Charles Boarman Charles Boarman ( December 24 , 1795 – September 13 , 1879 ) was a career officer in the United States Navy . He entered the naval service shortly before the War of 1812 and served until 1876 , subsequently retiring as a rear admiral . He held a number of important posts , both in peace and wartime , in the Mediterranean , West Indies and Brazil Squadron s and as commandant of the Brooklyn Navy Yard . He was also assigned to special duty during the American Civil War and a member of the U . S . Naval Board at Washington , DC . After attending naval school at the Washington Navy Yard , Boarman saw service as a young midshipmen aboard the during the War of 1812 and later took part in anti - piracy operations in the early 1820s . He commanded a number of warships between 1827 and 1850 , most notably , the during the Mexican - American War . In 1876 , Boarman was promoted to rear admiral on the retired list and died in Martinsburg , West Virginia three years later . He was among several of Catholic background , such as John Cassin , Patrick McDonough , and Philip C . Wederstrandt , to become high ranking naval officers in the early years of the U . S . Navy . He was also , at the time of his death , the longest serving naval officer on the Navy Register with 68 years service . The Boarman family home , the Boarman House , occupied by the family for over a century , is a state historical landmark in West Virginia . Early life and career . Charles Boarman was born in Bryantown , Maryland on December 24 , 1795 . He was the son of Mary ( née Edelen ; 1750 – aft . 1796 ) and Charles Boarman , Sr . ( 1751 – 1819 ) , a professor at Georgetown College . The Boarmans were among the oldest families in colonial Maryland . Its patriarch , Major William Boarman ( 1630 – 1709 ) , was an officer and administrator under Lord Baltimore , first arriving in the colony in 1645 , and became a major landholder in present - day Charles County . Many of Charles Boarman ' s relatives were in the clergy including his uncle Rev . Sylvester Boarman and distant cousins Rev . Father Edelen and Rev . Cornelius Thomas , the latter a rector of St . Anne ' s Church in Baltimore . Boarman ' s aunt Sallie Edelen was a Sister in the Poor Clares in France before having to flee the country during the Reign of Terror ; four of his cousins were among the first women to enter Baltimore ' s Carmelite Convent . Boarman ' s father was also , at one time , studying to enter the priesthood . He was educated at the Jesuit College of Liege , Belgium , and was a scholastic of the Society at the time of the suppression of the Jesuits in 1773 . As a result , he was released from his vows and returned to Maryland where he met and married his future wife . The Boarman family lived on a farm in Charles County while Charles Boarman , Sr . resided at Georgetown University . In 1799 , he moved the family to Georgetown where they lived in a brick house on the university grounds . After Boarman , Sr . died , the house was occupied by Mrs . Susan Decatur , widow of Captain Stephen Decatur , until her death in 1860 . The property was later sold and the house was torn down ; the site is now included in the university ' s baseball field . The younger Charles Boarman was educated at Georgetown from 1803 to 1808 . In 1811 , Boarman ' s father wrote to Robert Brent , the mayor of Washington , D . C . and U . S . Army paymaster , asking for a letter of recommendation for his son in regards to a midshipman s commission in the United States Navy . In August of that year , on behalf of Boarman ' s father , Brent wrote to then United States Secretary of the Navy Paul Hamilton endorsing the commission . In addition to the father ' s letter was a personal application from a 16 - year - old " Charley " Boarman himself . Hamilton approved Boarman ' s application a day after receiving the letter . He attended instruction in the Washington Navy Yard and was under the tuition of Chaplain Andrew Hunter , a military chaplain in the Continental Army and mathematics professor in Princeton University , while in Washington . Boarman was assigned to the sloop in Baltimore upon the completion of his training in September 1813 . He later served aboard the brig seeing action on Lake Ontario during the War of 1812 . He was one of several Georgetown alumni , including Thomas Blackstone , William Ford , Thomas Robinson , John Rogers , and Clement Sewall to participate in the war . Service in the Mediterranean , West Indies , and Brazil squadrons . Boarman returned to the " Erie " at