Jérôme Napoléon "Bo" Bonaparte (5 July 1805 – 17 June 1870) was a French-

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

farmer, chairman of the Maryland Agricultural Society, first president of the

Maryland Club Founded in 1857, the Maryland Club is one of the oldest private clubs in the United States that was founded as an exclusive men's club. Its large Romanesque clubhouse, dating to 1891, is located in Baltimore’s historic Mount Vernon neighborho ...

, and the son of Elizabeth Patterson and

Jérôme Bonaparte Jérôme-Napoléon Bonaparte (born Girolamo Buonaparte; 15 November 1784 – 24 June 1860) was the youngest brother of Napoleon I and reigned as Jerome Napoleon I (formally Hieronymus Napoleon in German), King of Westphalia, between 1807 and 1 ...

, brother of

Napoleon I Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

Biography

Bonaparte was born in 95 Camberwell Grove,

Camberwell Camberwell () is a district of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles and a common of which Goose Green is a remnant. This e ...

, London, but lived in the United States with his wealthy

mother, Elizabeth. His mother's marriage had been

annulled Annulment is a legal procedure within secular and religious legal systems for declaring a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is considered to be invalid from the beginning almost ...

by order of Jérôme's uncle,

. The annulment caused the rescission of his right to carry the Bonaparte name, although the ruling was later reversed by his cousin,

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...

. It is speculated that Jérôme's prospective title is a reason the 11th Congress of the United States in 1810 proposed the

Titles of Nobility Amendment The Titles of Nobility Amendment is a proposed and still-pending amendment to the United States Constitution. The 11th Congress passed it on May 1, 1810, and submitted to the state legislatures for ratification. It would strip United States ci ...

to the

U.S. Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the natio ...

that would strip an American of his citizenship if he accepted a title of nobility from a foreign nation. The amendment has never been approved, and lacked the approval of only two state legislatures at that time. He graduated from Mount St. Mary's College (now Mount St. Mary's University) in 1817 and later received a law degree from Harvard, but did not end up practicing law. He was a founding member of the

, serving as its first president. In November 1829, Jérôme Napoleon married Susan May Williams, an heiress from Baltimore, and it is from them that the American line of the

Bonaparte family Italian and Corsican: ''Casa di Buonaparte'', native_name_lang=French, coat of arms=Arms of the French Empire3.svg, caption=Coat of arms assumed by Emperor Napoleon I, image_size=150px, alt=Coat of Arms of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, typ ...

descended. They had two sons: Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte II (1830–1893), who served as an officer in the armies of both the United States and France, and Charles Joseph Bonaparte (1851–1921), who became the

United States Attorney General The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...

and

Secretary of the Navy The secretary of the Navy (or SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department (component organization) within the United States Department of Defense. By law, the se ...

, and also created the Bureau of Investigation, which was later rechristened the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...

. Jérôme Napoleon had refused to wait for an arranged marriage to a European princess, instead opting for the $200,000 fortune that Susan brought to the marriage. In an attempt to match the railroad heiress's

dowry A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment b ...

, the groom's maternal grandfather, William Patterson — one of the wealthiest men in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

— gave the couple Montrose Mansion as a wedding gift. Bonaparte died in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, at age 64 and is buried at

Loudon Park Cemetery Loudon Park Cemetery is a historic cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland. It was incorporated on January 27, 1853, on of the site of the "Loudon" estate, previously owned by James Carey, a local merchant and politician. The entrance to the cemetery i ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonaparte, Jerome Napoleon 1805 births 1870 deaths English emigrants to the United States Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte People from Camberwell Mount St. Mary's University alumni American people of Corsican descent Harvard Law School alumni English people of French descent English people of American descent Patterson family of Maryland Sons of kings