Brooke
compiled and copyright by MJP Grundy, 2002
Nicotiana tabacum, from Chambers's
Encyclopædia: A Dictionary of Universal Knowledge for the People
(Phila.: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1885), 9:462.
This is not intended to be the definitive Brooke family genealogy; its purpose is only to explore in some detail the individuals from whom our particular family line descends. Bold face type or a blue underscored link indicate individuals who are ancestors of our family, whether or not they are Brookes. Most of them, however, are connected by marriage to the Brooke family.
If any reader has corrections or additions to this specific branch of the Brooke line, I would appreciate hearing from you. This page has already been greatly improved by folks who, although they had been strangers to me, offered helpful information. I've tried to credit them in the footnotes. Send me e mail to kwg "at" cwru.edu, substituting @ for "at".
Sources can be found by clicking on the bracketted footnote numbers; or see all the citations at the bottom of this page.
English Ancestors
Enthusiastic genealogists of an earlier age traced the Brooke family back to Charlemagne, twisting its way through many of the royal and noble families of medieval Europe. However, typical of much of that sort of work, it is not necessarily very accurate. I have not seen proof of the links, based on primary sources. I have certainly not done the research myself.[1] In any event, that is not a story for this time. If I find adequate documentation for it—or someone else is able to provide it to me—it will get posted here. If any reader does have solid proof of the roots of the Whitchurch branch of the Brooke family, I would be very happy to see it—and through this page share it with others, with your permission.
Steve Hoffman of Whitchurch, Hampshire, England, has been working on the puzzle of the origins of the Whitchurch branch of the Brooke family. The College of Arms has a pedigree attested to in 1622 by Thomas1 Brooke (son of ThomasA, grandson of RichardB) that says that Richard was the son of RobertC Brooke, who was the 3rd son of ThomasD Brooke of Leighton, Cheshire. However, before we jump to the conclusion that this is "proof" of an additional two generations, there are some shadows of doubt as to the accuracy of this attestation. Steve is seeking some independent, documented corroboration. [See the explanation of the National Genealogical Society's Numbering System used on this web page.]
We’ll start with Richard BrookeB of Whitchurch, Hampshire, who was born in about 1525 and married in 1552 to Elizabeth TWYNE of Longparish. She was the sister and sole heiress of John Twyne.[2]
The approximate year of Richard’s birth is known because on 11 February 1575 he was a witness in a consistory court case, and gave his age as 50.[3] The case involved a disputed payment of tithes, a subject that was a sore point for many in Great Britain and her colonies for centuries. In this particular case Richard testified that years ago he had seen a document, with a proper seal affixed, that had been considered sufficient evidence back then for the farmer of the land in question to pay the tithe to the parson "or his assign for the time being". That, of course, was the basis for considerable difficulty--that the right to collect a tithe could be assigned to someone who had no interest in serving as a parson or maintaining the church building. Impropriation of tithes became a scandal upon the church, and opposition to the entire system became an important testimony for Friends (Quakers) a bit less than eight decades later.[4]
Steve Hoffman has helped glean several more bits of information about Richard Brooke from the consistory court document. Richard was reasonably well educated in that he could read a court document that would have been in Latin. He was employed as steward to Sir Thomas WHITE of South Warnborough, whose son Stephen White was incumbent parson at Cheriton from 1554 to 1572.[5]
Richard Brooke's rise from steward to a large landowner and dealer in wool is a fascinating story with too little documentation. The most reasonable guess is that he was able to get a start when his wife came into her inheritance. Unfortunately her parents' names are not known to me, nor anything else about them. In the 16th century the chalk downlands of Hampshire and nearby counties were thriving with sheep and grain husbandry. In Hampshire flocks of a thousand sheep belonging to an individual farmer were not unusual. They provided fertilizer for the production of oats, peas, and vetches which were used for fodder, and for barley and wheat which were the main cash crops. Farmers also fattened cattle, bred horses, and kept pigs. A successful family could first rent land, then buy carefully chosen sheepwalks, stock them with select animals, deal directly with the London market, and with the increasing prominence conclude advantageous marriages. It is probable that Richard had the good fortune and ability to climb this sort of ladder to prosperity.[6] He bought land, raised sheep, and sold wool. In 1561 (the first documented record Steve Hoffman has been able to find for him) he was recognized as a gentleman.
Probably after Richard's time as steward in Cheriton, the Brooke family lived in Whitchurch, Hampshire. Their residence was a large house called Parsonage Farm, opposite the church. It still exists, although since then it has been considerably altered, and is now called King's Lodge. The older, Tudor-era section, is on the left in the linked photo. Richard owned the lease to Parsonage Farm and passed it on to his son Thomas in his will of 1593. The freehold of the property was owned by the St. Cross monastery in Winchester.[7] It would be interesting to have some comparison of Parsonage Farm with the dwellings of neighboring yeomen and gentlemen. One way to increase a family's wealth was to avoid extravagant and ostentatious living. In this period the line between the lesser gentry and wealthy yeomen was determined not by law but by "common estimation". Perhaps the major difference was that a yeoman was content "with a simple way of life, even when he could afford more comfort". He could choose to live without the expenses of a gentleman. In the southeast of England the difference between the house of a yeoman and that of a gentleman was the number of rooms rather than the quality of furnishings.[8] Richard chose to be recognized as a genleman and not a yeoman. This characteristic desire for the "honor" that accrued to a member of the gentry became a hallmark of society in the Chesapeake region.[9]
The town of Whitchurch is just to the east of route A34 between Newbury and Winchester, in Hampshire. It grew where the road between Oxford and Southampton crossed the road from London to Salisbury, at a ford in the river Test. Formerly it was a market town, the head of a union, in the hundred of Evingar. It is twelve miles north by east from Winchester. There is an excellent online parish magazine with information about the town at http://www.whitchurchhampshire.org.uk[10]
All Hallows Church in Whitchurch is on the site of a much earlier Christian church, that may date back to Roman times. The earlier white building, perhaps built of limestone or chalk blocks, was torn down and rebuilt by the Normans. The present structure has what are probably 13th century Norman columns and arches on its south side, and a massive square Norman tower. The spire and chancel were added in the nineteenth century, when the north aisle was also enlarged.[11]
A brass erected in the church at Whitchurch by their youngest son, Robert, shows Richard and Elizabeth in elegant clothing, befitting the family of a wealthy gentleman. The text says that Richard died 16 January 1593/4 after 41 years of wedded life, and his widow died 20 May 1599. There are two smaller brasses of their three sons and three daughters. Their wording is explicit:
They left behinde them well to live, and growne to good degree,Although the brasses originally were on top of the tombs, now they are in the east wall of the church, safe from footwear.[12]
First Richard, Thomas, Robert Brooke, the youngest of the three,
Elizabeth and Barbara, then Dorothee the last.Richard’s will was dated 10 January 1588/9. It was confirmed 16 February 1590/1 and proved 6 May 1594 by Elizabeth, his widow and executor. I don't know if the order in which he listed bequests was typical for the time, or indicative of Richard's particular interests or personality, but a century or more later the items he placed first would more usually have been at the end. Richard gave 13/4d to the church in Whitchurch, £3 to the poor at the time of his burial, and 5/8d to each of his employees at the time of his death. The parsonage at Whitchurch and the lands belonging to it with their rents were to go to Elizabeth as long as she lived (no restriction if she remarried) and then would go to their son Thomas. Elizabeth received the residue of all the "goods, chattels, plate, money, jewels, household stuff", etc. Thomas got outright most of the rest of Richard's real estate, and £30 a year during the life of Elizabeth, his mother. He was given his father's silver basin and ewer. Thomas was to receive after Elizabeth's death 300 sheep, a quantity of wheat and malt, 12 cows and a bull, 12 cart horses with their harnesses and apparel, 5 of his best carts and 4 ploughs, and whatever household stuff Elizabeth wanted to give Thomas, based on his behavior toward her. If Thomas had no heirs, then Robert was to inherit the lands. Robert was given £100. Richard's son Richard also was given £100, but it is curious that as eldest son he received nothing else in his father's will. He may have received something earlier. Barbara was given £20 per year for life, payable twice yearly from the rents of specific lands that her father Richard held on lease. She was also to be given £300 on the day of her marriage or when she turned 23 years of age, plus another £100. She was given one silver gilt "tanker" and 12 silver spoons. Dorothy was to get the other silver gilt "tanker" and a dozen silver spoons. The third daughter, Elizabeth, doesn't seem to be mentioned, indicating that she may have died by that time.[13]
Elizabeth’s will was dated 16 May 1599, and proved 2 June that year by her son, who was the executor.[14]
Children of Richard and Elizabeth (Twyne) Brooke (order based on the wording on the brass memorial in All Hallows):[15]
i. Richard Brooke, d. 1606; m. Sara __. Richard farmed in Burghclere, nearby, as mentioned in his mother's will. Richard appointed his brother Thomas executor of his will, and Sara disputed Thomas's actions. The court decided in Thomas's favor. Burghclere is part of All Saints parish, 9 miles south from Newbury. It has limestone of superior quality.[16] ii. Thomas Brooke, b. 1561; d. 1612.
