Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Carroll County, created by an act of the Georgia legislature in December, 1826, proudly bears the name of Charles Carroll, of Carrollton. Charles Carroll was born in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1737. He attended preparatory schools in this county but completed his education in France and England. At the age of 28 he returned home to settle down and his father gave him a large estate near Frederick, Md. known as Carrollton Manor. From then on he became known as "Charles Carroll of Carrollton." Although extremely wealthy and risking the loss of all his property, Charles Carroll boldly threw himself into the Revolutionary activities. He served in the Continental Congress in 1776-78, and soon after his election was appointed by the Congress also with Benjamin Franklin and Samuel Chase to unsuccessfully seek Canadian support for the Continental cause. He became one of Maryland's first United States Senators serving from 1789 through 1792. Charles Carroll played an important part in early railroad and canal building in the United States and laid the cornerstone of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in 1828, at the age of ninety one. Four years later he died, the last survivor of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence.