Editing Jérôme Napoléon Bonaparte

{{Short description|French-American nephew of Napoleon}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name = Jérôme Napoléon Bonaparte
| image = Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte-Patterson (1805-1870).jpg
| caption = Jerome Napoleon Patterson-Bonaparte in his mid-forties
| title = Prince Napoleon
| birth_date = {{birth date|1805|7|5|df=y}}
| birth_place = 95 Camberwell Grove, [[Camberwell]], [[London]], England
| death_date = {{death date and age|1870|6|17|1805|7|5|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Baltimore]], [[Maryland]], U.S.
| house = [[House of Bonaparte|Bonaparte]]
| spouse = {{marriage|[[Susan May Williams]]|1829}}
| issue = [[Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte II]]<br>[[Charles Joseph Bonaparte]]
| father = [[Jérôme Bonaparte]]
| mother = [[Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte|Elizabeth Patterson]]
}}
'''Jérôme Napoléon "Bo" Bonaparte''' (5 July 1805 &ndash; 17 June 1870) was an American farmer, chairman of the Maryland Agricultural Society, first president of the [[Maryland Club]],<ref>{{cite web|last1=Shannon|first1=Selin|title=Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon's American nephew|url=http://shannonselin.com/2015/02/jerome-napoleon-bonaparte/|website=Shannon Selin|date=20 February 2015 |access-date=11 May 2016}}</ref> and the son of [[Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte|Elizabeth Patterson]] and [[Jérôme Bonaparte]], brother of [[Napoleon I of France|Napoleon I]].<ref>Marshall, Bill, and Cristina Johnston. [https://books.google.com/books?id=jfq5Tp0nq98C&dq=Betsy+and+her+son+returned+to+Baltimore+in+September+1805&pg=PA162 France and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History : a Multidisciplinary Encyclopedia]. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO, Inc, 2005. "Jérôme Napoléon Bonaparte was born in England on July 7, 1805. Betsy and her son returned to Baltimore in September 1805. At Napoléon's behest, Jérôme married Princess Catherine of Württemberg in August 1807." - Page 162. Retrieved 22 November 2015.</ref>

==Biography==
Bonaparte was born in 95 Camberwell Grove, [[Camberwell]], London, but lived in the United States with his wealthy [[American citizen|American]] mother, Elizabeth. His mother's marriage had been [[annulment|annulled]] by order of Jérôme's uncle, [[Napoleon|Napoleon I]]. The annulment caused the rescission of his right to carry the Bonaparte name, although the ruling was later reversed by his cousin, [[Napoleon III]].

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]] to the [[U.S. Constitution]] 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thirdamendment.com/missing.html |title=The "Missing Thirteenth Amendment": Constitutional Nonsense and Titles of Nobility |publisher=Thirdamendment.com |access-date=2012-03-08}}</ref>

He graduated from Mount St. Mary's College (now [[Mount St. Mary's University]]) in 1817<ref>Edward Francis Xavier McSweeny. [https://books.google.com/books?id=atpEAAAAYAAJ&dq=Jerome+Napoleon+Bonaparte+Mount+St.+Mary%27s+College&pg=PA70 The Story of the Mountain: Mount St. Mary's College and Seminary]. Volume I, p. 70. Retrieved 22 November 2015</ref> and later received a law degree from Harvard, but did not end up practicing law.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=rPoUAAAAYAAJ&dq=Jerome+Napoleon+Patterson-Bonaparte&pg=PA341 Lamb's Biographical Dictionary of the United States], Volume I, p. 341.</ref>  He was a founding member of the [[Maryland Club]], serving as its first president.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Gunning, Brooke|author2=O'Donovan, Molly|title=Baltimore's Halcyon Days|date=2000|publisher=[[Arcadia Publishing]]|page=75|isbn=9780738506319|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oY9TN1vNoa8C&q=%22Jerome%20Napoleon%20Bonaparte%22%20%22Maryland%20Club%22&pg=PA75|access-date=15 July 2015}}</ref>

In November 1829, Jérôme Napoleon married [[Susan May Williams]], an heiress from Baltimore, and it is from them that the American line of the [[House of Bonaparte|Bonaparte family]] 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]] and [[Secretary of the Navy]], and also created the Bureau of Investigation, which was later rechristened the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]].

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]], the groom's maternal grandfather, [[William Patterson (Maryland businessman)|William Patterson]] — one of the wealthiest men in [[Maryland]] — gave the couple [[Montrose Mansion and Chapel|Montrose Mansion]] as a wedding gift.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/stagsere/se1/se5/004000/004100/004190/pdf/msa_se5_4190.pdf|title=Maryland State Archives, Montrose Mansion and Chapel|access-date=February 25, 2013}}</ref> Bonaparte died in [[Baltimore, Maryland]], at age 64 and is buried at [[Loudon Park Cemetery]].

==References==
{{Commons category|Jérôme Napoléon Bonaparte}}
{{reflist}}

{{Bonaparte family}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonaparte, Jerome Napoleon}}
[[Category:1805 births]]
[[Category:1870 deaths]]
[[Category:English emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:House of Bonaparte|Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte]]
[[Category:Princes of France (Bonaparte)|Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte]]
[[Category:People from Camberwell]]
[[Category:Mount St. Mary's University alumni]]
[[Category:American people of Corsican descent]]
[[Category:Harvard Law School alumni]]
[[Category:English people of French descent]]
[[Category:English people of American descent]]
[[Category:Patterson family (Maryland)]]
[[Category:Sons of kings]]
[[Category:Burials at Loudon Park Cemetery]]