iii. Robert Brooke, citizen of London, merchant, member of the Merchant Great Adventurers, the India Company, and the Goldsmiths' Guild. His indenture as an apprentice goldsmith can still be seen in the City of London. He had the monument erected in All Hallows church in honor of his parents. [17]
iv. Elizabeth Brooke
v. Barbara Brooke
vi. Dorothy or Dorothee Brooke
Last Generation before Immigration
Thomas BrookeA was born in 1561, and died in 1612 at Whitchurch. He matriculated 24 November 1581 at New College, Oxford, at the age of twenty. He received the BA on 4 May 1584. Thomas was a barrister at the Inner Temple, becoming a bencher in 1607 (a senior member of an Inn of Court which governed the society), and an autumn reader in 1611. Thomas served as Member of Parliament from Whitchurch from 1604 to 1611 during the reign of King James I.[18]
Thomas married Susan FORSTER, daughter of Sir Thomas Forster of Hunsdon, or Hernsdon, Herts, and his wife Susan (Foster), of St. John Street, London.[19] Sir Thomas Forster was Judge of Common Pleas. His son, Susan’s brother, was Sir Robert Forster, Chief Justice of the King’s Bench, who died in 1663.[20]
Thomas and Susan Brooke lived in Parsonage Farm where his parents had lived. Later genealogists in the US, elevated it to a manor. Steve Hoffman informs me that Parsonage Farm was never a manor. At one time the farm was the vicarage.[21]
Thomas signed his will 11 September 1612. It was proved 30 November.[22]
Thomas was buried in Whitchurch 17 September 1612, and Susan was buried beside him the next day. They were memorialized with chalk sculptures of their figures lying side by side. See also a close up of Susan's figure. Originally the figures were probably under some sort of canopy and given a place of honor. But in time the sculptures deteriorated and were relegated to the bell tower. In the early 1900s money was raised in America by Thomas Willing Balch of Philadelphia to install a granite monument to support the chalk sculptures. The Twyne coat of arms is quartered on the granite plinth.[23]
Children of Thomas and Susan (Foster) Brooke (order uncertain): [24]
i. Thomas Brooke1, b. 1599; bur. at Whitchurch 25 Jan. 1665; matriculated at Oriel College, Oxford, 27 Oct. 1615, age 16; barrister-at-law.
ii. Richard Brooke, d.s.p..
iii. Robert Brooke, b. 3 June 1602; d. 1655 in Maryland; m (1) Mary BAKER; m (2) Mary WAINWARING
iv. John Brooke, b. 1605; matriculated at Wadham College, Oxford, 11 May 1621, age 16.
v. William Brooke
vi. Humphrey Brooke
vii. Charles Brooke
viii. Susan Brooke
ix. Elizabeth Brooke
x. Frances Brooke
xi. Benjamin Brooke, b. the day his father d.; his mother d. the following day; Benjamin was christened on 18 Sept. 1612, the day she was buried; he d. y.
First Generation in Maryland
Robert Brooke1 the son of Thomas and Susan (Foster) Brooke. was born 3 June 1602 in London, between ten and eleven “in the forenoon, being Corpus Christi Day”. He died in 1655 in Maryland. He matriculated at Wadham College, Oxford, 28 April 1618, and was awarded a B.A. on 6 July 1620. He earned an M.A. 20 April 1624, which entitled him to be a minister in the established church.[25]
Robert married first, on 25 February 1627, St. Matthias's Day and Shrove Tuesday, Mary BAKER, daughter of Thomas Baker, Esq., a barrister and Member of Parliament, and his wife Mary (ENGHAM). Mary (Engham) was the daughter of Sir Thomas Engham of Goodneston, Kent; Thomas Baker was the son of John Baker of Battel, Sussex. Mary Baker was born at Battle in Sussex.[26]
Battle, or Battel, is a market town and parish seven miles from Hastings, where the famous battle of 14 October 1066 was actually fought. In fulfillment of a vow, William the Conqueror had a magnificent Benedictine Abbey built there which contains a scroll listing all the warriors who accompanied him from Normandy. When Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries, it became the property of Sir Anthony BROWNE. The little town is in a beautiful valley. It used to have one irregular line of houses forming three streets. The old church has a square embattled tower; it is partly Norman, and partly done in later styles. The Lord of the Manor held a leet court which appointed the coroner and other officers.[27] Robert’s familiarity with this manor system presumably helped him establish a similar set-up in the new world.
Robert Brooke, Esq. was listed in the 1634 Visitation in Hampshire.[28] This was an inspection of the churches to see if everyone was accounted for and properly enrolled and participating.
After Mary’s death in 1634, which probably occurred at the birth of their daughter Barbara, Robert married Mary MAINWARING 11 May 1635. She was the second daughter of Roger Mainwaring, D.D., dean of Worcester and later bishop of St. David’s. Mary was born at St. Giles-in-the-Fields, London. Roger Mainwaring collided with Parliament over his zealous advocacy of royal prerogatives.[29] This family stance probably helped endear his son-in-law Robert to Lord Baltimore.
In 1649 Robert agreed to emigrate to Maryland with his second wife, eight sons and two daughters.[30] I do not know exactly why Robert decided to leave England, but there could have been several reasons. The royalist forces had been defeated and Charles I lost his head. In addition to these political factors, the economy suffered a relentless fall in the price of grain and wool through the entire century. Although the Brookes had prospered with the mixed sheep and corn economy the sixteenth century, things were not as good in the seventeenth.[31]
In addition, Robert became acquainted with Cecil Calvert, Second Lord Baltimore. I don’t know the circumstances by which he became known to him, but the proprietor of Maryland was so impressed that he sent a special message to Governor STONE and the Privy Council instructing them to “enroll and register his grant to Robert Brooke in the common registry of the said Province for the better confirmation and manifestation thereof.” He confirmed to “our trusty and well-beloved Robert Brooke, Esq. one whole county within our Province to be newly set forth, erected, nominated and appointed for that purpose . . . grant unto him, the said Robert Brooke, all such honors, dignities, privileges, fees, perquisites, profits and immunities as are belonging to the said place and office of commander of the said county, etc. And we do hereby further empower the said Robert Brooke to appoint and call a court or courts to award in our name all manner of process, hold pleas and finally hear and determine all civil causes and actions whatsoever happenings, which may be heard and determined by any of the justices of the peace in England in their courts of sessions, not extending to life and member.” All of these provisions were part of the Calvert vision of recreating the English feudal system. But Lord Baltimore gave Robert even more extensive power by naming him commander-in-chief of all forces against “Indians and other foreign enemies” (as if the natives were somehow “foreign”). This gave him authority to arm the inhabitants, fortify whatever he pleased, and appoint officers.[32] He also named Robert a member of the Privy Council.
