University of Virginia Library

ROBERT BROOKE.

Robert Brooke, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, a native
of England, of gentle descent and of classic education, accompanied
Robert Beverley, the historian, and Governor Spotswood, to Virginia in
1710. He was a skilled and probably a professional surveyor. He must
have been appointed surveyor of the Colony immediately upon or very
soon after his arrival. He accompanied Governor Spotswood in his
famous expedition across the Blue Ridge Mountains, which set out from
Williamsburg, August 20, 1716, and on the 5th of September following,
drank the health of King George I. on the summit of the Appalachian
range, and returning, the party reached "Germanna," the seat of the
Governor, on the Rappahannock River, on the 10th instant following.
Robert Brooke was decorated with one of the horseshoe badges described
in the preceding sketch of Governor Spotswood. In 1736, Robert
Brooke was one of the surveyors in behalf of His Majesty, George II.,
to determine the disputed boundaries of the Northern Neck Proprietary
of Lord Fairfax.

The commissioners in behalf the Crown were William Byrd, John
Robinson and John Grymes; Lord Fairfax being represented by William
Fairfax, William Beverley and Charles Carter. Robert Brooke had
several sons, the youngest of whom, Richard, married a Miss Taliaferro,
who brought him as a dowry the seat and estate "Smithfield," on the
Rappahannock, about four miles below Fredericksburg. By tradition,
the estate was so called after Captain John Smith, the pioneer settler of
Virginia. As mythical as this may appear, it is yet recorded that Smith
ascended the Rappahannock with an exploring party in July, 1608, and
that Richard Featherstone, a "gentleman" of the party, dying, he was
buried on the banks of the river near where Fredericksburg now stands.
Richard Brooke left four sons and a daughter by his wife as stated, and
a fifth son by a second marriage. He died in 1792, aged sixty years.
The two eldest sons, Laurence and Robert (under notice), were sent to
the University of Edinburg to be educated for the two learned professions,
Medicine and Law, and did not return until the American Revolution
was in progress.

Going over first to France, Dr. Laurence Brooke was appointed, through
the influence of Benjamin Franklin, surgeon of the American privateer,
the "Bonhomie Richard," commanded by the celebrated John Paul Jones,
and was in the engagement with the "Serapis" and all other actions of that

memorable cruise. Robert Brooke was captured on his voyage to America
and carried to New York, from whence he was sent back to England
by Lord Howe, the British Admiral. From England, Robert Brooke
went into Scotland and from thence again got over to France, and returned
to Virginia in a French frigate that brought the arms supplied
the continentals by the French government. Burning with patriotic
ardor, he joined at once a volunteer troop of cavalry commanded by
Captain Larkin Smith, was captured in January, 1781, in a charge of
dragoons by a Captain Loller, of Simcoe's Queen's Rangers at Westham,
six miles above Richmond (which raid is mentioned in the preceding
sketch of Governor Jefferson); but was soon exchanged, returning to
the service. After the war he entered upon the practice of his
profession, in which he soon acquired distinction. In 1794 he
represented the county of Spotsylvania in the House of Delegates
of Virginia, and in the same year was elected Governor of the
State by the Legislature, entering upon his duties December 1st and
serving until December 1, 1796, when he was succeeded by James Wood.
In 1795 he was elected Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Ancient
Free and Accepted Masons of Virginia (having previously served as
Deputy Grand Master), and served until 1797. In 1798 he was elected
Attorney-General of Virginia over Bushrod Washington, the nephew of
George Washington, and who was afterward a Justice of the Supreme
Court of the United States. Robert Brooke died in the office of Attorney-General
in 1799, aged thirty-eight years. His grandson, Robert T.
Brooke, Esq., an estimable citizen of Richmond, is the Treasurer of the
Virginia Historical Society. The county of Brooke, formed in 1797 from
Ohio county, commemorates the name of the Governor. The third son
of Richard Brooke, John, was a Lieutenant in the Revolution and a
pensioner of the State for gallant service. The fourth son, Francis T.
(born August 27, 1763), at the age of sixteen was appointed a first
Lieutenant in Colonel (afterward General) Charles Harrison's Regiment
of Artillery, serving first in the campaign of General Lafayette during the
invasion of Lord Cornwallis. He was soon after placed in command of
the Magazine and Laboratory at Westham, six miles above Richmond,
with a force of seventy-five men. Although so young an officer, Captain
Brooke acquitted himself with skill and gallantry throughout the war, winning
encomiums uniformly from his several Generals, Harrison, Lafayette
and Greene. In 1788 he commenced the practice of Law in the counties
of Monongalia and Harrison, and was soon appointed Attorney for the
Commonwealth of the District Court of Morgantown. In 1790 he removed
to Essex county, which county he represented subsequently in
the House of Delegates, and in 1791 married Mary Randolph, the
daughter of General Alexander Spotswood and a grand niece of General
Washington. Mrs. Brooke died in 1803, leaving four children, and
Captain Brooke married secondly Mary Champe Carter, by whom he had
two children. Captain Brooke was a member of the State Senate in
1800, and in 1804 Speaker of that body, and in the latter year was elected
a member of the General Court of Virginia. In 1811 he was elected
Judge of the Supreme Court of Appeals, of which he was long President.
By successive promotions he was appointed General of the first Brigade
of the State forces in 1802. He was the last Vice-President and presiding
executive of the Virginia Branch of the Order of Cincinnati, the
funds of which, some $20,000, ultimately went, by the vote of the few surviving
members of the Order, about the year 1820, to the endowment of
Washington College, now Washington and Lee University, Lexington,
Va. Judge Brooke died March 3, 1851, widely revered for his sterling
worth, and deeply lamented. A scarce little memorial, "A Narrative
of my Life; For my Family, by Francis T. Brooke," privately printed
in 1849, has furnished many of the facts in this sketch. The name
Brooke is of much earlier dating in Virginia than as above stated.
Nicholas Brooke, "the younger, merchant," being a patentee of 500 acres
in Middle Plantations, York county, August 13, 1646.

The names of Henry, Humphrey, Paulin and George Brooke subsequently
appear as grantees of land, and the name has been frequently
represented in the Legislative bodies of Virginia and in the army and
navy of America. It has been asserted that all of the name of Brooke
as severally represented in Virginia, and by Roger Brooke in Maryland,
the ancestor of the eminent jurist, Roger Brooke Taney, are of the same
lineage from the parent stock in England.