Charles County, MD biographies

Joseph Lancaster Brent

BRENT, Joseph Lancaster, soldier and politician: b. Charles county, Md., Nov. 20,1826; d. Baltimore, 1905. After graduation at Georgetown College, D. C., Brent went to California during the excitement about gold and was for two terms a member of the California legislature. In 1861 he enlisted in the Confederate artillery, and during 1861-62 was chief of ordnance under Gen. John B. Magruder in Virginia. During the next two years he was in Louisiana as Gen. Richard Taylor's chief of artillery. In 1863 Brent planned and executed the capture of the Federal gunboat Indicmola on the Mississippi below Vicksburg. In 1864 he was made brigadier-general, and during the remainder of the war commanded the cavalry lines extending from the Arkansas River to the Gulf. From 1865-70 he practiced law in Baltimore. From 1870-1889 he was a prominent sugar planter in Louisiana, and during his residence there served two terms in the Louisiana Agricultural Society. In 1889 he retired and returned to Baltimore.

[Source: THE SOUTH in the Building of the Nation Volume XI; Ed. by James Curtis Ballagh, Walter Lynwood Fleming & Southern Historical Publication Society; Publ. 1909; Transcribed and submitted by Andrea Stawski Pack.]

Brent, William

St. Martinsville, LA (St. Martin Parish)

Brent, William, congressman, was born in Charles Co., Md. In 1823-29, he was a representative from Louisiana to the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth congresses. He died July 7, 1848, in St. Martinsville, LA.

[Herringshaw's National Library of American Biography: Contains Thirty-five Thousand Biographies of the Acknowledged Leaders of Life and Thought of the United States, by William Herringshaw, 1909 - Transcribed by Therman Kellar]

The English proprietor of colonial Maryland, Charles Calvert, 3d Baron Baltimore (1637-1715), tried unsuccessfully to impose feudal authority on his colony in the late 17th century.

Charles Calvert was born on Aug. 27, 1637, the son of Cecilius Calvert, 2d Baron Baltimore, and Ann Arundell, daughter of a prominent Catholic aristocrat. Calvert's life is inseparable from the colony projected by his grandfather, George Calvert, and settled by his father. Maryland was unique among the American colonies for the tenacity the Calverts exhibited in upholding their proprietary claims. Inasmuch as these claims were largely based on an outmoded system of feudal privileges, deriving from a royal charter, bitter controversies arose between each proprietor and his subjects. These conflicts wracked Maryland from its inception, but they developed greatest intensity under Charles Calvert.

Calvert was appointed governor in 1661, succeeding as proprietor when his father died in 1675. He brought to the governorship an unyielding concept of authority. Although compassionate and dedicated to Maryland's welfare, Calvert judged the value of every public act against his desire to protect his proprietary interests. He was unable to embrace the opposition or to reach out beyond his relatives and Catholic friends for help in governing Maryland. There were complaints about his alleged antagonism to Protestants and the disproportion of Catholics appointed to provincial offices. In 1670 Calvert restricted the franchise and called to the assembly only half the delegates elected. He interfered with the rights of the lower house, vetoed legislative acts years after they had been passed, and appointed to the highest offices men of little ability.

There were major upheavals in 1659, 1676, and 1681, during which Calvert's proprietary authority was seriously challenged. While Calvert was in England, a revolution occurred in the colony in 1689, partly triggered by the Glorious Revolution in progress in England. When Calvert failed to promptly proclaim William and Mary as the new rulers of England, insurgents in the Maryland colony, fed by fear of the Catholics and of Indian marauders, took over the government. Instead of giving power back to the proprietor, the new English monarchs accepted only Lord Baltimore's claim over the land and sent a royal governor to oversee the colony. Calvert spent the rest of his life in England trying unsuccessfully to regain political control of Maryland. He died in 1715. The Calverts secured limited political authority in the province under the 5th Baron Baltimore, who had been raised as a Protestant, but the full proprietary power under the old charter was never restored.

CAMPBELL, John, a Representative from Maryland; born near Port Tobacco, Charles County, Md., September 11, 1765; studied law; was admitted to the bar and practiced; held several local offices; member of the State senate for three years; elected as a Federalist to the Seventh and to the four succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1801-March 3, 1811); judge of the orphans’ court of Charles County; died at "Charleston" farm, Charles County, Md., June 23, 1828; interment in the private burying ground on the estate of Daniel Jenifer.
[Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present]