Robert arrived in the Patuxent River on 30 June 1650 in his own ship with his wife, ten children, twenty one male servants and seven “maid servants”. He also brought a pack of fox hounds; it is said that his strain of hounds still exists in Southern Maryland.[33]
Robert and his two eldest sons, Baker and Thomas, took the oath of fidelity to the Proprietary on 22 July 1650. [34] They sailed further upstream than had other settlers, and Robert chose 2,000 acres on the west side of the Patuxent which he named “DeLa Brooke Manor”. It was surveyed 28 July that year, and entered in the books of St. Mary’s County.[35] Robert named his eldest son, 20-year-old Baker, Lord of the Manor.[36] The new county was erected 30 October 1650 with Robert as Commander. It was named Charles, celebrating the King who had lost his head, or for his royal son who carried the hopes of the monarchists into exile for a decade, or for the son and heir of the Proprietary. The name was changed briefly to Patuxent, and then to Calvert County, which name it has retained for 350 years. Robert also had 2,000 acre “Brooke’s Court” in Prince George’s County surveyed 21 November 1650.[37] In 1652 Robert moved to “Brooke Place Manor”, on the east side of the Patuxent.[38] Other tracts he owned were named for his mother’s home in England, “Battle town” and “Battle Creek”. The latter was on the northern boundary of “De La Brooke Manor”.[39]
In those early years of European settlement the swine were allowed to roam free in the forest. Each European was supposed to have his own swine with distinctive, registered ear marks. But Native Americans did not understand the system of European private ownership, and there were plenty of Europeans who disregarded it, as well. So a lot of lawsuits were filed over injury to swine. For example, Robert TAYLOR accused Robert Brooke of “DeLa Brooke Manor” of killing “divers of his hogs.” Brooke sued Cuthbert FENWICK for killing some of Brooke's swine, and was especially upset over the loss of a large boar, which, he said, defended the rest of his hogs from wolves. Brooke also alleged that many of his sows had left their pen “for want of a boar”. I have not check the Maryland Archives to discover the outcome of these lawsuits.[39a]
Although Robert had come as a friend of the monarchy and a Privy Councilor of Lord Baltimore, when the Puritans deposed Governor Stone in 1652, Robert changed his allegiance. He and five other men assumed control in the name of Oliver Cromwell and the Commonwealth. Robert was head of the Provisional Council from 29 March to 3 July that year. [40] Lord Baltimore, not unreasonably, resented the defection, and 3 July 1654 annulled Robert’s commission as commander-in-chief for Charles County, which was renamed Calvert County.[41] However, the enmity did not extend to Robert’s son, Baker, who married Baltimore’s niece, Anne CALVERT, daughter of Governor Leonard Calvert. [42]
Although Robert was a public official, he was also a planter. As such he was dependent on getting his tobacco grown, cured, packed, and shipped. In 1653 he petitioned the court for redress against two coopers who had promised to supply him with sufficient casks in October. But by April he only had twenty two of them, and eight of them fell apart while they were being carried home. Robert had two tobacco houses full, one measured 100 by 32 feet, the other 90 by 32 feet. [43] He needed casks in order to ship his crop to England. I do not know the result of the case.
Robert died 20 July 1655, and was buried at “Brooke Place Manor”. It is assumed he died suddenly, as he left no will. [44] Mary died 29 November 1663. [45]
Children of Robert and his first wife, Mary (Baker) Brooke:[46]
i. Baker Brooke2, b. 16 Nov. 1628; d. 1678/9; m. 1664 Anne CALVERT, daughter of Leonard Calvert (ca. 1606-1647), brother of the proprietor, and sometime Governor of Maryland. Baker converted to Roman Catholicism, probably when he married. He served in the Md. legislature.[47] He also served as a justice, and a typical day in court is described in Semmes.[47a] Baker signed his will 19 Mar. 1678 (prob. 26 Mar. 1679/80); it mentions his brother Col. Thomas Brooke. [48] As lord of “De La Brooke Manor” (patented to him in 1658), Baker built a brick 30' x 40' one and a half story house, with a steep roof and dormer windows. Rooms on the lower floor were handsomely wainscotted. Parlors had massive wooden cornices and friezes, with roses and other floral designs carved in relief. The house was built on top of a hill, about a mile from the Patuxent River. It burned down in 1835.[49] Anne m. twice more after Baker died.
ii. Mary Brooke, b. 19 Feb. 1630; d. in England.
iii. Thomas Brooke, b. 23 June 1632; d. 1676; m. Elinor HATTON
iv. Barbara Brooke, b. 1634; d. before 1650, in England.
Children of Robert and his second wife, Mary (Mainwaring) Brooke:[50]
v. Charles Brooke, b. 3 Apr. 1636 at St. Giles in the Field; d. 1671; probably went to Harvard in the class of 1651; probably was Protestant; res. in Calvert Co.; unmarried. Signed his will 29 May 1671; probated 15 Dec. 1671. He left items to his brothers John, Roger, and Henry, sisters Ann and Eliza, niece Mary, and nephews Robert (son of Robert), Baker (son of Baker) and William (son of Robert), along with Thomas COSDEN, his brother William's father-in-law.[51].
vi. Roger Brooke, b. 20 Apr. or Sept. 1637 at Bretnock Collect; d. 8 Apr. 1700; m (1) Dorothy NEALE, daughter of Capt. James Neale (ca. 1615-1684) who served in the Md. legis.; m (2) Mary WOLSELY, or Wolseley, of Staffordshire, grand daughter of Sir Thomas Wolsely (I assume he was not Cardinal Thomas Wolsey).
vii. Robert Brooke, b. 21 Apr. 1639 in Brides Parish, London; d. 1671 or 1667[52]; m. Elizabeth THOMPSON, daughter of William Thompson of St. Mary's Co. On 13 Oct. 1659 2,100 acre "Brooke Place" was surveyed for him in St. Mary's Co.[53] and on 16 Apr. 1664, 1,000 acre "Brookebridge" in Prince George's Co.[54] After the restoration of the Stuart monarchy Robert served as a Privy Councilor. In 1661 the question of coinage came before the Assembly. In economic considerations, the colonies were chronically short of specie. But politically, coinage of money was an act of highest sovreignty. Robert Brooke and Edward LLOYD opposed in the Council a bill for establishing a mint on the grounds that the Palatine of Durham in England had no "liberty" to coin money, and therefore the Palatine of Maryland did not. The Assembly passed it anyway, although it is debated among scholars whether of not a small mint was ever actually established.[55]
viii. John Brooke, b. 20 Sept. 1640 in Battel; d. 1677; m. Rebecca ISAAC; no issue or 2 children.[56] There is an account of a John Brooke, "chirurgeon", who, as part of his professional work had to perform a crude autopsy on the corpse of a servant suspected of being beaten to death by his master. This was done, and the resulting report by an untrained man described putredness inside that led them to believe the man died of sickness (but presumably not malnutrition or mistreatment). However, I am not sure that this is the same John Brooke.[56a] John's widow Rebecca m (2) Thomas TASKER and we descend from this second marriage.
ix. Mary Brooke, b. 14 Apr. 1642 at Battel.
x. William Brooke, b. 1 Dec. 1643 at battel.
xi. Ann Brooke, b. 22 Jan. 1645 at Bretnok; m. Christopher BEANS.
xii. Francis Brooke, b. 30 May 1648 at Hortwell in Hants.; d. 1671. Unmarried.
xiii. Basil Brooke, b. and d. in Maryland 1651, on the same day.
xiv. Henry Brooke, twin, b. 28 Nov. 1655 at "Brooke Place Manor" in Calvert Co., between 3 and 4 p.m.; d. 1672. Unmarried.
xv. Elizabeth Brooke, twin, b. 28 Nov. 1655 at "Brooke Place Manor" in Calvert Co., between 3 and 4 p.m.; m. before 1679 Richard SMITH, Jr. (d. 1714), son of Richard Smith (d. ca. 1690) who served in the Md. legis. We are descended from Richard's other son, Walter Smith, the younger brother of Richard who m. Eliza Brooke. Walter m. Rachel Hall. [57].
