Charles J. Bonaparte (1851-1921)

Last updated on: June 28, 2009 at 8:57 am by Pat McNamara

Charles J. Bonaparte (1851-1921) 2009-06-28T08:57:00-06:00 Pat McNamara

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Charles Joseph Bonaparte (June 9, 1851 – June 28, 1921) was a member of the United States Cabinet, serving appointments by President Theodore Roosevelt as Secretary of the Navy, then as Attorney General of the United States. He created the Bureau of Investigation, which would later become known as the FBI. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, he was the son of Prince Jérôme Napoleon Bonaparte (1805-1870) and Susan May Williams (1812-1881), from whom the American line of the Bonaparte family descended, and a grandson of Jérôme Bonaparte, who was briefly King of Westphalia and the youngest brother of the French emperor Napoleon I. After graduating from Harvard University and Harvard Law School, where he would later be appointed a university overseer, he practiced law in Baltimore and became prominent in municipal and national reform movements. On September 1, 1875, Bonaparte married the former Ellen Channing Day (1852-1924), daughter of attorney Thomas Mills Day and Ellen Cornelia (Jones) Pomeroy. They had no children. He was a member of the Board of Indian Commissioners from 1902 to 1904, chairman of the National Civil Service Reform League in 1904 and appointed a trustee of The Catholic University of America. In 1905, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt appointed Bonaparte to his cabinet as United States Secretary of the Navy. From 1906 until the end of President Roosevelt’s administration he served as United States Attorney General. He was active in suits brought against the trusts and was largely responsible for breaking up the tobacco monopoly. In 1908, Joseph founded the Bureau of Investigation (BOI). He was one of the founders, and for a time the president, of the National Municipal League. Bonaparte died in Bella Vista (originally built as “Mount Vista Estates”, Baltimore County, Maryland, and is interred at Baltimore’s Loudon Park Cemetery. Cause of death was “Saint Vitus Dance” — today known as chorea. A nearby street in Baltimore County bears the name of Bonaparte Ave. Mr. Bonaparte drove the 15 miles every day to Baltimore to do business in his coach pulled by four stout draft horses, and was timely enough that the local residents would be able to tell time by his passing by. The Mount Vista Mansion site can be seen by driving north on Maryland Route 147 and is not the original home on Mount Vista Estates since the original “Bella Vista” property burned in the 1930s and was replaced by a poured concrete structure built upon the original location of Mr. Bonaparte’s Bella Vista home. The original Bella Vista was not electrified since Bonaparte refused to have electricity or telegraph lines installed due to a dislike of technology, verified by his use of horse-drawn coach until his death.

(From Wikipedia)

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