St. Joseph on Carrollton Manor and the land surrounding the church are closely tied into the history of Catholicism and Jesuit missionary work in Maryland. Jesuit priests had maintained a presence in the city of Frederick since the mid-1700s.  After the American Revolution, the faithful in Maryland were freed of anti-Catholic laws that forbade the presence of their churches outside of private homes. Jesuits took advantage of this new era of religious tolerance to establish new churches and chapels, including St. Joseph on Carrollton Manor.

Persecuted in Europe, many Jesuit priests came to America to work among the new nation’s Catholics, and a long list of immigrant clerics worshiped with the faithful at St. Joseph.  In 1809, Father Francis Maleve, S.J., a Belgian by birth, replaced the Frenchman Father John DuBois, S.S., in Frederick and worked tirelessly to establish a number of new churches in the county.  Father DuBois later founded Mount St. Mary’s College and became the third bishop of New York.

There were a number of tenant-farmer Catholics on Carrollton Manor, a 12,000-acre tract owned by Charles Carroll, the only Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence

In 1810, the Catholics on the manor reported to Father Maleve that they were still worried about religious persecution, and while they enjoyed the protection they believed Carroll provided them, they wondered what their fate might be when Carroll passed away.  They suggested to Father Maleve that they might have to relocate to Louisiana, the only other area in the United States with a significant Catholic population.

In 1814, Carroll agreed to provide two acres of land for a church on Carrollton Manor, although the deed was not executed until 1819.  This land seems to have remained vacant until 1822.  In the summer of that year, Carroll’s granddaughter, Mary Patterson, executed a land swap with Father Maleve, giving him the deed to the current church property in exchange for the land her grandfather deeded in 1819.  The church was probably built rapidly after that, and Mass was certainly celebrated there by November 1822, if not a month or two earlier. 

Under Father Maleve’s direction, the first St. Joseph Church was built of limestone. The building was 35 feet by 25 feet and faced east/west with the entrance to the west. Father Maleve may not have lived long enough to see the final results of his handiwork, as he died suddenly in October 1822. Father John McElroy of Ireland, who later founded Boston College, replaced him and served the Frederick area for the next 23 years.  In this period, missionary churches such as St. Joseph’s usually had Mass celebrated once each month.

After the Civil War in 1867, another Irishman, Father John B. Gaffney, S.J., oversaw the construction of a new church. The walls of the old church, being in excellent condition, were left standing. The entrance changed to the north and was extended about 30 feet.  Construction caused some disagreement as many parishioners wanted the church in the manor woods relocated to a more accessible spot.  The Carroll family, however, had decisive influence because Emily Harper, Carroll’s great-granddaughter, made substantial donations for the church remodeling and wanted the church to remain where it was.  Completed in June 4, 1871, the church was soon joined by a brick rectory. The original rectory or priest house stood on the opposite of the road from the present rectory.

The Jesuit mission evolved with the growth of the nation, and as millions of Catholics migrated from Europe to the North and Midwest, the Jesuits left their parish duties in Maryland for assignments in the rapidly growing cities of the North.  Secular priests took over these duties in Frederick in 1902.

Next to the Carroll family, the Jarboe-Grove family was the church’s most generous benefactor.  William Jarboe Grove wrote a history of Carrollton Manor in the 1920s and recalled the religious devotion of his mother in the book’s dedication:

To the memory of my mother, Susanna Jarboe Grove, whose greatest comfort and happiness was kneeling in prayer in Saint Joseph Church in Carrollton Manor surrounded by her children. (1)

Grove also recalled the early 20th century as a period of growth, and one where the church played a significant role in the religious and social lives of its followers, including a very popular annual picnic that drew in visitors from outside the county:

The members of St. Joseph Church, about ten years ago [1911], secured about five acres in the Manor woods … The spot is an ideal one in the midst of virgin forest in Carrollton Manor woods. The annual picnics held here are always grand successes. The management has erected a large daning [dining] pavilion finely equipped and used in every way for the enjoyment of the people who come by the thousands from this and adjoining states. (2)

In the 1930s, Grove made a substantial donation in his will to the church, including money for the beautiful stained glass windows that adorn the church.