Charles Carroll, founding father and "an exemplar of Catholic and republican virtue" [Ecumenical]

InsightScoop.com ^ | on webiste July 4, 2011 | interview with Dr. Bradley J. Birzer

[Salvation]

Carroll always put the needs of the res publica ahead of his own personal self interest. In fact, I couldn't find an instance in Carroll's public life where he did not always put the good of the republic ahead of his own good. He served as a model leader.

What an outstanding stateman!

[Salvation]

Happy Independence Day Ping!

[Venturer]

Hey , I am related to that guy, Really.

[Salvation]

Not everyone can say that! LOL! Wow, to have a founding father as a relative!

[Smokin' Joe]

Interesting. Me, too.

[Biggirl]

A decendent of Charles Carroll?

[ConservativeDude]

Of course the most important thing he did was hide the treasure map on the back of the Declaration.

Oh, wait, that was a movie.

[unkus]

Hey , I am related to that guy, Really.

---

Me, too. Really.

[Venturer]

Yes, I suppose there are a lot of us.

Generations have been born.

[Biggirl]

Today I had heard on the local radio news an organization that is for the decendents of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence. Afterwards I looked up the organization and had posted an article about it on FR about one of the signers, a Whipple from New Hampshire who does not have direct decendents. Here is an article about Charles Carroll:

http://www.dsdi1776.com/Signers/Charles%20Carroll.html

[unkus]

Thank you.

[Biggirl]

Your welcome!

[Salvation]

Maybe you are cousins or even closer?

[unkus]

Very distant, for certain.

[muawiyah]

Thanks good reference. Hadn't read about Carroll much in recent years, but went through those bios of all the signers long ago.

They had a bright and shining vision of what could be and they set about doing what they could to create that future.

A note to folks with a Charles Carroll ancestry, that's not the only Catholic in the family ~ by the time the Brits set about de-establishing the Catholics in the Maryland colony there were more than enough mixed marriages (Catholic/Protestant) to allow the broader families to protect most of the estates from loss.

What you might want to look at are the Smallwood families ~ one of their number also signed the Declaration but left no progeny ~ but his relatives did. They and others are associated with the core Catholic community centered on St. Mary's Maryland. That particular community sent its own "colonies" West into Kentucky and other locations over the years ~ and many of those colonies still send their kids back to the local college.

They maintained that same pattern of mixed marriages, but always a concern for the Catholics that they not be extinguished.

I think you'll find a number of the Carroll descendants ALSO mixed up in the Smallwoods.

One of my ancestors was named Mary Ann Elizabeth Smallwood Murphy ~ and if you've ever had a nightmare tracking genealogy, looking for a particular Mary Murphy is definitely in that category. That's still one of the all time favorite American names.

[Ciexyz]

What a shining example this man has been for the generations that followed him.

[the OlLine Rebel]

MD ping.

Great Founders, Great MDers.

[the OlLine Rebel]

His cousin, John Carroll, 1st archbishop of the USA, consecrated the United States to Mary.

[Salvation]

I didn’t make that connection. Thanks.

[MamaB]

I am into genealogy. I have never seen so many people related to someone as there are to this family. Nearly every family in my tree are related to him in some way or another. Never found our just how many kids, grandkids, etc he had but there had to be many.