Second Generation in Maryland
Thomas Brooke2, the second son of Robert and Mary (Baker) was born in Battle, Sussex, England, 23 June 1632, and died in Maryland in 1676. At the age of 18, in 1650, he emigrated with his father, step-mother, and nine siblings to Calvert County. He married about 1658 Elinor HATTON, daughter of Richard and Margaret Hatton.[58] She was the niece of the Secretary of the Province, Thomas Hatton.[59] They established a “pious Catholic family”. [60] Three of their sons became Jesuit priests.
Thomas probably had considerable schooling. He was raised a Protestant, but converted to Roman Catholicism.[61] The family belonged to what was sometimes referred to as the “Court Circle” in St. Mary’s City.[62] They were wealthy, and that brought political and social prominence.
Thomas was commissioned a Captain in the Calvert County militia 15 June 1658, the year Oliver Cromwell died and the Commonwealth began to unravel. During the unrest at the time of the Restoration of the Stuart monarchy, he was promoted to Major on 11 February 1660.[63] In 1667 he served in an expedition against the Native Americans. Three decades later he was a member of a commission sent to treat with the Piscattaways.[64] Because of racist and dishonest dealings on the part of the English settlers, the Native Americans finally decided to leave St. Mary’s County and Maryland, a move the Protestant Governor did nothing to discourage. After they left he realized belatedly that their leaving severed Maryland’s connection to the lucrative fur trade. He sent Thomas Brooke and several others to woo them back, but it was too little, too late.[65]
The legal records of the Province give small glimpses of a few of Thomas’s activities as a respected and wealthy member of the community. He and his step-brother Francis were named residual legatees in a will in 1660.[66] He witnessed the will of James LANGWORTH of Charles County on 18 August 1660.[67] On 2 April 1662 he witnessed the will of Robert COLE of St. Mary’s County.[68] In December 1673 Major Thomas Brooke was named as back-up to inherit his brother-in-law Luke GARDINER’s estate if Luke’s children all died wthout leaving heirs of their own. [69]
Thomas, like most wealthy planters, was appointed a justice of the peace. He served on the bench in Calvert County from 1661 until his death in 1676, being a part of the quorum from 1669 through 1676, and Presiding Justice from 1667 (except while he was Sheriff). He served two terms as High Sheriff, 1666-67 and 1668-69. [70]
He was elected to the Lower House of the Maryland legislature and served four terms in Annapolis: 1663-64, 1666, 1671-74/5, and 1676 (dying before the beginning of the second session that year).[71] In 1667 he was named to a commission from Maryland to confer with Sir William BERKELEY, Governor of Virginia, regarding the over-production of tobacco, which was depressing prices.[72] As tobacco was a medium of exchange more common than coins, in addition to being the main cash crop, the economic ramifications were serious.
The earliest Special Warrant to Thomas for land was for 1,000 acres on 14 August 1663.[73] The first land surveyed to Thomas in St. Mary’s County was 150 acre “Brooke’s Neck” on 3 August 1666.[74] At the time of his first election Thomas owned 3,000 acres, of which 2,000 had been given to him by his father. [75]
Thomas signed his will 25 October 1676, and died before 29 December 1676 when it was probated. He left part of “Delabrook Manor” to his wife Elinor during her life, then it was to go to their son Thomas. Young Thomas also got part of “Brookefield” when he turned 21. Son Robert got the rest of “Delabrook Manor” and “Brookefield”. Ignatius received 700 acres of the larger “Brook Grove” and also “Crossoloths” and “The Wedge”. Matthew was given the remaining 300 acres of “Brooke Grove” and 500 acre “Brooke’s Content”. He was given 50 acre “Grove Landing” jointly with Ignatius. Clement was given “Poplar Neck”, with the provision that if he died before age 21 it should go to Thomas’s daughter Elinor. Daughter Mary was also remembered, as were Thomas’s brothers Baker and Roger, Clement HILL, and two god-sons Baker Jr. and Thomas GARDINER. He bequeathed two hogsheads of tobacco each to Michael FOSTER and Henry CAREW, priests, because he said, “I am Roman Catholic and desire good Prayers of the church for my Soul”. His estate was valued at 95,910 pounds of tobacco, the preferred medium of exchange. It included ten slaves, ten indentured servants, and 7,742 acres. [76]
Elinor married for a second time Henry DARNALL, who was born ca. 1645. Like her first husband, Henry also served in the Maryland legislature. Henry’s first wife, whose name is not known, had been a Catholic. They had five children, who Elinor helped raise. Henry’s son Philip married Elinor’s daughter Elinor Brooke. Henry died in 1711.[77]
Elinor died in 1725.
Children of Thomas and Elinor (Hatton) Brooke (order uncertain):[78]
i. Thomas Brooke3, b. ca. 1659; d. 1730/1; m (1) Ann __; m (2) Barbara DENT.
ii. Robert Brooke, b. 24 Oct. 1663; d. 18 July 1714 at Newtown, Charles Co.; educated at a Catholic school established in Maryland in 1677; became the first Maryland-born man to become a priest, becoming a Jesuit at Watten in 1684. He settled at St. Ignatius Church in Port Tobacco, Md. [79]
iii. Elinor Brooke, m (1) Philip DARNALL (1671-1705) her step-brother, son of Henry Darnall by his first wife; m (2) William DIGGS, son of William (ca. 1650-1697). William Sr. was a Protestant with a Catholic wife, Elizabeth SEWALL (d. ca. 1710); he was the only Protestant on the governor's Council in 1689; after the Glorious Revolution he removed to Virginia where his plantation became a refuge for his Catholic relatives and friends.[80]
iv. Mary Brooke, m (1) James BOWLING (1636-1693) of St. Mary's Co.; m (2) Benjamin HALL (1667-1721) of Prince George's Co., a Quaker who became a nominal Anglican when he served in the Md. legis., then became Roman Catholic; m (3) Henry WITHAM.[81]
v. Ignatius Brooke, b. 1670; d. 1751; a Jesuit priest, entered the Society of Jesus in 1697.
vi. Matthew Brooke, b. 1672; d. 1703 or 1762;[82] a Jesuit priest, entered the Society of Jesus in 1699.
vii. Clement Brooke, b. 1676; d. 1737; m. Jane SEWALL, daughter of Nicholas Sewall (ca. 1655-1737) and his wife Susanna (BURGESS); Nicholas was a Catholic planter who served in the Upper House, Council, on the Provincial court, Board of Deputy Governors, and as Secretary of the Province. He attained the rank of major. Jane's step-father was Charles CALVERT, third Lord Baltimore.[83] Clement’s daughter Susanna Brooke m. Walter SMITH (ca. 1692-1734), son of our Walter Smith.
