Rev. Nathaniel Monroe Carroll (N.M)

Founder of the first Home for the Aged

(1838 -1931)

Nathaniel M. Carroll, known as N.M. Carroll was born into enslavement near Smithville (now Dunkirk) in Calvert County Maryland. As a young boy, N.M. was sold to a farm in Sunderland, Calvert County. N.M. worked Monday – Friday for the Sunderland farm and then took odd jobs on Sundays to earn money. By 1857, N.M. had saved enough money to buy his freedom, and the freedom of his father, who was still in the Smithville area. N.M. would later say that the purchase of his father’s freedom was the thing that gave him the most pride.

N.M. and his father went to Baltimore in 1857 and joined the John Wesley M.E. Church on Sharp Street. N.M. N.M. was licensed to “exhort” in 1860 and licensed to “preach” in 1862. Rev. Carroll returned to Calvert County in 1863 to marry Miss Caroline Jones. They were had 9 children. After Caroline died in 1882, Dr. Carroll married Miss Josephine Hatton, a public-school teacher from Prince George’s County. They had 2 sons.

Dr. Carroll was one of the Founders of the Aged Men’s and Women’s Home in 1869 and was the home’s president for 32 years. He organized the Preachers Aid Society in 1870 and the Ladies’ Union Aid Society in 1903. He was one of the first students at the Centenary Biblical Institute (now Morgan State) and became a Trustee of the college in 1899. Dr. Carroll was instrumental in repairing or building more than 21 churches in Baltimore. He banned the use of tobacco in his churches.

Additional Resources

From: Baltimore Afro-American, October 31, 1931

Baltimore-Washington Conference UMC (bwcumc.org)

Sage Bottom Cemetery – Sharing Our Histories (weebly.com)