Most of the trouble Governor Calvert had in settling Maryland was with a white leader named Claiborne, who had settled on the largest island in the bay. He claimed that this land, which was named Kent Island, was part of Virginia.
Governor Calvert visited Jamestown, and the governor of that colony said that the island was part of Lord Baltimore’s land. Then Claiborne announced that Kent Island was not only separate from either colony, but that it belonged to him. He had made friends among the Indians, far and near, and began to boast that he was going to drive all the other white people out of that country.
The Marylanders went to work like so many beavers, building a fort and other defenses to be ready for an attack. When they heard that the people on Kent Island had fitted out a large sailboat as a man-of-war, Governor Calvert fitted up two pinnaces, or small boats, and mounted a cannon in each. Then the men of Maryland sailed for Kent Island and captured it, after a battle in which several persons were killed. After this there was no more trouble with Claiborne, and since that time Kent Island has belonged to Maryland. Lord Baltimore held the rights over Maryland by a grant from the king, somewhat as William Penn afterward came to own Pennsylvania. Although Cecil, Baron Baltimore, was never able to visit his property in the New World, his name was given to Baltimore, the greatest city of Maryland, and Anne Arundel County was named for his wife.
The purpose of the colony was not all religious. Trading and business were also the objects of those brave settlers, and some of the most successful merchant princes have sprung from that old Maryland stock—“the best out of Old England.” The women of Maryland have been far-famed for their beauty. There is good reason for naming the loveliest of climbing roses, “Baltimore Belles.”
The best thing grown in old Maryland was its patriotism. When the Fathers were signing the Declaration of Independence, the chief man from Maryland was Charles Carroll. As there was another Charles Carroll, the hero in Independence Hall signed his name “Charles Carroll of Carrollton.” The patriotic spirit of the colony still lives in that song, popular in all the states: “Maryland, my Maryland!”
WILLIAM PENN, THE FOUNDER OF PENNSYLVANIA
WHEN William Penn was born, his father, Admiral Sir William Penn, was sailing out to sea on an English battleship. Little William’s mother was a lovely woman from Holland, and as good as she was beautiful. While in college at Oxford, young Penn attended Quaker meetings, which had been started by followers of George Fox, the founder of a religious sect, the Society of Friends, or Quakers, as they were commonly called.
