Charles Carroll, termed “The Barrister,” to distinguish him from his eminent namesake, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, with whom he is often confounded, was of Irish descent and was descended from the elder branch of the Carroll family, in Maryland, thus being derived from the family of Ely O’Carroll of Ireland. About 1681 the estates of the O’Carrolls in Ireland were confiscated to the Crown, the family being accused of being royalists. This confiscation was the cause of the emigration of the first ancestor of Charles Carroll, Barrister, also a Charles Carroll, to Maryland. He accumulated a large landed estate, having friends at Court, in the Calverts, which consisted of large tracts on the Eastern Shore, in Frederick County, in Anne Arundel County, in and near the site of the City of Baltimore, on Carroll’s Island, at Mount Clare near Baltimore’s original site; and at other points. The Plains, an estate near Annapolis, Claremont, for many years the residence of Hon. Carroll Spence, later Minister of Turkey, and The Caves, an estate owned for generations by the Carrolls and last held by Gen. John Carroll, which was located in Baltimore County, were also included in the possessions of this thrifty Gael. This Carroll was in religion a Protestant, as were all of his descendants, including The Barrister, which gave him great advantages politically as well as commercially, under the Colonial Government. He was a Physician by profession and was known as Dr. Charles Carroll. He married Dorothy Blake, daughter of Charles Blake, of an ancient English family and had by her several children, who were Charles Carroll, Barrister, Mary Clare Carroll, ancestress of Gen. John Carroll of “The Cave” and John Henry Carroll, who died without issue.