Margaret Brent
Encyclopedia
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
n colonies to appear before a court of the Common Law
The Common Law
The Common Law is a book that was written by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. in 1881. Holmes later became an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States....
. She was a significant founding settler in the early histories of the colonies of Maryland and Virginia. Lord Calvert, Governor of the Maryland Colony, appointed her as the executor of his estate in 1647, at a time of political turmoil and risk to the future of the settlement. She helped ensure soldiers were paid and given food to keep their loyalty to the colony.
With Anne Hutchinson
Anne Hutchinson
Anne Hutchinson was one of the most prominent women in colonial America, noted for her strong religious convictions, and for her stand against the staunch religious orthodoxy of 17th century Massachusetts...
, Brent ranks among the most prominent women figures in early Colonial American history. Hailed as a feminist by some in modern times in advancing rights of women under the laws, her insistent advocacy of her legal prerogatives as an unmarried gentlewoman
Gentlewoman
A gentlewoman in the original and strict sense is a woman of good family, analogous to the Latin generosus and generosa...
of property, while notable in its exceptional energy, was consistent with English law.
Early life and education
Born into a CatholicCatholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
family in Gloucestershire, Margaret Brent and her siblings were all adults when they emigrated from England; it was a period of agitation by the government against those suspected of recusancy
Recusancy
In the history of England and Wales, the recusancy was the state of those who refused to attend Anglican services. The individuals were known as "recusants"...
, preceding the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
. She was one of six daughters of a total of thirteen children of the Lord of Admington
Admington
Admington is a village and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district of the English county of Warwickshire. It is known as Edelmintone in the Domesday Book. The name Admington means 'estate associated with a man called Æthelhelm'. In the 2001 census the parish had a population of 100...
and Stoke, Richard Brent, and his wife, Elizabeth Reed (daughter of Edward Reed, Lord of Tusburie and Witten, all of Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
). Four of her sisters became nuns. (Ode Brent, a knight in 1066, is direct ancestor to the Brents of Stoke, by their lineage account, while Elizabeth Reed's family claimed descendancy from William the Conqueror
William I of England
William I , also known as William the Conqueror , was the first Norman King of England from Christmas 1066 until his death. He was also Duke of Normandy from 3 July 1035 until his death, under the name William II...
of 1066.)
Emigration to Maryland
Margaret, her sister Mary, and her brothers Giles and Fulke Brent sailed together from England and arrived at St. Mary'sSt. Mary's City, Maryland
St. Mary's City, in St. Mary's County, Maryland, is a small unincorporated community near the southernmost end of the state on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay. It is located on the eastern shore of the St. Mary's River, a tributary of the Potomac. St. Mary's City is the fourth oldest...
, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
on November 22, 1638, where they hoped to improve their fortunes. In England the father's estate went to the eldest son, and the remainder of the children had to make their own ways. Margaret Brent was about 37 and unmarried.
In the colony, the Brents secured large land grants and high political offices due to their prestigious ancestry and/or political affiliations. Fulke Brent returned to England, but the other three stayed on in Maryland. On October 4, 1639, Margaret Brent became the first Maryland female land owner. She obtained the first recorded land grant in St. Mary's, a 70.5 acres (285,303.6 m²) patent, with which she and her sister Mary established the "Sister's Freehold", and an adjacent 50 acres (202,343 m²) titled St. Andrew's. This was land they developed for agriculture. Later her brother Giles Brent transferred a 1,000-acre (4 km²) land tract on Kent Island, Maryland
Kent Island, Maryland
Kent Island is the largest island in the Chesapeake Bay, and a historic place in Maryland. To the east, a narrow channel known as the Kent Narrows barely separates the island from the Delmarva Peninsula, and on the other side, the island is separated from Sandy Point, an area near Annapolis, by...
to her as payment of a debt he owed her, but likely he continued to manage it himself.
As Margaret Brent continued to import bondservants and sell their indentures, she was awarded grants of land by headright
Headright
A headright system is a legal grant of land to settlers who lived in Jamestown, Virginia. Headrights are most notable for their role in the expansion of the thirteen British colonies in North America; the Virginia Company of London gave headrights to settlers, and the Plymouth Company followed suit...
; the colony wanted to encourage the gentry to transport workers for labor in the growing colony. She was not known to exercise her rights to claim the land, given the instability in the colony. In addition, Brent became an ally of the governor, Leonard Calvert
Leonard Calvert
Leonard Calvert was the 1st Proprietary Governor of Maryland. He was the second son of George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, the first proprietary of the Province of Maryland...
