George Brent (Captain)
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George Brent Captain |
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| Member of the Virginia House of Delegates from the Stafford County district |
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In office 1688–1689 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born | circa 1640 Warwickshire, England |
| Spouse(s) | Elizabeth Greene Mary Chandler |
| Children | George, Henry, Mary and Martha Brent |
| Residence | Woodstock |
| Occupation | planter, lawyer, militia leader |
| Religion | Catholic |
George Brent (died circa 1699), was a colonial Virginia planter, lawyer, and politician. He represented Stafford County, Virginia in the Virginia General Assembly and secured a refuge for Catholics in the Virginia Colony that became Brentsville, Virginia.
This George Brent was the firstborn son of George Brent (himself the sixth son of Richard Brent and the daughter of Sir John Peshael of Horsley) and Marianna, the daughter of Sir John Peyton of Doddington on the Isle of Ely. Facing persecution during the English Civil Wars because of their Catholic religion (a sister was a nun in France), his uncle Giles Brent (third son of Richard Brent) and maiden aunts Mary and Margaret Brent had emigrated to Maryland in 1637. However, in the next decade they encountered problems a from rival Protestant trader Richard Ingle as well as the colonial Maryland political establishment, and emigrated across the Potomac River to Stafford County, Virginia.
George Brent emigrated to join his older relatives, and built a plantation at Woodstock, near the plantations they had established. His first wife, Elizabeth Greene of Bermuda, whom he married in 1677, died giving birth to a daughter in 1686. He then married Mary, the widow of Col. William Chandler (who was herself the stepdaughter of Lord Baltimore)(1658-1693). She already had several children (one son became a Benedictine priest), and had more with Brent, but only Henry, Mary and Martha lived. Their mother Mary Brent died in 1693 or 1694 giving birth to their last daughter.
A document from December 1670 indicates Brent was already practicing law in the colony (representing a haberdasher in a debt action). By 1686, George Brent was the interim King's attorney (prosecutor) for the Virginia colony. As King's attorney, Brent also once sued his fellow lawyer and sometimes business partner William Fitzhugh, as discussed below, for unpaid tobacco taxes. Brent served for about two years until promoted to the House of Burgesses.
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