Oddities of the Lincoln assassination

[L Verge]

Herb,

The Calverts (the Lords Baltimore) were the founders of the proprietary colony of Maryland and have a long history dating back generations in English history as well. Their history is all over the place down here! One of their hunting lodges from the early-1700s is still in existence about three miles from Surratt House, and it was from the Calverts that Mr. Surratt bought the original 200+acres of the Surrattsville property. The fact that he never finished paying for that land in the twelve years that he lived here proved very fateful (and fatal) to Mrs. Surratt since paying that debt was one of the reasons she traveled to Surrattsville on April 11 and April 14, 1865.

The Calvert that she was dealing with was the brother of Julia Calvert Stuart, wife of Dr. Richard Stuart - one of the richest men in Virginia at the time of the Civil War. I believe I'm correct that Dr. Stuart was descended directly through the Stuart kings of England. So we have nobility marrying royalty. Julia Calvert and her brother George had grown up in Riversdale, a Calvert mansion that still stands in our county and has been restored for public tours (owned by the same agency that owns Surratt House). Their mother was Rosalie Stier, the daughter of Belgian aristocracy who fled the French Revolution and lived in Maryland until the Reign of Terror was over. After her parents returned home, she kept up a correspondence with them. The letters were obtained about thirty years ago, translated into English, and published. Rosalie and her husband had a large hand in the early politics of our republic. She mentions visits with such folks as Henry Clay and Thomas Jefferson -- although she was not a fan of "Tommy" Jefferson (her words).

If your sister-in-law is related to the Maryland Calverts, that could be a very impressive family chart.