. Together they were guardians of the young Mary Kitomaquund, the daughter of a Piscataway
Piscataway Indian Nation
The Piscataway Indian Nation and Tayac Territory is an unrecognized Native American tribe in Maryland that is related to the historic Piscataway tribe. At the time of European encounter, the Piscataway was one of the most populous and powerful Native polities of the Chesapeake Bay region, with a...
chief
Tribal chief
A tribal chief is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribal societies with social stratification under a single leader emerged in the Neolithic period out of earlier tribal structures with little stratification, and they remained prevalent throughout the Iron Age.In the case of ...
, whom they had promised to educate in English language and culture.
In 1644, her brother Giles Brent married Mary Kitomaquund; he may have hoped to get control of some of the tribal land. By the mid-1640s, political conditions in the colony were unstable, as the English Civil War's divisions spilled over to Maryland. The Protestant Richard Ingle raided the colony and burned down structures in early 1645; he took the Acting Governor, Giles Brent, and two Jesuit priests as prisoners back to England.
Governor Leonard Calvert
Leonard Calvert
Leonard Calvert was the 1st Proprietary Governor of Maryland. He was the second son of George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, the first proprietary of the Province of Maryland...
had fled to the colony of Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, where he asked for support from its government and recruited militia soldiers, promising to pay from his own estate. Brent recruited armed volunteers to assist his forces in suppressing the rebellion. When many of the Protestants moved to the Northern Neck of Virginia, the colony was reduced to about 100 residents. The following year, the ailing Calvert appointed Brent as executrix of his estate on June 9, 1647. He died without a will and was reported to have said, "Take all, spend all." Brent used his estate to pay the soldiers who had served the colony, but it was not sufficient.
He also gave the Brent sisters land entitlement letters from Maryland's Proprietary Governor, Lord Baltimore
Cæcilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore
Cecilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, 1st Proprietor and 1st Proprietary Governor of Maryland, 9th Proprietary Governor of Newfoundland , was an English peer who was the first proprietor of the Province of Maryland. He received the proprietorship after the death of his father, George Calvert, the...
, awarding them land portions equal in size to those of arrivals in Maryland in 1634. Their initial entitlement
Entitlement
An entitlement is a guarantee of access to benefits based on established rights or by legislation. A "right" is itself an entitlement associated with a moral or social principle, such that an "entitlement" is a provision made in accordance with legal framework of a society...
was enlarged to 800 acres (3.2 km²) per sister, as written in the colonization inducements (or headrights) offered to women. Brent received credit for the five men and four women servants she had brought with her.
Lord Baltimore had always managed his proprietorship from England, where he worked to keep political support for the colony, as well as to prove his loyalty (as a Catholic) to the new government of Protestants. He had appointed his brother as governor and to manage his lands. At risk was potential loss of the colony to Virginia due to the political unrest. During the emergency after Calvert's death, the Provincial Court on January 3, 1648 appointed Brent attorney-in-fact to Lord Baltimore, as there was no time to contact him about financial matters, and he had not appointed a successor to Calvert. She collected his rents and paid his debts.
Appointed as Baltimore's representative, On January 21, 1648, Brent attended the Provincial Court's assembly to request a voice in the council; she also asked for two votes in its proceedings (one as an independent landowner and the other as Lord Baltimore's attorney.) Governor Thomas Greene refused her request, as the assembly at the time considered such privileges for women to be reserved for queens. Brent left but said that she "Protested against all proceedings ... unless she may be present and have vote as aforesaid."
That same day, Brent called for corn to be brought from Virginia to feed the hungry troops camped at St. Mary's. Some accounts suggest that she had spent all of Leonard Calvert's personal estate by this time, and proceeded to sell Lord Baltimore's cattle to pay the soldiers' wages, although there is disagreement among historians on this matter. English law would not permit the sale of such possessions without a court order or a special act of the legislature. But, Calvert's lands and buildings were added into the inventory of his estate. Brent and then Governor William Stone disagreed upon the act of a sale of a 100 acre (0.404686 km²) land tract entitled "The Governor's Field".
Brent appeared at the assembly a final time as Lord Baltimore's attorney, on February 9, 1648 in a case against Thomas Cornwallis
Thomas Cornwallis
Thomas Cornwallis , was an English politician and colonial administrator. Cornwallis served as one of the first Commissioners of the Province of Maryland and Captain of the colony’s military during the early years of settlement...
. She may have been replaced by Thomas Hatton, the new Provincial secretary.