Third Generation in Maryland
Thomas Brooke3, the son of Thomas and Elinor, was born in Calvert County about 1659, and died in 1730/1. Nothing much is known about his first wife, Ann (___). She was alive in 1687 when she joined her husband in signing two deeds.[84] After her death Thomas married Barbara DENT seventeen years his junior, daughter of Thomas and Rebecca (WILKINSON) Dent:. Barbara was born in 1676 and died in 1754. They were married some time before 4 January 1699 when Barbara joined him in executing a deed.[85]
Thomas was raised Catholic but by 1691, at the time of the Glorious Revolution when the Church of England was established in Maryland, he was Anglican. That is probably about the time he married the young granddaughter of Maryland’s first officially accredited Anglican priest, William Wilkinson. That is also the date from which time he was styled Esq. From 1693 to 1697 he served on St. Paul’s Vestry (Calvert County).[86] When an act was passed 20 October 1698 to set aside 50 acres at Cool Springs, St. Mary’s County, for pious and charitable use, Thomas and six others were named trustees. [87]
Thomas’s first public assignment came in 1683 when he was named to a commission charged with laying out the town and ports in Calvert County.[88] Thomas was a planter and took the familiar path of appointment as justice of the peace from 1685 to 1689, being part of the quorum from 1686 on. In 1689 he probably opposed the revolution of the Protestant Associators, and was removed from his justiceship.[89]
Lord Baltimore nominated Thomas to become a member of the first royal Council in 1690. His appointment by the crown was probably to mollify the proprietor after the loss of his colony. He served in the Council from 1691 to 1708. He was also named to the Upper House (the Provincial Council), serving in the following terms: 1692-93, 1694-97, 1697/8-1700, 1701-04. He was made a justice of the Provincial Court for the 1693-94 term. Other appointments included that of deputy secretary 1694-96 and commissary general 1699-1706. [90] During the 1700 session Thomas, along with Col. Henry JOWLES, John ADDISON, Thomas TASKER, and John HAMMOND signed a letter from the Council refuting charges and complaints made by Friends and Roman Catholics against the injustice of being forced to support the establishment of the Church of England while being barred from participating in government because of their religious principles.[91] As an indication of the continual influx of new emigrants and the high death rate, Thomas was one of only three officeholders who were third generation Marylanders.[92]
The political winds changed in 1708 when John SEYMOUR became Governor. Things got so uncomfortable that Thomas often stayed away from Council meetings. Finally Governor Seymour dismissed him from all offices. The reason was partly his poor attendance, but more likely it was his close ties to Catholics: his three brothers were Jesuits and his step-father, Henry DARNALL was a well-known, active Catholic.[93]
When Maryland reverted to proprietary control in 1715, Thomas was restored to the Council. He served as its president from 1715/6 to 1722. He was also reappointed to the Upper House, serving in the terms 1716-18, 1719-21/2, and 1722. He served as President of the Council (as had his grandfather Robert Brooke) and in 1720 was Acting Governor of Maryland. For reasons that are not clear, he was dismissed from both Council and Upper House in 1722. The last meeting of the Council that he attended was 20 October 1722.[94]
Thomas was a wealthy man. He owned 6,011 acres in 1689, and 9,517 by 1696. The first land surveyed for him in Prince George's County, was 3,697 acre “ Dann” on 16 September 1694.[95] He resided at “ Brookefield” on the upper Patuxent, inherited in part from his father. In 1696 it became part of Prince George’s County. His father had had its boundaries marked with stone markers carved with the initials T. B. The small village that developed there where, today, routes 301 and 5 cross, is named TB.[96] However, Thomas over-extended himself financially and had to sell land to pay off some debts. By 1706 he only owned 7,393 acres.[97]
Thomas signed his will 16 or 30 November 1730, and died 7 January 1730/1. The will was probated 25 January. He left most of his estate to his three youngest children, Baker, Thomas, and Lucy, and specified that they were to be raised in the Church of England under the care of their mother. If she died or married, they were to be taken under the care of Thomas’s sons-in-law Thomas GANTT and Alexander CONTEE. The three youngest children, along with Walter and Richard, the sons of their oldest half-brother Thomas, were bequeathed 100 acres of the much larger “Delabrooke Manor”, commonly called “Quantico” on the Patuxent River in St. Mary’s County. Thomas had been to law about the right to this land with Edward COLE. The outcome of the lawsuit is unknown. Thomas’s oldest son, Thomas, and son-in-law Thomas Gantt were named executors. The will specified which tracts were to be sold to pay the debts due to Capt. John HYDE & Co. and to Mr. Charles CARROLL. His estate was valued at £1,374.0.0 including proceeds from the sale of land, most of which was heavily mortgaged; it also included thirty-six enslaved human beings, of whom seventeen were mortgaged. Various enslaved individuals were bequeathed to his children. However, when the estate was finally settled, it was short by £355.3.0. In other words, the estate was indebted that much beyond its assets. Barbara claimed the one third widow’s portion the law allowed.[98] I assume that she is the only one who got anything from the estate.
Barbara died in 1754. Her will was dated 24 February 1748/9 and probated 26 June 1754.[99]
Children of Thomas and his first wife Ann (order uncertain):[100]
i. Sarah Brooke4, d. Nov. 1724; m (1) William DENT (ca. 1660-1704), son of Thomas Dent (ca. 1630-1676) and his wife Rebecca (WILKINSON); m (2) Philip LEE (ca. 1681-1744), son of Col. Richard Lee (1646-1714) of Westmoreland Co., Va. and his wife Letitia (CORBIN). Both of Sarah's husbands served in the Md. legislature. Philip m (2) ca. 1726 Elizabeth LAWSON, widow of Henry SEWALL, son of Nicholas and brother of the second husband of Sarah's sister Elinor.[101] We are descended from Sarah's first husband's sister Barbara Dent, as well as Sarah's half-sister Mary Brooke.
ii. Elinor Brooke, m (1) 1705 John TASKER son of Thomas Tasker (d. 1711); John served on All Saints' Parish Vestry in 1705. Elinor m (2) Charles SEWELL (d. 1742) of Eltonhead Manor, St. Mary's Co., son of Nicholas (ca. 1655-1737); both fathers-in-law served in the Md. legislature. Tasker was Protestant, and Sewall was Catholic.[102] We are descended from Elinor's first husband's sister Elizabeth Tasker. Elinor inherited from her father 130 ac. of "Brooke's Chance" where Derby RHINE lately lived, during her life, then it was to go to her son, Thomas Tasker. But as the estate was in debt, she probably did not get anything.[103]
iii. Thomas Brooke, b. 1682 or 1683; d. 1744; m. 1705 Lucy SMITH, daughter of Walter Smith. We are descended from Thomas's wife's brother, Richard Smith.
iv. Priscilla Brooke, m. by 1726 Thomas GANTT (d. 1765) who served in the Md. legislature. He m (2) Margery HOLLYDAY (d. 1764), daughter of Thomas (ca. 1661-1702/3) and widow of Levin COVINGTON (d. 1725).[104] Thomas Hollyday is probably the one who helped spread the rumor written about by John ADDISON leading up to the Protestant Association's coup. He served on St. Paul's vestry (Calvert Co.). He probably is no relation to our Hollidays.[105]
Children of Thomas and his second wife, Barbara (Dent) Brooke (order uncertain):[106]
v. Nathaniel Brooke,
vi. John Brooke,
vii. Benjamin Brooke
viii. Baker Brooke, b. ca. 1715; he, Thomas, and Lucy were bequeathed the residue of their father's personal property after their mother took her widow's third; along with Walter and Richard, the sons of their oldest half-brother Thomas, the five of them were bequeathed 100 ac of "Delabrooke Manor" commonly called "Quantico" on the Patuxent River in St. Mary's Co. However, since the estate was in debt, they probably got nothing.[107]
ix. Thomas Brooke, b. 1717; d. 1768; unmarried.
x. Jane Brooke, d. 1779; m. ca. 1720 Alexander CONTEE (ca. 1691-24 Dec. 1740), son of Peter (d. ca. 1714) of Barnstaple, Devonshire, Eng., a physician. Alexander was an Anglican, gent., attorney, planter, and merchant who served in the Lower House from Charles Co. His estate in Prince George’s Co. was inventoried with a value of £1,613.2.11 sterling, plus £3,827.19.8 current money and included 32 slaves, 2 servants, books, and clerk’s writing equipment. He owned at least 2,598 acres in Charles and Prince George’s Counties.[108]
xi. Rebecca Brooke, d. 1763; m. John HOWARD (d. 1742) of Charles Co. who seems to be no relation to our Howards.
xii. Mary Brooke, d. 1758; m. ca. 1721 Dr. Patrick SIM of Prince George's Co. (d. 24 Oct. 1740).
xiii. Elizabeth Brooke, b. 1699; d. 1748; m. Col. George BEALE (1695-1780), son of Ninian Beale (ca. 1625-1717/8), a Presbyterian from Fifeshire, Scotland, captured at the Battle of Dunbar in 1650 and transported to Barbados; brought from Barbados in 1655 as an indentured servant to Richard HALL; Ninian m. 1668 Ruth, daughter of Richard MOORE; he served in the Maryland legislature.[109]
xiv. Lucy Brooke, b. ca. 1719; m. Thomas HODGKIN.
