h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The footnote about Baltimore of county Longford is probably accurate, if less compelling than the stories of the assault and kidnapping by Muslim Corsairs.

According to the "Peerage of Ireland," published in London in 1768, (p 174) George Calvert, received from James I:
"Titles: Lord Baltimore, lord proprietor of the province of Maryland.
"Creation: Baron Baltimore of Baltimore, in the county of Longford, Feb 16, 1624."

Thus the connection with this Baltimore and Baltimore city in Maryland on the Chesapeake Bay is very direct. Many of the men who emigrated to the Chesapeake in the early 1600's appear to have come from Ireland, no doubt due to this connection. This includes my forbearers, 2 Riley brothers of Cavan (closer to Longford than to the piratical coastal Baltimore) who took to the Church of England and arrived with patents in 1634. Later in the century, after the depredations of Cromwell, some of the broken Irish aristocracy, including the O'Carrolls, departed for the Chesapeake (with the blessing of the Lord Baltimore), set up shop as planters and merchants in Baltimore City and one of them, Charles, signed the Declaration of Independence. Another, Daniel, assembled the land parcels, including his own, that would become the capital city of Washington.

For a compelling story of the Carroll family, 1500-1782, see Ronald Hoffman's wonderful "Princes of Ireland, Planters of Maryland."

For the astounding story of the incredible slave-taking of the corsairs on the Atlantic coast of Europe, see "White Gold: The Extraordinary Story of Thomas Pellow and Islam's One Million White Slaves," by Giles Milton.

Wow - very informative comment! Thanks a lot for that. And the last reference about the Barbary pirates is a must-read for me.