Charles, Lord Baltimore, sent his son, Benedict, to the Province of Maryland from England in the charge of a governor and bestowed upon him wealth and offices and honors. Benedict, evidently, wrote to his father trying to learn the identity of his mother and Lord Baltimore replied to his son that she was too great a lady to be named in writing, and that the secret of his birth would not be confided to him until his return to England. He was appointed Collector of Customs at Patuxent and in 1745 became a member of the Council. He made his home at "Mt. Airy," in Prince George's Co., Md., and d--there on Jan. 9, 1788. He m--April 21, 1748, Elizebeth Calvert, dau--of the Hon. Charles Calvert (Governor of Md., 1720-27), and Rebecca Gerrard, his wife. There is a charming story that when Benedict Calvert wished to take unto himself a wife he wrote for his father's permission without giving the name of the lady of his choice. Lord Baltimore answered that there was only one woman he knew of in America whom he would be willing for his son to marry, and that was his cousin, Betty Calvert. Benedict Calvert and his wife, Elizebeth, had issue the following: (1) Rebecca Calvert, b--Dec. 15, 1749, d--in infancy; (2) Eleanor Calvert, b--1754, d--Sept. 28, 1811, m--first--Feb. 3, 1774, Col. John Parke Custis, the step-son of Gen. George Washington. Her second m--was in 1783 to Dr. David Stewart; (3) Charles Calvert, b--Oct. 3, 1756, d--unm--1777; (4) Elizebeth Calvert, m--1780, Dr. Charles Stewart, descendant of Robert II of Scotland; (5) Edward Henry Calvert, b--Nov. 7, 1766, d--July 12, 1846, m--March 1, 1796, Elizebeth, the beautiful dau--of Maj. George Biscoe. Edward Henry and Elizebeth inherited the Mount Airy manor when Benedict Calvert d--. Of them below; (6) George Calvert, who acquired Riversdale,--of whom below; (7) Phillip Calvert, d--young; (8) Leonard Calvert, d--young; (9) Cecil Calvert, d--young; (10) John Calvert, d--after 1788; (11) William Calvert, d--after 1788; (12) Ariana Calvert, d--after 1788; (13) Robert Calvert, d--young. Edward Henry Calvert, the fifth of the above mentioned children, and his lovely wife, Elizebeth, dau--of George and Araminto (Thompson) Biscoe, had thirteen ch--of whom only three left survivors: George, b--1798, d--1845; John--of whom below; and William Biscoe Calvert, b--1813, d--1876. John Calvert, above mentioned, was b--at Mt. Airy, Prince George's Co., Md., Jan. 8, 1809, d--March 9, 1869; he m--June 1, 1854, Julia Stockton Rush, b--Philadelphia, July 21, 1826, and d--Jan. 20, 1858, dau--of the Hon. Richard Rush and grand dau--of the distinguished Dr. Benjamin Rush. John and Julia (Rush) Calvert had two sons: (1) John Calvert Jr., b--in Washington, D. C., March 9, 1855; graduated from Lehigh University, 1876, as civil engineer; joined the prominent shipbuilding firm of Peter Wright & Sons; later the publishing firm of J. B. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia, and finally the Pennsylvania Co., etc., of Philadelphia. He m--Oct. 26, 1881, Victoria B. Elliott Issue: (a) Cecil Baltimore Calvert, b--Sept 11, 1882, graduated, 1905, University of Penna. In business with his father. (2) Madison Rush Calvert, b--Jan. 12, 1858, m--first--Aug. 1, 1881, Josephine R. Wheeler; secondly--Margaret Agnes Mahoney. George Calvert, the sixth child of Benedict and Elizebeth Calvert, was b--at Mount Airy, Feb. 2nd, 1768. He m--June 11th, 1799, in Annapolis, Md., the lovely Rosalie Eugenia Stier, dau--of Heneri Joseph and Maria Louise (Peters) Stier, of Antwerp, Belgium. Mr. Stier and his family had fled from Belgium to escape the confiscation of Napoleon, who was then invading Flanders. Henri Joseph Stier was a banker in the Netherlands and possessed a valuable collection of paintings, among which there were nine by the great Flemish artist, Peter Paul Rubens, a relative of the owner, and four by Van Dyke and others by great artists of Europe. He chartered a vessel for which the following passport was issued by the American Minister to England: "By Thomas Pinkney, Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of America at the Court of Great Britain, etc. "It having been represented to me by a respectable citizen of the U. S. A., that the following family of Brabant, lately residents at Antwerp, but now residing at Amsterdam, to wit: Mr. Stier d'Artzelear, his wife and daughter, Mr. Charles Stier and his wife, Mr. Jean M. A. van Havre and his wife and daughter, have chartered the American ship "Adriana," Captain Fitzpatric, of Philadelphia, proposing to embark for the United States. "I do, therefore, hereby request all persons whom these present may concern to permit the aforementioned family to pass unmolested to the place of their destination. "Given under my hand and seal, this ninth day of August in the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety-four. (Signed) "THOMAS PINKNEY." Mr. Stier arrived at Philadelphia about October, 1794, and proceeded to Annapolis Page 108 Christi Visit our homepage at: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~cbrogan Visit our genealogy pages at: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~cbrogan/gen.html Country living at it's finest! http://www.onelist.com/subscribe/countrylife