Fourth Generation in Maryland
Mary Brooke4 died in 1758. She was the daughter of Thomas and his second wife, Barbara (DENT), and is from the part of the family that is not very well documented. She married Patrick SIM, a physician who had emigrated from Scotland. They resided at “Sim’s Delight” on the southern side of the Patuxent River. Patrick inherited one and a half acres at Nottingham from his father-in-law. Patrick died on 24 October 1740.
Children of Patrick and Mary (Brooke) Sim:[110]
i. Joseph Sim2, b. in Prince George's Co., the only son; m (1) by 1754 Catherine MURDOCK (d. Friday, 29 Mar. 1771) second daughter of William Murdock (ca. 1710-1769) and Ann (__). Catherine's father served in the Maryland legislature; her maternal grandfather was Thomas ADDISON (1679-1727).[111] His wife's obituary in 1771 said Joseph was "of Prince George's Co". Joseph m(2) ca. 1775 Lettice LEE (d. 11 Apr. 1776), daughter of Philip Lee (ca. 1681-1744) who served in the Md. legislature. Lettice was the widow of James WARDROP (d. 1760) and Dr. Adam THOMSON (d. 1767). Philip Lee was the second husband of Joseph's aunt, Sarah (Brooke) Dent Lee. By Nov. 1779 Joseph res. on "Addison's Choice" in Frederick Co.; he was in the 1790 census in Frederick Co.; the listing included 2 free white males over the age of 16, one under 16, and a free white female. Joseph reached the rank of Major in the militia.[112]
ii. Barbara Sim, m. Dr. Clement SMITH, Jr. (1718-1792).
iii. Christian Sim; d. 1762; m (1) Thomas LEE (d. 1749); m (2) Walter SMITH.
To continue the story of this family, go to the Sim and Smith pages.
If you have additions or corrections to this web page, I would be delighted to hear from you. Contact me via e mail: kwg "at" cwru.edu, substituting @ for "at".
See some other colonial Maryland families that link one way or another with these Brookes: Addison, Bale, Browne, Dent, Dorsey, Ely, Hall, Hatton, Holliday, Howard, Isaac, Molton, Norwood, Owings, Randall, Ridgely, Sim, Smith, Stone, Tasker. Warfield. and Wilkinson.
Return to the index of Collateral Lines to see other lines included in this website.
Return to the top of the page.
This page was first posted 12/29/2002, and updated most recently on 10m/24/2009.
Notes and Citations
The full bibliographical citation is given the first time a source is mentioned, but is not repeated each time that source is cited. Scroll up til you find the first mention and there you will find the complete citation.
1. There are some errors in the widely publicized chart of the Brooke Line, but the link to Charlemagne remains intact, according to Francis B. Culver, "A Chart of the Brooke Family of Maryland" in Maryland Genealogies from the Maryland Historical Magazine: A Consolidation of Articles from the Maryland Historical Magazine, indexed by Thomas L. Hollowick, 2 vols., 1:111. However, Culver offers no primary sources to back the claim. Steve Hoffman of Whitchurch, UK, who has been researching for the Brooke ancestors warns that the link of the Whitchurch Brookes is particularly weak. He has not been able to find hard documentary evidence earlier than Richard Brooke in 1561. E mail from Steve Hoffman, 12m/16/2003.
2. Steve Hoffman gave me the year of his birth as 1525, based on testimony that Brooke gave in 1575, when he was listed in the court record as being 50. Richard Brooke's birth year of 1530 is given in "The Brooke Family", in Maryland Genealogies from the Maryland Historical Magazine: A Consolidation of Articles from the Maryland Historical Magazine, indexed by Thomas L. Hollowick, 2 vols., 1:91, citing the Hampshire Visitation of 1634, published in Berry's Hampshire Genealogies, 339. I have not checked the Hampshire Visitation myself, but Steve Hoffman did. In an e mail of 1m/20/2004 he wrote, "At the British Library in London last week, I found this document:
Hampshire Visitation of 1634Steve goes on to say: "Although it does show Richard Brooke of Whitchurch and his descendants, it does not show any birth date. This does not surprise me, because I find that these visitation documents hardly ever show birth dates, or indeed any dates--very frustrating for a researcher!"
"Pedigrees from the Visitation of Hampshire made by Thomas Benolt, Clarenceulx Ao 1530, enlarged with the vissitation of the same county made by Robert Cooke, Clarenceulx Anno 1575 both which are continued with the vissitation made by John Phillipott, Somersett [for William Camden, Clarenceux] in Ao 1622 most part then don & finished in Ao 1634." As collected by Richard Mundy in Harleian Ms No 1544, Edited by W Harry Rylands, FSA, London 1913.3. Steve Hoffman sent the following excerpt for 11 Feb. 1575, Bridges v. Page: "RICHARD BROKES, gentleman of Whitchurch, aged 50" quoted from Winchester Consistory Court Depositions 1561-1602, Selections, edited with an Introduction by Arthur J. Willis, 1960. Court Book 44, p. 34.
4. For more information on Quakers and tithes, see, for example, "Tithes", in Margery Post Abbott, Mary Ellen Chijioko, Pink Dandelion, and John William Oliver, Jr., eds., Historical Dictionary of the Friends (Quakers) Historical Dictionaries of Religions, Philosophies, and Movements, No. 44 (Lanham, Md.: The Scarecrow Press, 2003), 284.
5. E mail from Steve Hoffman, 12/20/2003.
6. Joan Thirsk, ed., The Agrarian History of England and Wales, Vol. 4: 1500-1640 (Cambridge: at the University Press, 1967), 4:66, 290.
7. E mail from Steve Hoffman, 12/20/2003.
8. Thirsk, The Agrarian History of England and Wales, 4:301.
9. For a thorough exploration of "honor" as the formative social construct in what became the "old south" of the United States, see Bertram Wyatt-Brown, Southern Honor: Ethics and Behavior in the Old South, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1982).
10. Samuel Lewis, A Topographical Dictionary of England, comprising the several counties, cities, boroughs, corporate and market towns, parishes, and townships, and the islands of Guernsey, Jersey, and Man, with historical and statistical descriptions, . . . 5th. ed., 4 vols. (London: S. Lewis & Co., 1842), 4:516. The URL of the website is http://www.whitchurchhampshire.org.uk. Steve Hoffman is the current webmaster and has done an excellent job of portraying the town. There is a selection of 19th and early 20th century photographs of Whitchurch available on the web at http://www.whitchurchhampshire.org.uk/HistorySociety/HistorySoc.html
11. "Welcome to All Hallows ... A brief guide to the parish church of All Hallows, Whitchurch, Hampshire" (Parochial Church Council of Whitchurch with Tufton and Litchfield, 2002). Steve Hoffman very kindly sent me a copy of this well-illustrated and informative booklet.
12. "Welcome to All Hallows"; See the entire web page which also has these details, at http://www.whitechurchhampshire.org.uk/ and click on Brooke family.
13. The will was transcribed by Steve Hoffman from the 16th century holograph original. Since that style of handwriting is sometimes difficult to decifer, readers are welcome to consult a photographic image of the original. The Public Record Office in London has recently uploaded to the web the original images of all the wills recorded by the Prerogatory Court of Canterbury and they are available to view on the web (for a fee). I am grateful to Steve for so kindly sending me his copy, 1/2/2004.
