Robert Brooke (Virginia)
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- This article is about the governor of Virginia. For the governor of St. Helena, see Robert Brooke.
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Robert Brooke was born in Virginia, 1761, son of Richard Brooke, and grandson of Robert Brooke, a skilled surveyor, who had been one of Lt. Governor Alexander Spotswood's "Knights of the Golden Horseshoe Expedition". About 1795, Robert Brooke, governor of Virginia, built his home upon Federal Hill, which looked over Sandy Bottom to Marye's Heights, a thousand yards away. He was educated at Edinburgh University, and on returning home at the beginning of the revolution was captured by Howe, British admiral, and sent back to England, whence he went to Scotland, then to France, and reached Virginia in a French vessel carrying arms for the continentals. He joined Captain Larkin Smith's company of cavalry, was captured near Richmond by Simcoe in 1781, was exchanged, and rejoined the army. In 1794 he represented Spotsylvania county in the house of delegates, and on December 1, of the same year, was elected governor and served two years. He was a Republican, and in 1798 was elected attorney-general of the state, over Bushrod Washington, nephew of General Washington.
Brooke was a Freemason in Virginia, 1795-97. and in November 1795 succeeded John Marshall as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Virginia.
He died while still attorney-general, aged only thirty-eight years.
The county of Brooke, formed from Ohio county Va., now in West Virginia is called, Brooke County, West Virginia, and was named in his honor.
- Ancestry
Brooke (England) AND Taliaferro (Venice, Italy)
- Father Richard Brooke, b. 1732
- Mother Ann Hay Taliaferro, b. 7 Sep 1731
- Robert Brooke (c.1761—d. 27 Feb 1800, Fredericksburg, Va.)
- Married 1786 Mary Ritchie
- Children: Richard Brooke, b. 14 Aug 1787
- Descendants: Many living 2009.
- Related to Washington family; descended from Patrick Henry's family (John Fontaine m. Martha Henry); Patrick Henry's family descended from Gen. Alexander Spottswood's family of Virginia, of "Knights of the Golden Horshoe" history.
[edit] Sources
- Maury Family Tree by Sue West for family—privately printed.
- Recollections of a Virginian in the Mexican, Indian, and Civil Wars by Maj. Gen. Dabney Herndon Maury
- Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography, Volume IIII—Governors of the State—1776-1861
- Obituaries in Fredericksburg Virginia Herald, 28 Feb. 1800, and Richmond Virginia Argus, 7 Mar. 1800.
- Biography in John T. Kneebone et al., eds., Dictionary of Virginia Biography (Richmond: Library of Virginia, 1998- ), 2:267-269. ISBN 0-88490-199-8.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Henry Lee III |
Governor of Virginia 1794–1796 |
Succeeded by James Wood |
| Legal offices | ||
| Preceded by John Marshall (acting) |
Attorney General of Virginia 1796 – 1800 |
Succeeded by Philip Norborne Nicholas |
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