Thomas Carbery

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thomas Carbery (1791 - 1863) was the sixth mayor of Washington, D.C.serving from 1822-1824. He ran again for mayor in 1824 and 1826 but was not re-elected.

Little background information is extant about Carbery. He was president of the National Metropolitan Bank, one of the largest financial institutions in Washington (it underwrote the payroll of the entire U.S. Army during the War of 1812^[1]. Carbery himself was a captain in the Army.

Carbery lived in a large house on 17th Street NW, adjacent to The Ellipse, known as Carbery House. The house was built in 1818 and survived 85 years, demolished in 1903. ^[2] (Carbery also maintained an estate off of Seventh Street Road (now known as Georgia Avenue NW) in the northernmost section of the District of Columbia that is now the Takoma neighborhood ^[3].) Carbery's sister Ann Mattingly, who lived with him in Carbery house, became extremely ill in 1815 with what doctors diagnosed as an internal cancer. Carbery, a devout Roman Catholic, summoned a German priest who was famous for miraculous cures; the priest said a Novena with the family, then gave Communion to Mrs. Mattingly; shortly afterwards Mrs. Mattingly sat up in bed, the affliction apparently gone. The Catholic Church considered this much-publicized incident to be one of the first miracles documented in the United States. ^[4]

When the beloved (and first popularly elected) mayor of Washington, Samuel N. Smallwood, announced that he would not run for a second elected term as mayor, Carbery sought the office. In 1822 he defeated Roger C. Weightman in a race so close that Weightman sued him; the lawsuit was tied up in court for the entire two years of Carbery's term.

In 1824, Smallwood again sought the office of mayor, defeating the incumbent Carbery's bid for re-election. Carbery ran again in 1826, re-matched with Weightman, and lost.

Carbery was a charter member and officer of the Washington National Monument Society, the group that ultimately financed the construction of the Washington Monument, in the 1830s^[5]. He ultimately became chairman of the monument's building committee when construction began in 1848. >http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/wamo/stones.pdf</ref>

In 1844, Carbery was appointed by President John Tyler as Justice of the Peace for Washington County. He would be re-nominated by every succeeding president until his death.

Carbery died at his home in 1863. He was interred in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Washington.^[6]