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Barnes Compton (16 November 1830 – 2 December 1898) was a planter and politician, born in Port Tobacco, Charles County, Maryland and orphaned as a child. In 1851, Compton took control of his numerous estates, becoming wealthy and the second largest slaveholder in Maryland.〔 He was elected as a state representative before the Civil War and as speaker of the state house. After the war, Compton continued to be active in Democratic Party politics. He was appointed as Maryland State Treasurer, serving more than a decade, from 1872-1885.〔 He was repeatedly elected to the US House of Representatives from the fifth congressional district of Maryland (serving 1884–1894, although unseated in 1889 for one term by a House Committee as a result of its ruling of voter fraud and intimidation in the 1888 election.) Compton served in many leadership roles for public welfare and educational institutions, on the board of trustees for Charlotte Hall Academy, the School Commission of Charles County, and the Maryland Insane Asylum. In addition, he led private institutions, and was director of Citizens Savings Bank in Laurel, Maryland. ==Early life== Barnes Compton was born on November 16, 1830, in Port Tobacco, Charles County, the son of William Penn Compton (June 2, 1796 - JAN 6 1838 ) and Mary Key (Barnes) Compton (b. 1804 St. Mary's Co., MD -d. 17 JUL 1834, Charles Co., MD〔)〔 (his mother is often listed incorrectly as Mary Clarissa Barnes.) Both parents were descended from leading families in both Charles and St. Mary's counties in Maryland.〔 (On his mother's side, the boy Compton was descended from politician Philip Key, a member of the Maryland House of Delegates from 1779 to 1790, who was a maternal great-grandfather.)〔("Barnes Compton: State No. 179, National No. 1179, ancestor Philip Key" ), Members' Application Papers, ''Sons of the American Revolution in the State of Maryland,'' Langsdale Library Special Collections, University of Baltimore, accessed 17 Mar 2010〕 Born into wealth on his family's plantation, Barnes Compton was the only child and orphaned when young. His mother died when he was three, and five years later in 1838, his father died.〔 His maternal grandfather John Barnes became guardian of Compton. After Barnes died in 1843, Compton at age 13 was sole heir to both the Compton and Barnes' estates.〔 These totaled eight properties that provided an income of over $5300 per annum by the time Barnes came of age.〔 In 1851 at age 21, when he took possession of his inheritance, Compton became the second largest slaveholder in Charles County.〔 After his grandfather's death, the young Compton saw his family members bicker over guardianship and inheritance as they struggled to represent him. Two months after his grandfather died, Compton petitioned the Orphans Court of Charles County for guardianship to pass to his maternal uncle, Richard Barnes, rather than to his paternal uncle Wilson P. Compton. At age 14, Barnes Compton testified that he had "since his earliest infancy been in constant association with Richard Barnes and become attached to him, while to his other relations who have applied for his Guardianship (was ) a comparative stranger ... and he could hardly think that thus applying they can be activated by any regard for the interests of the petitioner."〔 Richard Barnes was a judge in the Orphans Court. With his wife Mary, Richard Barnes raised three children of their own and took in at least five others, many near the young Compton's age. When the court overruled Barnes Compton’s plea and granted guardianship to Wilson Compton, the boy fought against the ruling. His case was dismissed by the Maryland Court of Appeals.〔 Compton moved with his appointed guardian Wilson Compton and his family to Rosemary Lawn, a plantation Barnes inherited from his mother, located in the Hill Top District of Charles County. It was described later by the historic preservation part of the US Department of the Interior by the following: "The Rosemary Lawn farm complex is unquestionably one of Charles County's most significant nineteenth and early twentieth century historic properties, regardless of whether it is viewed in a historic agricultural or historic In addition to the boy, Wilson Compton, his wife and son William Compton, and mother Elizabeth (Penn) Compton (Barnes' paternal grandmother) resided at Compton's Rosemary Lawn estate.〔 The guardian Wilson Compton worked to improve his nephew's properties. Over the next five years, he frequently petitioned the Orphans Court for permission to use part of Compton's income to that end.〔 The additional properties owned by Barnes Compton were: Muncasters, Hill Top, Green Wood Farm, Rog's Cold, and Chimney House in Port Tobacco; and another plantation in Charles County large enough to have two separate houses for tenant farmers.〔 Wilson Compton also worked to protect his nephew's inheritance through court actions. He filed a ''caveat'' against the will of John Barnes, ward Compton's maternal grandfather, declaring that ''non compos menti'' (mental incompetence) negated John Barnes' last testament and that all property should pass to Compton, his grandson. John Barnes did leave almost his entire estate to Barnes Compton, excepting $500 to William C. Barnes and the value of two slaves who were manumitted, thus taking them out of the property of the estate. During these years, the young Compton was educated and groomed as a Southern gentleman. At age fourteen, he entered Charlotte Hall Military Academy.〔 He boarded there for the next four years, returning in summers to Rosemary Lawn. His uncle gave him an allowance for clothes and spending money each year, from which the youth also bought a horse.〔 In December 1847 the court awarded $700 annually for the young man's education at Princeton College, New Jersey. While there, he distinguished himself as junior orator in the American Whig Society for the year 1850. He graduated with a B.A. in 1851.〔 After college, Compton returned to Charles County to take over his inheritance.〔 Wilson Compton's improvement of his estate paid off. Between 1847 and 1851, the income from the Compton properties more than doubled.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Barnes Compton」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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