Daniel Carroll II (1730 - 1796)

Born 22 Jul 1730 in Upper Marlboro, Prince Georges Co, Province of Maryland

Ancestors

Husband of Eleanor Carroll — married 1751 in Maryland

Descendants

Died 5 Jul 1796 at age 65 in Rock Creek, Maryland, United States

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Biography

Daniel Carroll II served with American Founding Fathers during the American Revolution.

Daniel Carroll II is a DAR Patriot Ancestor, A019758.

Daniel Carroll II is Notable.

Daniel Carroll II was a Maryland colonist.

Daniel Carroll (July 22, 1730 – July 5, 1796) was a politician and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He was a prominent member of one of the United States' great colonial Catholic families, whose members included his younger brother Archbishop John Carroll, the first Catholic bishop in the United States and founder of Georgetown University; and their cousin Charles Carroll of Carrollton, who signed the Declaration of Independence as well as Daniel Carroll of Duddington, who surrendered the land on which the Capitol was built.

Carroll was a planter. He supported the cause of American independence, risking his social and economic position for the Patriot cause. As a friend and staunch ally of George Washington, he worked for a strong central government that could secure the achievements and fulfill the hopes of the Revolution. Carroll fought in the Convention for a government responsible directly to the people of the country.[1] Daniel Carroll was one of only five men to sign both the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution of the United States.

Early life and Education

Daniel Carroll was born in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, on July 22, 1730 at his family home – Darnall’s Chance. His parents Daniel Carroll I and Eleanor Brooke Darnall ^[1] were wealthy planters who owned 27 000 acres of land in the colony of Maryland. Daniel spent his early years at his family's home, a large estate of thousands of acres which his mother had inherited. (Several acres are now associated with the house museum known as Darnall's Chance, listed on the National Register of Historic Places).

Daniel was sent abroad for his education as were his Carroll cousins. Between 1742 and 1748 he studied under the Jesuits at the College of St. Omer in Flanders, established for the education of English Catholics after the Protestant Reformation. Then, in the tradition of wealthy colonial families, he took a tour of Europe and after this, he sailed home.

Marriage

In 1751 he married Eleanor Carroll, ^[2] who was his second cousin and was first cousin to Charles Carroll of Carrollton.[2] From 1750 until 1776, Carroll lived the life of a gentleman planter, remaining out of the public eye.^[3]

Spouse: Eleanor Carroll (1731/2 - 1762)

Date:

Place: Maryland

Note: Eleanor Carroll was his cousin

Children:

1. Daniel Carroll III (1752-1790)
2. Mary Carroll (1754 - unknown)

Entering Politics

Daniel Carroll gradually joined the Patriot cause. As a planter, slaveholder and large landholder, he was concerned that the Revolution might fail economically and bring about not only his family's financial ruin, but mob rule as well.[1] At the time, colonial laws excluded Catholics from holding public office. Once these laws were nullified by the Maryland constitution of 1776, Carroll was elected to the Senate of the Maryland legislature (1777–81). At the end of his term, Carroll was elected to the Continental Congress (1781–84). In 1781, he signed the Articles of Confederation. His involvement in the Revolution, like that of other Patriots in his extended family, was inspired by the family's motto: "Strong in Faith and War".[1]

Constitutional Convention of 1787

Carroll was an active member of the Constitutional Convention. Like his good friend James Madison, Carroll was convinced that a strong central government was needed to regulate commerce among the states and with other nations. He also spoke out repeatedly in opposition to the payment of members of the United States Congress by the states, reasoning that such compensation would sabotage the strength of the new government because "...the dependence of both Houses on the state Legislatures would be compleat .... The new government in this form is nothing more than a second edition of [the Continental] Congress in two volumes, instead of one, and perhaps with very few amendments."[1]

When it was suggested that the President should be elected by the Congress, Carroll, seconded by Wilson, moved that the words "by the legislature" be replaced with "by the people". He and Thomas Fitzsimons were the only Roman Catholics to sign the Constitution, a symbol of the advance of religious freedom in America during the Revolutionary period.

At the Constitutional Convention, Daniel Carroll played an essential role in formulating the limitation of the powers of the federal government. He was the author of the presumption — enshrined in the Constitution — that powers not specifically delegated to the federal government were reserved to the states or to the people.[3] Carroll spoke about 20 times during the debates at the Constitutional Convention and served on the Committee on Postponed Matters. Returning to Maryland after the convention, he campaigned for ratification of the Constitution, but was not a delegate to the state convention.

