5 Maryland Governors and Howard County

Four governors lived in the county, and it was named for a fifth governor with extensive land holdings there - Col. John Eager Howard.  When the Revolutionary War hero lived in Jennings House (left) in Annapolis, his son George Howard was born in 1789, and would return to Jennings House (the official residence from 1777-1870) when he too became governor in 1831. Other governors: Thomas Ligon of "Chatham" in 1854; John Lee Carroll of "Doughregan" in 1876 and Edwin Warfield of "Oakdale" in 1904.

Col. John Eager Howard (1752-1827)
Gov. 1788-1790  Federalist
1787 married Margaretta "Peggy" Chew of "Clivedon" Phila.
"Belvidere" 1790s-1874  Baltimore

George Howard (1789-1846)
Gov. 1831-1833  Whig
1811 married Prudence Gough Ridgely
  (dau. of Gov. Charles Carnan Ridgely)
"Waverly" built c1760

Thomas Watkins Ligon (1810-1881)
Gov. 1854-1858  Democrat
m1 Sally Ann Dorsey
m2 Mary Tolly Dorsey (Sally's sister)
    (dau. of Charles Worthington Dorsey)
"Chatham" early 1800s,  fire1890s rebuilt ("White Hall")

John Lee Carroll (1830-1911)
Gov. 1876-1880  Democrat
m1 1856 Anita Phelps
m2 1877 Mary Thompson
"Doughoregan" 1727, 1830s

 

Edwin Warfield (1848-1920)
Gov 1904-1908 Democrat
m. Emma Nicodemus
"Oakdale" 1838, 1890s

Governors' pictures all from Governors of Maryland: From the Revolution to the Year 1908 by Heinrich Ewald Buchholz.  Oakdale from Maryland Historic Trust. Doughoregan from Martenet's map of Howard County, c1860.  Chatham from Howard County (Images of America series) Howard County Historical Society. Belvidere from Appleton's Journal Dec 26, 1874
 
©2016 Patricia Bixler Reber
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