the end of the war as part of the Mediterranean Squadron and won promotion to lieutenant on March 5 , 1817 . After a brief time sailing with the West India Squadron on the sloop he was stationed at the Washington Navy Yard . On March 21 , 1820 , Boarman was married to Mary Ann " Nancy " Abell , daughter of John Abell and Sarah Forest , wealthy Virginian landowners , in Jefferson County . He soon went to sea again seeing service on ( 1823 ) and the ( 1824 ) as part of the U . S . Navy ' s anti - piracy operations in the West Indies . On July 24 , 1824 , Boarman temporarily took command of the schooner USS " Weazel " from Commodore David Porter during which time he was on convoy duty and patrolled for pirates . That summer , Boarman captured a pirate ship off the coast of Crab Island but its crew managed to escape to shore . In September , he escorted three American merchant ships from Havana , Cuba to Campeachy , and then carried $ 65 , 000 from Tampico which was to be shipped to New York . In July 1825 , Boarman was one of several officers of the West Indies Squadron which testified at the naval court of inquiry and court martial of Commodore Porter . Boarman received his first command , the USS " Weazel " ( 1827 ) , and then transferred to the frigate s ( 1828 ) and ( 1829 ) , both flagship s of the Mediterranean Squadron . In 1830 , he was made executive officer of the Brazil Squadron ' s flagship the . In September , he took temporary command of the while Captain John Gallagher left to testify in the court martial of fellow Captain Beekman V . Hoffman of the . He went back to the " Hudson " after Gallagher ' s return and remained on board until 1836 when he was reassigned to the West India Squadron and given command of the schooner . On February 9 , 1837 , he was made a full commander , and in 1840 captained the sloop . It was during this period that Solomon H . Sanborn , master - at - arms of the " Fairfield " from 1837 to 1839 , accused the ship ' s officers , including Boarman , of complicity in illegal coltings and floggings with cat o ' nine tails by not reporting them in the ships logbook . He also alleged that Boarman used the discipline tribunal to keep a member of the crew , seaman John Smith , on board past the term of his enlistment with a court martial trial . In 1840 , Sanborn published a 40 - page pamphlet in New York describing his experiences , however , no charges were ever brought against any officers of the " Fairfield " . Four years later , on March 29 , 1844 , Boarman won his captain ' s commission and assumed command of the Brazil Squadron ' s flagship . Boarman held this command throughout the Mexican - American War and , between 1847 and 1850 , embarked on a three - year voyage . Commandant of the Brooklyn Navy Yard . After leaving the Brazil Squadron , Boarman succeeded Captain William D . Salter as commander of the Brooklyn Navy Yard and remained in charge of the facility from October 14 , 1852 to October 1 , 1855 . In the four - year period he and his family were stationed in Brooklyn one of his daughters , Mary Jane Boarman , began a relationship with William Henry Broome , longtime deputy collector of the New York Custom House ; the two may have been introduced through Broome ' s brother John L . Broome who was serving as a marine lieutenant at the navy yard . They were married in a modest ceremony at the Commandant ' s House , officiated by Archbishop John Hughes , on October 18 , 1853 ; the family regularly attended Sunday Mass at St . James ' Cathedral , in all kinds of weather , where Boarman was a pew holder . Boarman later bought the house and lot that Mary Ann lived at in Brooklyn and , after her husband ' s death in 1876 , left the property to her in his will . During his tenure at the navy yard Boarman supervised the fitting out of the Japan expedition under Commodore Matthew C . Perry . In May 1855 , responding to reports by the Pierce Administration of a possible filibustering expedition being headed by Henry L . Kinney , Boarman used the naval forces under his command to form a blockade around Kinney ' s ship moored at an East River wharf effectively blocking Kinney and associate Joseph W . Fabens from leaving New York Harbor ; the two were subsequently arrested . Four months after this incident , on September 18 , 1855 , Boarman was placed on the reserve list , less than a month before turning over command of the yard to Captain Abraham Bigelow , holding the rank of captain . Later career . Boarman was recalled to duty upon the start of the American Civil