Notes

a. Owing to family prestige and personal worth, Robert commanded much influence, and a commission was issued him at London, September 20, 1649, as a Commander of a County in Maryland, to be newly erected. He had an agreement with Cecilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore (1605-75), to receive a manor of 2,000 acres (8.1 km2) for every ten persons he transported. Robert and Cecilius were friends while both attended Oxford. Robert immigrated from Cheshire, England to Maryland on June 30, 1650 aboard his own ships and at his own expense, along with his second wife, ten children, 21 men servants, seven maid servants and a pack of hounds. On July 22, 1650, along with his two sons, Baker and Thomas, Sr., he took the oath of Fidelity to the Proprietor. His sons each received separate grants of land in various counties of Maryland. Robert was constituted as Commander of newly formed Charles County in Maryland on October 30, 1650. When the Puritans ascended in 1652, under the Cromwellian Government, Robert was made head of Provisional Council of Maryland. He served in this capacity from March 29 to July 3, 1652. He was one of the five commissioners making up this Council, which was the government of Maryland. During this period, he served as the Council’s President, which was analogous to being Lieutenant-General or Governor of the Province. Robert’s cooperation with the Bennett-Claiborne Puritan faction from 1652-54 brought him the displeasure of Lord Baltimore and the loss of his proprietary offices. Later he allied himself with the conservative Catholic Party. It is thought that he died a Roman Catholic, although no documentation has been found to prove this assertion. His second wife, Mary Mainwaring, was definitely a member of the Roman faith, and most of his sons professed Roman Catholicism.; [Note Record]