On July 4, 1826, Charles Carroll of Carrollton became the last living signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Carroll – who spent much of his life residing in what is now Howard County - was also the only Catholic signer.

Charles Carroll of Carrollton was born in 1737, the only child of a wealthy and domineering father. His father owned Doughoregan Manor, a 10,000 acre plantation located in what is now Howard County, and Carroll spent much of his youth there. (The “of Carrollton” part of his name came from another estate owned by the Carrolls that he never lived on.) He was educated in Europe, but his Catholic faith barred him from holding public office in pre-Revolutionary Maryland.

Carroll gained prominence in Maryland politics in 1773. As confrontation with Great Britain grew, he adopted moderate revolutionary positions, and he became a leader in the extra-legal Maryland conventions that eventually took power from the pro-British proprietary government.

On July 4, 1776, Carroll was appointed to represent Maryland at the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. As a delegate to the Congress, Carroll signed the Declaration of Independence on August 2, 1776.

After Independence, Carroll served in the Maryland Senate, and he became the first U.S. Senator from Maryland.

With the triumph of Jeffersonian democracy in 1800, Carroll’s elitist politics fell into disfavor, and he returned to private life.

Carroll was very wealthy and was also a large slaveholder. In 1783 there were 414 slaves at Doughoregan alone. Carroll, however, recognized slavery to be a great evil, and in 1789 he was involved in advancing a bill in the Maryland Assembly for its gradual abolition, but that bill died. Despite his strong dislike of slavery, Carroll participated in its continuance, and he granted freedom to only one man in his will.

In 1826 Carroll became the only living signer of the Declaration of Independence. When he died in 1832, he was nationally revered. Doughoregan was his final resting place. Howard County almost certainly would have been named Carroll County if that name was still available when the Howard District was established in 1840.

By Jerry Ueckermann