A mugwump is a political creature that is "like a human ferryboat, travelling from side to side, but never remaining long in any one place." (Heinrich Buchholz, Baltimore Sun, 13 January 1907.) It is not generally considered a complimentary term.
My 4X great uncle, Maryland Governor Joseph Kent, was considered a prime example of this political species. As one biographer described him: "'A Mugwump, or former Federalist who had been on various sides of political controversies but possessed the nimbleness to jump correctly." In other words, Joseph Kent was often found politically in places where he might not be expected to be found. In his lifetime, he was elected to three different political offices, each time representing a different political party. To put a more positive spin on it, I think he was just very good at reading the political trends of his day and staying ahead of them.
Joseph Kent, born in Calvert County MD 14 January 1779, was the second of ten children of Revolutionary War veteran Daniel Kent (my 5x-great Grandfather) and his wife, Anne Weems Wheeler. He received a liberal schooling at the Lower Marlboro Academy and studied medicine. He was admitted to the practice of medicine in Calvert County in 1799.
In 1804, he married for the first time to Eleanor Lee Wallace. Around 1807, he purchased a 300-acre estate near Bladensburg in Prince George's County MD, which he named Rosemount. There he continued to practice medicine and engaged in farming on the estate. He was passionately fond of roses and kept the estate profusely planted with his favorite flower. He also enlisted in the Maryland militia as a Surgeon's Mate.
Joseph and Eleanor had nine children (five sons and four daughters) between 1806 and Eleanor's death in 1826, shortly after the birth of her youngest child.
- Joseph Kent Jr. 1806
- DeWitt Kent 1808
- Wallace Kent 1810
- Robert Kent 1812
- Eleanor Lee Kent 1817
- Sarah Fendall Kent 1819
- Jane Contee Kent 1820
- Harriet Kent 1825
- James W. Kent 1826
In 1810, Joseph was elected to Congress from Prince George's County and thus began his career as a mugwump.
Kent was a presidential elector in 1816, casting his vote for Democratic-Republican James Monroe. By the time of the next election in 1818, he had switched parties to the Democrat-Republicans and was elected to another term in Congress where he served until 1826. His moves anticipated the disintegration of the Federalist Party, which was pretty much dead by 1816.
He resigned from Congress in 1826, following his election as governor. As Governor, Kent focused on internal improvements to the state. He was particularly interested in the development of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, whose construction was begun in 1828 when Charles Carroll of Carrollton laid the first stone. This development was right in line with the policies of the Democratic-Republicans, who strongly favored western expansion.
During his term as governor, Kent also worked on prison reform, aid to schools and colleges, and the care and collection of state records, "so indispensably necessary to its correct history," as he noted. (As a genealogist, I have to applaud his efforts in this regard.)
During this time, he also married for the second time to a cousin of his first wife, Alice Lee Contee. He had no children by this second marriage.
By the time that Kent became governor, the Democratic Republican Party had splintered, becoming eventually, the Democrats and the Whigs.
Following his term as governor, Dr. Kent again switched political parties. He became vice-president of the Baltimore convention of Whigs, nominating Henry Clay for president. He was elected to the United States Senate in 1832 as a Whig. Because of ill-health, he attended only four sessions. He died at Rosemount in 1837 at the age of 58, following a fall from his horse and is buried there.
Despite his mugwumpian ways, Joseph Kent's political career is generally regarded favorably. "His political sentiment was acrobatic and took many a turn," as one biographer noted. "But it always landed its owner upon his feet." And not incidentally, it usually benefited his constituents.
At his death, he was much honored and lamented. His funeral was attended by a large contingent of neighbors and friends as well as senators, mayors and presidents who had worked with him during his political career. As the Baltimore Sun noted:
A body of sincerer mourners never assembled to celebrate the funeral obsequies of a beloved friend, snatched from life in the career of unsullied honor, unimpeachable probity, and widely extended usefulness.
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