14. Effie Gwynn Bowie, Across the Years in Prince George’s County (Richmond VA: Garrett & Massie, Inc., 1947), 80-81.
15. "The Brooke Family", 1:91. Steve Hoffman reported that the Hampshire Visitation of 1634 document shows Thomas as Richard's first son. Steve explains this is "the source of much subsequent confusion about this, I fear. I still feel that the Whitchurch brass is very solid evidence that this is wrong because the brass is so explicit. Since Richard had no children, the source of the visitation info would have been from Thomas's descendants, the only branch left in Whitchurch (Robert having gone off to London to be a goldsmith). It would be natural for these descendants to believe that their Thomas was the oldest son, especially since he inherited the bulk of his father Richard's estate, so, naturally, that is what they would have told the visiting herald." E mail, 1/20/2004.
16. Information from Steve Hoffman, e mail 1/1/2004. He suggests that because Thomas, the second son, inherited the bulk of their father's estate, and Richard, Jr's widow Sara disputed Thomas's actions as executor of her late husband's estate, “there was clearly some kind of mild estrangement or a degree of bad feeling there, but not a total split, because Richard does get a mention in both his parents' wills.” Richard also named his brother Thomas as his executor, indicating a fair degree of trust. Lewis, Topographical Dic. of England, 1:434.
17. "Welcome to All Hallows", n.p.
18. Johnston," The Brooke Family", 1:91.
19. Susan Foster's line is in “Foster of Etherstone, in Northumberland”, in Harleian Soc. Pub., 22:43, and Raine, History of N. Durham, 306; George Norbury MacKenzie, Colonial Families of the United States of America: in which is given the history, genealogy and armorial bearings of colonial families who settled in the American colonies from the time of the settlement of Jamestown, 13th May, 1607, to the Battle of Lexington, 19th April, 1775, 6 vols. (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1996; originally pub. 1912), 1:40.
20. Edward C. Papenfuse, Alan F. Day, David W. Jordan, and Gregory A. Stiverson, A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature, 1635-1789 (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1979) 2 vols., 1:170.
21. Information from Steve Hofmann, e mail 12/16/2003. The photo is from http://www.whitechurchhampshire.org.uk/. There is a photograph of a building identified as "Brooke Manor" in Charles Francis Stein, A History of Calvert County Maryland, 3rd. ed. (Balt.: published by the author in cooperation with the Calvert County Historical Society, 1976), 430. Note that Lewis in the early 1840s identified a leet court "of the lords of the manor" held in October In Whitchurch, and a court leet "at manor farm" held in May under the Dean and Chapter of Winchester as lords of the manor. But this was not Parsonage Farm, Top. Dic., 4:516.
22. Details on the tomb from Tyrrell Willcox Brooke, e mail 1/1/2004. See also Harry Wright Newman, To Maryland From Overseas: A Complete Digest of Jacobite Loyalists Sold into White Slavery in Maryland, and the British and Continental Background of Approximately 1400 Maryland Settlers from 1634 to the Early Federal Period with Source Documentation (Balt.: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. 1985), 32. There is a photograph of the tomb in Charles Francis Stein, A History of Calvert County Maryland, 3rd. ed. (Balt.: published by the author in cooperation with the Calvert County Historical Society, 1976), 431.
23. Johnston, "The Brooke Family", 1:92.
24. Johnston, "The Brooke Family", 1:92-94.
25. Johnston, "The Brooke Family", 1:92; Scharf, History of Western Maryland, 1:774.
26. Johnston, "The Brooke Family", 1:92; Bowie, Across the Years in Prince George’s County, 80; MacKenzie, Colonial Families of the United States of America, 1:40. For more on the Baker family, see Berry's Sussex Genealogies.
27. Samuel Lewis, A Topographical Dictionary of England, 1:176.
28. Newman, To Maryland From Overseas, 32.
29. Biog. Dic. of Md. Legis., 1:170; Johnston, "The Brooke Family", 92-93.
30. Gust Skordas, The Early Settlers of Maryland: An Index to Names of Immigrants Compiled from Records of Land Patents, 1633-1680, in the Hall of Records, Annapolis, Maryland (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1968) 62, citing Liber Q, folio 446.
31. Joan Thirsk, The Rural Economy of England: Collected Essays, (The Hambledon Press, 1984), 183-84.
32. Hester Dorsey Richardson, Side-Lights on Maryland History with Sketches of Early Maryland Families (Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins Company, 1913) 2 vols., 2:32; Robert E. T. Pogue, Yesterday in Old St. Mary's County, 4th ed. (Bushwood, Md.: author, 1985), 328.
33. Pogue, Yesterday in Old St. Mary’s County, 328.
34. Johnston, "The Brooke Family", 93, citing Md. Arch., 3:256.
35. Skordas, The Early Settlers of Maryland, 62, citing Liber 1, folio 165; Richardson, Side-Lights on Maryland History, 1:291, citing Lord Baltimore's Rent Rolls. The location of "De La Brooke Manor" from Tyrrell Willcox Brooke, e mail 1/1/2004.
36. Richardson, Side-Lights on Maryland History, 2:33.
37. A new Charles County was established farther west. Richardson, Side-Lights on Maryland History, 1:305.
38. MacKenzie says it was “Brooke Place”, in MacKenzie, Colonial Families of the United States of America, 1:41. Johnston says he moved to "Brooke’s Court, "The Brooke Family", 93. The location of "Brooke Place Manor" from Tyrrell Willcox Brooke, e mail 1/1/2004.39. Richardson, Side-Lights on Maryland History, 1:257. The location of "Battle Creek" is from Tyrrell Willcox Brooke, e mail 1/1/2004.
39a. 10:220, 239-45, 273-75, 329, 330; and Semmes, Captains and Mariners of Early Maryland.40. "The Brooke Family", 93, citing Md. Arch., 3:271-76.
41. The name of Charles County was changed to Patuxent briefly, then to Calvert County. A new Charles County was established further west.
42. Richardson, Side-Lights on Maryland History, 1:181, 2:33-34; Johnston, "The Brooke Family", 93.
43. Gloria L. Main, Tobacco Colony: Life in Early Maryland, 1650-1720 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1982), 37, citing Md. Arch. 2:288.
44. Charles Francis Stein, A History of Calvert County Maryland, 3rd. ed. (Balt.: published by the author in cooperation with the Calvert County Historical Society, 1976), 243.
45. Johnston, "The Brooke Family", 93.
46. Biog. Dic. of Md. Legis., 1:168, 171; Johnston, "The Brooke Family", 93.
47. For information on Baker Brooke and Leonard Calvert, see Biog. Dic. of Md. Legis., 1:168, 190; Davis, The Day-Star of American Freedom, 171-74.
47a. Semmes, Crime and Punishment in Early Maryland, 21ff, 62, 265, citing Md. Arch., 49:538-545; 51:121-130; 2:370, 377; 4:379-385, 416, 528; 10:3.
48. Jane Baldwin, comp. and ed., The Maryland Calendar of Wills, vol. 1: Wills from 1635 (Earliest Probated) to 1685 (Balt.: Kohn & Pollock, Publishers, 1904), 1:211. See also Clark, Calvert County Wills, 13.
49. Pogue, Yesterday in Old St. Mary's County, 328.
50. Biog. Dic. of
Md. Legis., 1:171; MacKenzie, Colonial Families of the United States of America, 1:42. Birth places are from Bowie, Across the Years in Prince George's County, 80-81.51. Jane Baldwin, comp. and ed., The Maryland Calendar of Wills, vol. 1: Wills from 1635 (Earliest Probated) to 1685 (Balt.: Kohn & Pollock, Publishers, 1904), 1:64.