From England, Lord Baltimore wrote to object to the assembly sale of any of his property. He was concerned about actions in his absence after the death of his brother. He may have been suspicious of Brent's motives in managing his assets. While the assembly had refused to give her a vote, it defended Brent's stewardship of Lord Baltimore's estate, writing to him on April 21, 1649, that it "was better for the Colony's safety at that time in her hands than in any man's...for the soldiers would never have treated any others with that civility and respect...".
Move to Virginia
Given Baltimore's hostility to the Brent family, Giles and his young wife Mary Brent moved to Virginia in 1650. The two sisters Margaret and Mary Brent also left Maryland to move across the Chesapeake BayChesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...
to Virginia, where they bought land. Margaret Brent founded a plantation called "Peace" in Westmoreland County, Virginia
Westmoreland County, Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 16,718 people, 6,846 households, and 4,689 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 9,286 housing units at an average density of...
on the Northern Neck
Northern Neck
The Northern Neck is the northernmost of three peninsulas on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This peninsula is bounded by the Potomac River on the north and the Rappahannock River on the south. It encompasses the following Virginia counties: Lancaster,...
.
She held festive annual court leet
Court leet
The court leet was a historical court baron of England and Wales and Ireland that exercised the "view of frankpledge" and its attendant police jurisdiction, which was normally restricted to the hundred courts.-History:...
s for her people. Neither she nor her sister Mary ever married; they were among the very few unmarried English women of the time in the Chesapeake colony, when men outnumbered women there by 6:1 (but most were lower class indentured workers). The historian Lois Greene Carr has speculated the two sisters had taken vows of celibacy under Mary Ward
Mary Ward
Mary Ward may refer to:* Mary Ward , 1585 - 1645, foundress of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, an order of Roman Catholic nuns...
's Institute in England.
In 1658 Mary Brent died, leaving her entire estate of 1000 acres (4 km²) to her sister. In 1663 Margaret Brent wrote her will. In 1670 she assigned one half of her 2,000 acres (8 km²) in Maryland to her nephew, James Clifton. Most of the remainder went to her brother Giles and his children. Her will was admitted into probate
Probate
Probate is the legal process of administering the estate of a deceased person by resolving all claims and distributing the deceased person's property under the valid will. A probate court decides the validity of a testator's will...
on May 19, 1671. She died at "Peace", Stafford County
Stafford County, Virginia
Stafford County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, a U.S. state, and just across the Rappahannock River from the City of Fredericksburg. As of the 2000 census, the population was 92,446, increasing to 128,961 in 2010.. Its county seat is Stafford. In 2006, and again in 2009,...
, Virginia in 1671.
Exact dates of her birth and death are not known.
Legacy and honors
- Margarent Brent is memorialized at Historic St. Mary's City. The museum at the former site of Maryland's colonial capital features her in exhibits and its publications for her role in women's rights. The St. John's site archaeologyArchaeologyArchaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
museum, located above the exposed foundations of the house where Brent appealed to the Assembly, includes an exhibit devoted to her life. The Historic St. Mary's City grounds also include a garden dedicated in memory of Brent. - A street on the campus of the neighboring St. Mary's College of MarylandSt. Mary's College of MarylandSt. Mary's College of Maryland, established in 1840, is a public, secular liberal arts college located in St. Mary's City, Maryland. It is a member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges and designated as a Public Honors College . St. Mary's College is a small college, with about 2,000...
is named Margaret Brent Way. - A Liberty ShipLiberty shipLiberty ships were cargo ships built in the United States during World War II. Though British in conception, they were adapted by the U.S. as they were cheap and quick to build, and came to symbolize U.S. wartime industrial output. Based on vessels ordered by Britain to replace ships torpedoed by...
of World War II was named after her; the SS Margaret Brent (launched 1943). - Several public schools in the state of Maryland are named for her, such as Margaret Brent Middle SchoolMargaret Brent Middle SchoolMargaret Brent Middle School is a middle school in St. Mary's County, Maryland and is part of St. Mary's County Public Schools. As of 2008 there are 96 faculty members. It was named in honor of Margaret Brent, an early colonist who was the first woman to appear in a court of common law...
.
Further reading
- W. B. Chilton, comp., "Genealogies of Virginia Families: The Brent Family", in The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 1, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1981
- Jeanne Cover, Love, the Driving Force: Mary Ward's Spirituality, Its Significance for Moral Theology, Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Marquette University Press, 1997
- David M. French, The Brent Family, The Carroll Families of Colonial Maryland (privately published), Alexandria, VA, 1981
- Allen Johnson, ed. Dictionary of American Biography, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1936.