Richard Brent

Richard Brent (1757December 30, 1814) was an American planter, lawyer, and politician who represented Virginia in both the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate, and at various times Fairfax, Prince William and Stafford counties as he served at various times in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly. Early and family life Brent was born in 1757, the eldest son of lawyer and future patriot legislator William Brent (1732-1782), at his father's plantation estate, 'Richland' on the Potomac River in Stafford County in the Colony of Virginia. Nearly a century earlier George Brent had emigrated across the Atlantic Ocean to the Virginia Colony to avoid England's Civil Wars and persecution as a Catholic and established 'Woodstock' plantation; others from that prominent Catholic family would include Margaret Brent, and Eleanor Carroll, sister of the future Archbishop John Carroll, who as a priest in Maryland crossed the Potomac River to serve the Brents and other Catholics in Northern Virginia Privately educated, Brent also read law, but never married. Career Admitted to the Virginia bar, Brent had a private legal practice in northern Virginia. Although Virginia had several laws (including one requiring an oath the support the Church of England, which restricted Catholics from practicing law and sitting in the legislature, those were not enforced against him. Before his birth, some relatives moved to Prince William County, Virginia and established Brent Town (modern Brentsville) to avoid such anti-Catholic legislation, although such mostly grew after William Brent's death, first when it became the Prince William County government seat, and later with the development of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad.