Love, Marriage, and Money in British Colonial Maryland

Mr. Tomassoni is an amateur historian and science writer based in the Montpelier section of Laurel, mtomassoni770@gmail.com

Was there such a thing as marrying for love in British Colonial Maryland? Most observers would say, “sort-of” since property, political influence, family status, and religion all entered the equation.  Imagine being a young woman or man living in the Laurel area 250 years ago (1776). You meet someone, fall in love, and want to marry. Today, that decision would be yours. In colonial Maryland, it could involve your parents, your church, the courts, and perhaps most importantly your family's property. 

Two major religious groups were based in Colonial British Maryland, like the strong religious segregation in the United Kingdom:

• Protestants. Anglicans (Church of England), Quakers, and French Huguenots. Families. Snowden, Contee, Dorsey, Duvall, Dulany and Ridgely (Baltimore County), Ogle, Bowie, Brooke, Tasker, Worthington, Hammond, Ridout, Goldborough.

• Catholics. Families. Carroll, Contee, Darnall, Digges, Lee, Brent, Sewall, Rozier, Neale, Fenwick, Boarman, Gardiner, Plowden, Semmes.

Religious Divisions. While Maryland Protestants and Catholics were economically, politically, and socially interconnected, they were largely religiously divided.  The very families whose wealth, land, business, and political interests pushed them together, remained distinctly separated through their religious traditions. Questions were continually asked in the event of potential marriage: Was the marriage between two persons of the same faith? If not, how would they raise their children? Who would inherit what? Would marriage improve or damage political prospects?  Could a Catholic heir be excluded from public office?

For Maryland's wealthy plantation and iron production families, marriage could be both a personal relationship and a business decision. A well-chosen husband or wife might bring land, money, political influence, business connections, and valuable ties to another prominent family. Among the Chesapeake gentry, parents often tried to influence whom their children married, while young people increasingly sought affection and companionship as well.

Protestant Revolution of 1689. In 1689, Maryland's Protestant majority overthrew the Catholic proprietary government of the Calvert family in the Protestant Revolution of 1689. The immediate catalyst came from England. The Glorious Revolution of 1688 removed the Catholic King James II and installed the Protestant monarchs, William III and Mary II. Maryland's Catholic proprietor, Charles Calvert, Lord Baltimore, suddenly was politically vulnerable.

In Maryland, John Coode, an Anglican planter and former clergyman, organized Protestant colonists into the Association in Arms for the Defense of the Protestant Religion. Claiming that Maryland's Catholic leaders might support James II and threatening rumors of Catholic and Native American attacks, Coode's force mobilized hundreds of armed men.

In July 1689, they marched on the proprietary government at St. Mary's City. The government had little military capacity to resist. Proprietary officials surrendered, and the Protestant Associators took control. The consequences were profound with Catholic Calvert proprietary rule immediately shifting to Protestant-controlled royal government.

In 1691, William and Mary formally made Maryland a royal colony. The Church of England became Maryland's established church in 1692, and Catholics subsequently faced significant political and legal disabilities leading to two broad overlapping elite networks. The colony’s capital moved from heavily Catholic St. Mary's City to Annapolis in 1695, and the Church of England became Maryland's established church.

Ironically, Maryland, famous for its 1649 Act Concerning Religion, which protected many Christians from religious persecution, subsequently imposed substantial restrictions on Catholics. Catholics lost political power and eventually faced restrictions on voting, holding office, public worship and education.  At one point, Charles Carroll of Carrollton seriously considered moving to New Orleans where French Catholics provided the religious freedom he so desperately wanted. 

Religious Conversion. After 1689, Catholics lost many political rights and were barred from public office. Some members of wealthy Catholic families responded by converting to Anglicanism. Henry Darnall III, born into one of Maryland’s most prominent Catholic families, became Anglican and subsequently held important government offices. Similar pressures affected other elite families whose wealth depended on land, law, and political influence. Conversion could therefore bring substantial advantages: eligibility for office, greater political influence, and easier participation in Maryl

and’s Protestant-dominated governing class.

Government Regulation of Marriage.  Marriage was also regulated by government. Between 1640 and 1776, Maryland enacted more than a dozen laws governing marriage, covering matters such as who could marry, what notices were requiring before a wedding, who could perform ceremonies, family relationships, race, and recording marriages.

This was particularly consequential for the wealthy colonists such as the Carrolls despite British Government restrictions on Catholics.  Carroll married Mary “Molly” Darnall who also came from a prominent Catholic Maryland family. Their marriage helped preserve both Catholic family traditions and connections within Maryland's Catholic landed elite.

The Snowdens, by contrast, belonged to Maryland's Protestant/Quaker world. Richard Snowden and his family were associated with the Society of Friends, and their marriage connections included other families within the broader Protestant/Quaker commercial and landowning community. 

Even as these families occupied the same interconnected world of land, agriculture, commerce, political influence and enslaved labor, religion could divide their social and marriage networks even while geography and business brought those networks together.

Narrowing Pool and Interfaith Marriage. Catholic canon law placed restrictions on marriages between Catholics and non-Catholics, although dispensations could allow Catholic marriages with non-Catholics. Protestants likewise often preferred marriages within their own denominations. Consequently, religion helped narrow the pool of socially acceptable spouses. 

This became particularly important among Maryland's elite because the potential marriage pool was already small. A suitable spouse ideally needed the right social standing, property, family reputation, and religion. That helps explain why the same family names repeatedly appear in genealogies and why cousin marriages were not particularly surprising. Historian Robert Brugger’s, “Maryland: A Middle Temperament” reports that perhaps half of Eastern Shore landowners were linked by marriage or blood relationship. Some surviving genealogies document marriages between first cousins.

Religion and Politics. After 1689, being Protestant gave Marylanders advantages that Catholics did not enjoy. Catholics were eventually prohibited from voting and holding public office during portions of the colonial period. A family's religious identity therefore affected much more than Sunday worship.

A mixed marriage potentially introduced a difficult choice: Does the Catholic spouse remain Catholic? Do the children become Protestant? And could conversion open doors to political office and influence? 

In Sickness and in Health? So, four factors directly influenced marriage in British Colonial Maryland:

1. Love. Do the couple want to marry?

2. Money. What land, inheritance or wealth comes with marriage?

3. Family. Does marriage strengthen the family's social network?

4. Religion. Is the spouse Catholic or Protestant, and what faith will the children follow?

Compelling Paradox. Maryland was founded partly as a refuge where Catholics could live alongside Protestants. The Maryland elite were economically and socially interconnected yet religiously divided.  The very families whose wealth, land, business and political interests pushed them together remained largely separated through religion. This helps explain the extraordinary web of family relationships that developed among Maryland's colonial elite. 

Love could win out over religious affiliation. But Mom and Dad had a strong vote in how young couples proceeded.  Marriage was a “social sport” with more at stake then love.  Parents and grandparents each had votes, and marriage decisions were based on wealth, business, and politics as much as love. Same land, different people, different ways of life.