American politician (1757?1814)
"Senator Brent" redirects here. For the 1850s Virginia State Senate member, see
George William Brent
.
Richard Brent
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In office
March 4, 1809 ? December 30, 1814
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Preceded by
| Andrew Moore
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Succeeded by
| James Barbour
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In office
1808–1809
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Preceded by
| John C. Hunter
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Succeeded by
| William Tyler
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In office
March 4, 1801 ? March 3, 1803
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Preceded by
| Leven Powell
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Succeeded by
| Thomas Claiborne
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In office
March 4, 1795 ? March 3, 1799
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Preceded by
| Richard B. Lee
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Succeeded by
| Leven Powell
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In office
1800–1801
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In office
1793–1795
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In office
1788–1789
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Born
| 1757
(
1757
)
Stafford County
,
Virginia Colony
,
British America
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Died
| December 30, 1814
(1814-12-30)
(aged 56?57)
Washington, D.C.
,
U.S.
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Political party
| Democratic-Republican
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Richard Brent
(1757 – December 30, 1814) was an American planter, lawyer, and politician who represented
Virginia
in both the
U.S. House
and the
U.S. Senate
, and at various times
Fairfax
,
Prince William
and
Stafford
counties as he served at various times in both houses of the
Virginia General Assembly
.
Early and family life
[
edit
]
Brent was born in 1757, the eldest son of lawyer and future patriot legislator William Brent (1732-1782), at his father's plantation estate, 'Richland' on the
Potomac River
in
Stafford County
in the
Colony of Virginia
. Nearly a century earlier
George Brent
had emigrated across the Atlantic Ocean to the Virginia Colony to avoid England's Civil Wars and persecution as a Catholic and established 'Woodstock' plantation; others from that prominent Catholic family would include
Margaret Brent
, and Eleanor Carroll, sister of the future
Archbishop
John Carroll
, who as a priest in Maryland crossed the
Potomac River
to serve the Brents and other Catholics in Northern Virginia
[1]
[2]
Privately educated, Brent also read law, but never married.
Career
[
edit
]
Admitted to the Virginia
bar
, Brent had a private legal practice in northern Virginia. Although Virginia had several laws (including one requiring an oath the support the Church of England, which restricted Catholics from practicing law and sitting in the legislature, those were not enforced against him. Before his birth, some relatives moved to
Prince William County, Virginia
and established
Brent Town
(modern
Brentsville
) to avoid such anti-Catholic legislation, although such mostly grew after William Brent's death, first when it became the Prince William County government seat, and later with the development of the
Orange and Alexandria Railroad
.
[3]
After his father's death Brent continued his family tradition and several times won election to the
Virginia House of Delegates
, representing Stafford County in 1788 and representing Prince William County in 1793, 1794, 1800 and 1801.
In 1794, Brent won election to the United States House of Representatives and represented
Virginia's 17th congressional district
during the
4th
and
5th Congresses
, serving from March 1795 to March 1799, when he returned to the Virginia House of Delegates, again winning election from Prince William County. Brent again won election to the U.S. House and served another two-year term during the
7th Congress
from March 1801 to March 1803. He served in the
Virginia State Senate
from 1808 to 1810.
[4]
[5]
Following his service in the Virginia State Senate, fellow delegates elected Brent to the United States Senate, where he served from March 1809 until his death in
Washington, D.C.
, on December 30, 1814.
He is buried at the private Brent family cemetery near
Aquia
in Stafford County, Virginia.
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Daniel M. French, Brent Family: the Carroll Families of Colonial Maryland (Alexandria, Va 1981) pp. 73. Eleanor Carroll was the sister of the future Archbishop
John Carroll
. However, this Richard Brent's brother, Daniel Carroll Brent (1759-1815), inherited 'Richland'.
- ^
Virginia Biographical Dictionary, 2nd ed., vol. 1 (Somerset Publishers, 1999)
- ^
Gerald P. Fogarty, Commonwealth Catholicism: a history of the Catholic Church in Virginia (2002) p.
- ^
- ^
Kestenbaum, Lawrence.
"The Political Graveyard: Index to Politicians: Brent"
. Retrieved
March 5,
2017
.
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