War . Although he was born a southerner , and a longtime resident of Martinsburg , Virginia , he remained with the Union and supported the secession of West Virginia from Virginia proper . Two of his sons - in - law , Robert P . Bryarly and Jeremiah Harris , the latter a member of the famed Ashby ' s Cavalry , both served in the Confederate Army . In a letter to one of his sons , written at the start of the war , he " declared his steadfast allegiance to the flag of his country , which he had sworn to defend " . A slave owner through marriage to his wife , he immediately freed his slaves and " faced bravely the financial hardship that followed this act " . Boarman was detained on special duty throughout the war , his " rare executive capacities peculiarly fitting him for such service " , and in 1863 was appointed to the U . S . Naval Board in Washington , DC . On March 12 , 1867 , he was promoted to the rank of commodore . Boarman retired at the rank of rear admiral nine years later . Boarman eventually returned to Martinsburg where he and his wife spent their final years . Charles and Mary Ann Boarman had originally lived in Maryland before moving to Martinsburg to raise their family ; they had 13 children together , however , only 10 survived to adulthood . In March 1870 , the couple celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary . Mary Ann Boarman died on September 26 , 1875 . Mary Ann , who converted to Catholicism to marry her husband , was an active member of the local diocese , St . Joseph ' s Catholic Church , and spent much of her time involved in charities to help the sick and the poor while Charles Boarman was away at sea . Her loss was mourned by the townspeople with one writing : " In her death we lose one of our most charitable citizens ; she will be missed by very many of the poor of Martinsburg ; she was always seeking the sick and administering to their wants . She was truly an angel of mercy and charity and a strict and consistent member of the church " . Boarman was also involved in church activities and , when their children were younger , wrote to a local convent asking the Mother Superior for Nuns to teach the Catholic children of Martinsburg . Boarman died in Martinsburg on September 13 , 1879 . Boarman was survived by ten children , four sons and six daughters , including frontier physician Dr . Charles Boarman ( 1828 – 1880 ) who was among the first pioneers to settle in present - day Amador County , California . Two of his daughters also married into prominent families ; Susan Martha Boarman married Virginia landowner Jeremiah Harris and Mary Jane Boarman became the wife of William Henry Broome , deputy collector of the New York Custom House . His grandson Dr . Charles Boarman Harris ( 1857 – 1942 ) , another pioneer physician , was well known in northeastern Minnesota and the Dakota Territory helping establish Pembina , North Dakota , the oldest settlement in the state . Andrew " Andy " F . Boarman ( 1910 – 1999 ) , a popular banjo and bluegrass musician , was the great - grandson of Charles Boarman . At the time of his death Boarman had been the longest serving officer in the U . S . Navy Register , with over 68 years of service , and the U . S . Naval Department issued a special general order to recognize his passing . Boarman House . The Boarman family home , commonly known as the Boarman House , is an historical landmark in the state of West Virginia . It is one of the oldest brick buildings in downtown Martinsburg and part of the city ' s walking tour of Civil War landmarks . Originally built by Philip Nadenbousch , it was purchased by Lieutenant Charles Boarman in 1832 and remained in the Boarman family for over a century before being sold to the King ’ s Daughters Circle in December 1943 , and then to the Sisters of the Holy Ghost in 1953 ; the building was used for apartments and various offices , including an employment office for returning World War II servicemen , during this time . It was purchased in 1980 by West Virginia nonprofit corporation Associates for Community Development and , after extensive restorations , housed the Boarman Arts Center and the Martinsburg - Berkeley County Convention and Visitors Bureau from 1987 to 2001 ; the building featured Boarman ' s navigator ' s log and two portraits , one when he bought the house as a young lieutenant and the other as an older officer . In October 2005 , the house was sold to a Leesburg , Virginia couple , Chester and Jeanne Martin , who planned to turn it into the city ' s first bed and breakfast .