Political career

Following the Convention, Daniel Carroll continued to be involved in state and national affairs. He was a key participant in the Maryland ratification struggle.[4] He defended the Constitution in the pages of the Maryland Journal, most notably in his response to the arguments advanced by the well-known Anti-federalist Samuel Chase. After ratification was achieved in Maryland, Carroll was elected as a representative from the sixth district of Maryland to the First Congress. Given his concern for economic and fiscal stability, he voted for the assumption of state debts by the federal government.

One of three commissioners appointed to survey the District of Columbia, Daniel Carroll was related to 2 landowners whose properties were acquired by the government for the establishment of Washington DC. One was his brother-in-law Notley Young and the other was his nephew Daniel Carroll of Duddington, on whose Jenkin's Hill property the Capitol was built. There were a number of other landowners whose properties were acquired went to establish the District of Columbia, including David Burns, and Samuel Davidson. On 15 April 1791, Carroll and David Stuart, as the official commissioners of Congress, laid the cornerstone of the District of Columbia at Jones Point near Alexandria, Virginia.

Daniel was later elected to the Maryland Senate. He was appointed a commissioner (co-mayor) of the new capital city, but advanced age and failing health forced him to retire in 1795. However, interest in his region kept him active and he became one of George Washington's partners in the Patowmack Company; a business enterprise intended to link the East with the expanding West by means of a Potomac River canal.

Death

Ill health caused him to resign this post 4 years later, and the next year at the age of 65 he died at his home near Rock Creek in Forest Glen, MD. ^[4]

Burial

He was buried at St. John’s Catholic Cemetery, Rock Creek (now Forest Glen), Maryland.^[4][3]

Date:

Cemetery: St. John's Catholic Cemetery

Location: Rock Creek, Maryland

Memorial

Link to Gravestone: Daniel Carroll Gravestone

A memorial to Daniel Carroll II was erected by three NSDAR chapters in the St. John the Evangelist parish cemetery known also as the Carroll Chapel Cemetery. In a biography of Daniel Carroll II, the author, Sister M. Virgina Geiger, notes that it has never been proven that he was buried in this cemetery with many others of his family. She feels that is more plausible that he was buried in the courtyard of the Holy Trinity Convent in Georgetown.

The convent referred to was the Chapel of St. Ignatius, the original Holy Trinity Church founded by Archbishop John Carroll, Daniel's brother, in 1794. In the mid-1800s a new Holy Trinity Church was built and the original church became the Chapel of St. Ignatius. It was used for a time as the Convent of Mercy for the nuns who taught at the parish school, but in 1999 was converted back to a chapel. This original Holy Trinity Church is the oldest Catholic Church in the District of Columbia. The archbishop of Baltimore, Daniel's brother John, outlived Daniel by nearly twenty years. Daniel's actual place of burial probably cannot be confirmed, but, thanks to the NSDAR, he has been given a memorial in the cemetery. ^[1]

Will

In his will, made 4 May and probated 21 May 1796, he devised all of his state, both real and personal, to his brother Archbishop John Carroll and his friends and relatives by marriage Notley Young and Robert Brent in trust and maintenance of his three grandchildren; his children predeceased him.^[5]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Annefiled.net: Gravestone Daniel Carroll
2. ↑ U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900 Author Yates Publishing Publisher Ancestry.com Operations Inc Publisher Date 2004 Publisher Location Provo, UT, USA
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Great Lives in History: Daniel Carroll
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} American History: From Revolution to Reconstruction: Daniel Carroll Last accessed Jan 27, 2015
5. ↑ Women of the Constitution: Wives of the Signers By Janice E. McKenney. Rowman & Littlefield, 2013. 241 pages

See also:

• http://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/000200/000210/html/00210bio.html
• http://www.amazon.com/Daniel-Carroll-II-Descendants-1730-1978/dp/B0018ADEPY
• Wikipedia: Daniel Carroll
• Maryland Colonial Census records for 1776
• http://earlywashingtondc.org/families/carroll
• Princes of Ireland, Planters of Maryland, a Carroll Saga 1500 - 1782 by Ronald Hoffman, UNE Press 2013
• Information from Clive Thompson and David Knight, archivists at Stonyhurts College, formerly St Omer.
• U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900 Name Eleanor Carroll Gender Female Birth Place MD Birth Year 1732 Spouse Name Daniel Carroll Spouse Birth Place MD Spouse Birth Year 1730 Marriage Year 1751 Marriage State MD Number Pages 1 Household Members Name Age Name Daniel Carroll Name Eleanor Carroll