Calverts
The founders of Maryland
George Calvert First Lord Baltimore (c1580 - 15 April 1632)	Eldest son of an obscure Yorkshire gentleman, George Calvert used ability and an Oxford education to gain wealth, status, and influence in the England of his time. Knighted in 1617, and a member of Parliament for Yorkshire in 1621, Calvert served as one of James I's two secretaries of state and a Privy Councilor from 1619 to 1625. As a recent convert to Catholicism, Calvert resigned from his government posts in the latter year, when anti-catholic legislation was being debated in Parliament. Created Baron
Cecil Calvert	Cecil Calvert, second Lord Baltimore. Cecil Calvert (1606-1675) was George Calvert's son and heir. In 1632, Cecil became the second Baron of Baltimore and the first Lord of Proprietary of both Avalon and Maryland.
Cecil or Cecilius Calvert Second Lord Baltimore (8 Aug1605 - 30 Nov 1675)	Cecil or Cecilius Calvert, first son and heir of George Calvert , Cecil was raised a Catholic, attended Trinity College, Oxford, and in 1628 married the Catholic Anne Arundell (d. 1649). He inherited the title, Irish estates, and the 10-12 million acres of American land in what became Maryland from his father
Cecil Calvert	Portrait of Cecil Calvert, by Florence MacKubin, 1902, after Gerard Soest Maryland State Archives, Commission on Artistic Property, MSA SC 1545-1126
Kings, Calverts and Gerards	Cecilius Calvert, Maryland founder George Calvert's dream of founding a Catholic enclave in the English colonies became a reality in 1634 with the landing of 128 Catholic settlers on Saint Clement's Island in Maryland.
Calvert Grave Site Where It All Began	There is one grave stone remaining in a cemetery about 6 miles west of Calvert on State Highway 979 where the town of Sterling was once located. Two of the head stones are family members and the obelisk marks the grave of Robert Calvert. The small plot of ground is all that is left of a cemetery for Sterling because several years ago the cemetery was leveled by a bulldozer to provide a pasture for cattle.
Anne Arundel	Little is known about the short life of Anne Arundel, the namesake of Anne Arundel County. She was born in 1605, the daughter of a powerful Catholic nobleman, Thomas, Lord Arundel (often spelled Arundell) of Wardour.
Sir George Calvert and the Colony of Avalon	Sir George Calvert (c1580-1632) had a successful career at the court of King James I, which reached its peak in 1619. That year he was appointed a secretary of state, and became a member of the privy council. Soon after this, though, his position at court crumbled, and early in 1625 he resigned as secretary of state. At the same time he made known his conversion to Roman Catholicism. The king made him Baron Baltimore, the name coming from his lands in Ireland.
Ogilby Map	John Ogilby's map of Maryland was published as part of his America: Being the Latest, and Most Accurate Description of the New World (London, 1671). The orientation of the map showing North to the right reflects the purpose of the chart design. It is a Portolan, or port-finding chart, used by ship captains approaching the entrance of the Chesapeake Bay from the sea. The cartographer probably copied this map from Captain John Smith's influential map of 1608.
Lord Baltimore Coinage 1658-1659	During the earliest decades of the Maryland settlement, the primary medium of exchange was tobacco. By the 1650's, however, overproduction of the crop decreased tobacco's purchasing power and caused price inflation. The situation became so tense in 1650 that the Lord Proprietor of the colony, Cecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore, who lived in London, was forced to use cattle in order to pay his colonial soldiers who were on the verge of mutiny. The situation continued to deteriorate. Finally, in order to avert a rebellion due to spiraling prices and possibly also as a method of demonstrating his authority over the area, Calvert decided to privately mint coins for the colony.
George and Leonard Calvert	Calvert George Calvert was born in the 1580's and died on April 15, 1632. He was the eldest in the family. He was the first Lord Baltimore. He was a member of the Virginia Company from 1609 to 1620 and received a large proprietary in Newfoundland in 1620. However, his colony there didn't prosper because it was very cold. In 1629, he appealed to King Charles I for land farther south. In 1632, King Charles granted him proprietorship of Maryland, but he died before he could sign the charter. The charter was passed down to his eldest son, Cecil. Leonard Calvert was born in 1606. Cecil asked Leonard to be governor of Maryland. He was governor from 1633 to 1647. He died in 1647.
The beginnings of Maryland
Philip Calvert (1626-1682)	When Philip Calvert died shortly after December 22, 1682, he was about fifty-six years old. Recently wed for a second time to a woman thirty-five years his junior, the proud possessor of the largest mansion built in 17th-century Maryland, and the owner of a magnificent library, he left no known surviving children. His legacy was his work of the previous twenty-six years as one of Maryland's most influential leaders.
Anne Arundel County	Anne Arundel County in 1649. Seventeen years earlier, King Charles I signed the Charter of Maryland granting the colony to Cecil Calvert, the second Lord Baltimore.
George Calvert Lord Baltimore	To understand the very beginnings of the State of Maryland we must travel back in time to the days of Queen Elizabeth I of England.
George Calvert	George Calvert Becomes The First Lord Baltimore