52. MacKenzie says he d. 1667, MacKenzie, Colonial Families of the United States of America, 1:42.
53. Richardson, Side-Lights on Maryland History, 1:303.
54. Richardson, Side-Lights on Maryland History, 1:305. “The Brooke Family”, 93, says he d. 1667.
55. Richardson, Side-Lights on Maryland History, 1:126; Andrews, The Colonial Period of American History, 2:329; Andrews, Our Earliest Colonial Settlements, 153.
56. Biog. Dic. of Md. Legis., 1:171 says no issue; on 2:802 it says John's two orphans were raised by Rebecca's second husband, Thomas Tasker. MacKenzie, Colonial Families of the United States of America, 1:42, says no known issue.
56. Semmes, Crime and Punishment in Early Maryland, 237-38, citing Md. Arch., 49:307, 308.
57. For more information on the Smith Family, see Christopher Johnston, “Smith Family of Calvert County”, in Maryland Genealogies from the Maryland Historical Magazine: A Consolidation of Articles from the Maryland Historical Magazine, indexed by Thomas L. Hollowick, 2 vols. 2:374-76.
58. Biog. Dic. of Md. Legis., 1:171; MacKenzie, Colonial Families of the United States of America, 1:42.
59. Richardson, Side-Lights on Maryland History, 2:35.
60. John Gilmary Shea, The Catholic Church in Colonial Days (New York: John G. Shea, 1886), 84.
61. Biog. Dic. of Md. Legis., 1:171.
62. Paul Wilstach, Tidewater Maryland (New York: Tudor Publishing Co., 1945), 294.
63. Biog. Dic. of Md. Legis., 1:171; “The Brooke Family”, 93, citing Md. Arch., 3:256, 402.
64. Richardson, Side-Lights on Maryland History, 2:35.
65. Pogue, Yesterday in Old St. Mary's County, 125.
66. Jane Baldwin, comp. and ed., The Maryland Calendar of Wills, vol. 1: Wills from 1635 (Earliest Probated) to 1685 (Balt.: Kohn & Pollock, Publishers, 1904), 1:15.
67. The Maryland Calendar of Wills, 1:18.
68. The Maryland Calendar of Wills, 1:25.
69. The Maryland Calendar of Wills, 1:83.
70. Biog. Dic. of Md. Legis., 1:171; Johnston, "The Brooke Family", 93.
71. Biog. Dic. of Md. Legis., 1:171. See Md. Arch., 1:460; 2:8, 239, 311, 496.
72. Richardson, Side-Lights on Maryland History, 2:35.
73. Skordas, The Early Settlers of Maryland, 62, citing Liber 6, folio 42.
74. Richardson, Side-Lights on Maryland History, 1:300 citing Lord Baltimore’s Rent Rolls.
75. Biog. Dic. of Md. Legis., 1:171.
76. Maryland Calendar of Wills, 1:181-82; Biog. Dic. of Md. Legis., 1:172. See also Clark, Calvert County Wills, 14-15.
77. For information on Darnell, see Biog. Dic. of Md. Legis., 1:250-51,2:939.
78. Biog. Dic. of Md. Legis., 1:171; "The Brooke Family", 96; MacKenzie, Colonial Families of the United States of America, 1:42.
79. Shea, The Catholic Church in Colonial Days, 84; Frederick Lewis Weis, The Colonial Clergy of Maryland, Delaware and Georgia, Publications of the Society of the Descendants of the Colonial Clergy, No. 5 (Lancaster, Mass.: Society of the Descendants of the Colonial Clergy, 1950), 35.
80. For information on Diggs, see Biog. Dic. of Md. Legis., 1:271-72. Elizabeth Sewall was the daughter of Henry (d. 1665), step-daughter of Charles Calvert, 3rd Lord Baltimore, and widow of Jesse Wharton. Ibid., 2:939.
81. For information on Hall, see Biog. Dic. of Md. Legis., 1:381-82.
82. Biog. Dic. of Md. Legis., 1:171 says he d. 1703; "The Brooke Family", 96, says he died in 1762.
83. For information on Sewall, see Biog. Dic. of Md. Legis., 2:724-25.
85. "The Brooke Family", 100; MacKenzie, Colonial Families of the United States of America, 1:42.
86. Biog. Dic. of Md. Legis., 1:172.
87. Richardson, Side-Lights on Maryland History, 1:232-33.
89. Biog. Dic. of Md. Legis., 1:172.
90. Biog. Dic. of Md. Legis., 1:172.
91. Percy G. Skirven, The First Parishes of the Province of Maryland, Wherein are given Historical Sketches of the Ten Counties & of the Thirty Parishes in the Province at the time of the Establishment of the Church of England in 1692 (Baltimore: The Norman Remington Company, 1923), 166-67.
92. David W. Jordan, “Political Stability and the Emergence of a Native Elite in Maryland”, in Thad W. Tate and David L. Ammerman, eds., The Chesapeake in the Seventeenth Century: Essays on Anglo-American Society (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1979, for the Institute of Early American History and Culture), 269.
93. Biog. Dic. of Md. Legis., 1:172.
94. Biog. Dic. of Md. Legis., 1:172; Stein, A History of Calvert County Maryland, 244.95. Richardson, Side-Lights on Maryland History, 1:307.
96. Pogue, Yesterday in Old St. Mary's County, 328; Charles Francis Stein, A History of Calvert County Maryland, 3rd. ed. (Balt.: published by the author in cooperation with the Calvert County Historical Society, 1976), 244.
97. Biog. Dic. of Md. Legis., 1:172.
98. Biog. Dic. of Md. Legis., 1:172 Maryland Calendar of Wills, 6:175; Johnston, "The Brooke Family", 100.
100. Biog. Dic. of Md. Legis., 1:171; MacKenzie, Colonial Families of the United States of America, 1:43, suggests the order: Thomas, Elinor, Sarah, and Priscilla. Bowie, Across the Years in Prince George’s County, 84, has a somewhat different list, giving as children of Thomas and Anne: Thomas, Sarah, Eleanor, Rachel, Anne, and Mary.
101. For information on William Dent, see Biog. Dic. of Md. Legis., 1:266-67; for Philip Lee see Ibid., 2:526.
102. Biog. Dic. of Md. Legis., 2:724-25. For more on John, see "Tasker Family", 2:425-26. For information on Nicholas Sewell, see Biog. Dic. of Md. Legis., 2:724-25.
103. Maryland Calendar of Wills, 6:175.
104. For information on Thomas Gantt, see Biog. Dic. of Md. Legis., 1:341-42.
105. Percy G. Skirven, The First Parishes of the Province of Maryland, Wherein are given Historical Sketches of the Ten Counties & of the Thirty Parishes in the Province at the time of the Establishment of the Church of England in 1692 (Baltimore: The Norman Remington Company, 1923), 134.
106. Biog. Dic. of Md. Legis., 1:171; MacKenzie, Colonial Families of the United States of America, 1:43.
107. Maryland Calendar of Wills, 6:175.
108. Biog. Dic. of Md. Legis., 1:229-30.
109. For information on Ninian Beale, see Biog. Dic. of Md. Legis., 1:122.
110. Biog. Dic. of Md. Legis., 2:736.
111. The obit. says Catherine was "in her 86th year". Robert Barnes, comp., Marriages and Deaths from the Maryland Gazette, 1727-1839 (Balt.: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1973), 167. The date of the newspaper was 5 Dec. 1771. Alternatively, Biog. Dic. of Md. Legis., 2:736 would have Catherine younger, suggesting she was b. ca. 1735, which makes more sense if her father was b. ca. 1710.
112. Robert Barnes, comp., Marriages and Deaths from the Maryland Gazette, 1727-1839 (Balt.: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1973), 167; Biog. Dic. of Md. Legis., 2:736. For more on Philip Lee see Biog. Dic. of Md. Legis., 2:526-27. For William Murdock, see Biog. Dic. of Md. Legis., 2:606-7.
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the noxious weed
source of wealth for the Brooke family
and justification for the "necessity" to enslave fellow human beings
