Calvert (July 29, 1876 - Fayetteville, September 5, 1964), married in Washington on May 17, 1910 her cousin George Henry Calvert II, of Fayetteville, North Carolina (Riversdale, January 21, 1879 - Fayetteville, May 9, 1946), and had issueCharles Baltimore Calvert, Jr., of Washington, D.C. (MacAlpine, College Park, October 9, 1878 - Washington, April 15, 1964), married firstly on September 10, 1907 Lucy Harrison Dorsey (- May 22, 1910), without issue, and married secondly Mary Augusta Macatee, and had issue:Mary Mackubin Calvert (born Washington, December 18, 1924), married in Washington on November 10, 1951 Stephen McCrea Conger, of Washington, D.C., and had issueElizabeth Steuart Calvert (February 1, 1882 - ?), married in Washington on June 5, 1906 William Douglas Nelson Thomas (1870 - Baltimore, June 12, 1924), and had issueWilliam Norris Calvert (October 12, 1845 - September 7, 1889), married on March 12, 1888 Laura Mathilda Hunt (August 31, 1855 - March 13, 1921), and had issue:Rosalie Eugenia Calvert (March 15, 1888 - March 4, 1961), married William Westr Holland (September 18, 1881 - April 3, 1956), and had issueEugene Stier Calvert (December 19, 1846 - November 30, 1894), unmarried and without issueJules van Havre Calvert (October 30, 1848 - August 4, 1849)
