Carrolls in Washington Society

Jerome and Charles Bonaparte were friends with the Carroll family, and had been since their grandmother, Elizabeth (Betsy) Patterson had married Jerome Bonaparte, youngest brother of Napoleon Bonaparte in Baltimore in 1803. The marriage was presided over by Archbishop John Carroll. Betsy Patterson was the sister-in-law of Marianne Carroll Patterson, a grandaughter of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, who would later marry the Marquess of Wellesley. Napoleon forced his brother to make a dynastic marriage, and refused to recognize Betsy or her son, Jerome, born in 1905. Betsy, the daughter of William Patterson, the wealthiest man in Maryland after Charles Carroll, split her time between Europe and Baltimore for much of the rest of her life. Her grandchildren were recognized by Napoleon II, the nephew of Bonaparte, and Jerome served in the French imperial army before returning to Baltimore after the fall of Napoleon II. Clipping is from the New York Times, February 15, 1893, p. 5.