Richard Brent (politician)

Richard Brent
United States Senator from Virginia
In office March 4, 1809 – December 30, 1814
Preceded by	Andrew Moore
Succeeded by	James Barbour
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia's 17th district
In office March 4, 1795 – March 3, 1799
Preceded by	Richard B. Lee
Succeeded by	Leven Powell
In office March 4, 1801 – March 3, 1803
Preceded by	Leven Powell
Succeeded by	Thomas Claiborne
Member of the Virginia Senate
In office 1808-1810
Personal details
Born	1757 Stafford County, Virginia
Died	December 30, 1814 (aged 57) Washington, D.C.
Political party	Democratic-Republican

Richard Brent (1757 – December 30, 1814) was an American planter, lawyer, and politician from Stafford County, Virginia. He represented Virginia in both the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate.

Biography

Brent was born in 1757, the eldest son of William Brent (1732-1782), from the same family as Margaret Brent, and Eleanor Carroll, sister of the future Archbishop John Carroll, at his father's estate, 'Richland' on the Potomac River in Stafford County, Virginia.^[1][2] He pursued an education in law and was admitted to the bar and subsequently entered practice. Brent was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates representing Stafford County in 1788 and was elected to represent Prince William County, Virginia in 1793, 1794, 1800 and 1801.

Brent was elected in 1794 to the United States House of Representatives representing Virginia's 17th congressional district for the 4th and 5th Congresses, where he served from March 1795 to March 1799, when he returned to the Virginia House of Delegates. Brent was elected again to the U.S. House and served one two-year term during the 7th Congress from March 1801 to March 1803. He served in the Virginia State Senate from 1808 to 1810.^[3][4]

Following his service in the Virginia State Senate, fellow delegates elected Brent to the United States Senate, where he served from March 1809 until his death in Washington, D.C., on December 30, 1814. He was interred in the family burial ground in Stafford County, near the place of his birth.^[5]

References

1. Daniel M. French, Brent Family: the Carroll Families of Colonial Maryland (Alexandria, Va 1981) pp. 73. Eleanor Carroll was the sister of the future Archbishop John Carroll. However, this Richard Brent's brother, Daniel Carroll Brent (1759-1815), inherited 'Richland' and bequeathed it to his family, perhaps because Richard Brent never married.
2. Virginia Biographical Dictionary, 2nd ed., vol. 1 (Somerset Publishers, 1999)
3. • United States Congress. "Richard Brent (id: B000802)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
4. http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/brent.html
5. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=32576864