Robert Brooke (Virginia governor)

"Federal Hill," John Keim house, 504 Hanover Street, Fredericksburg, by Frances Benjamin Johnston, ca. 1927. Rupert Brooke, governor of Vigirnia, 1794-1796 and founder of the national Federal party, purchased this house and named it "Federal Hill." Today is a private residence with door and door canopy replaced

Robert Brooke was likely born in Spotsylvania County in the Colony of Virginia.[1] His birth year is uncertain; most sources have him born around 1760. He was the son of Richard Brooke, and grandson of Robert Brooke, a skilled surveyor, who had been one of Lt. Governor Alexander Spotswood's "Knights of the Golden Horseshoe Expedition".

He was educated at Edinburgh University, and on returning home at the beginning of the revolution was captured by Howe, British admiral, and sent back to England, whence he went to Scotland, then to France, and reached Virginia in a French vessel carrying arms for the continentals. He joined Captain Larkin Smith's company of cavalry, was captured near Richmond by Simcoe in 1781, was exchanged, and rejoined the army.

From 1791 to 1794 he represented Spotsylvania county in the house of delegates. On December 1, 1794 he was elected governor and served two years.

In 1795 Robert Brooke built a home upon Federal Hill, which looked over Sandy Bottom to Marye's Heights, a thousand yards away.

He was a Democratic-Republican, and in 1798 was elected attorney-general of the state, over Bushrod Washington, nephew of General Washington.

Brooke was a Freemason in Virginia, 1795–97. and in November 1795 succeeded John Marshall as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Virginia.

He died while still attorney general on February 27, 1800.[2]

The county of Brooke, formed from Ohio County, now in West Virginia (Brooke County, West Virginia) was named in his honor.

Brooke (England) AND Taliaferro (Venice, Italy)

• Father Richard Brooke, b. 1732
• Mother Ann Hay Taliaferro, b. September 7, 1731
• Robert Brooke (1760—d. February 27, 1800, Fredericksburg, Va.)
• Married 1786 Mary Ritchie
• Children: Richard Brooke, b. August 14, 1787
• Descendants: Many living 2009.
• Related to Washington family; descended from Patrick Henry's family (John Fontaine m. Martha Henry); Patrick Henry's family descended from Gen. Alexander Spottswood's family of Virginia, of "Knights of the Golden Horshoe" history.

• Maury Family Tree by Sue West for family—privately printed.
• Recollections of a Virginian in the Mexican, Indian, and Civil Wars by Maj. Gen. Dabney Herndon Maury
• Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography, Volume IIII—Governors of the State—1776–1861
• Obituaries in Fredericksburg Virginia Herald, February 28, 1800, and Richmond Virginia Argus, March 7, 1800.
• Biography in John T. Kneebone et al., eds., Dictionary of Virginia Biography (Richmond: Library of Virginia, 1998– ), 2:267–269. ISBN 0-88490-199-8.

Archival Records

• A Guide to the Governor Robert Brooke Executive Papers, 1794–1796 at The Library of Virginia