Peter Chardon Brooks (January 6, 1767 – January 1, 1849) was a wealthy Massachusetts merchant.
Early life
Brooks born in North Yarmouth, Maine, on January 6, 1767. His parents were the Rev. Edward Brooks and Abigail Brown. In 1769, the family moved to Medford, Massachusetts, his father's native town, where Brooks boyhood was spent working on the family farm.
After his father's death, in 1781, he was apprenticed to a trade in Boston, walking to the city, a distance of seven miles, every day.
Career
In 1789, he engaged in the business of
marine insurance
Marine insurance covers the physical loss or damage of ships, cargo, terminals, and any transport by which the property is transferred, acquired, or held between the points of origin and the final destination. Cargo insurance is the sub-branch o ...
, often for ships involved in the kidnapping and sale of African people through the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and accumulated a large fortune. He kept with his own hand very accurate accounts, a rare thing in those days, and made it a rule never to borrow money, never to engage in speculation of any kind, and never to take more than the legal rate of interest. He retired from business in 1803, and, until 1806, devoted himself to the settlement of all the risks in which he was interested.
He then accepted the presidency of the New England Insurance Company, the first chartered company of the kind in the state, and filled the office for several years. In his retirement at Medford he took special pleasure in the cultivation of trees, planting many thousands of them about his farm. He was at different times a member of both branches of the legislature, of the first
Boston City Council
The Boston City Council is the legislative branch of government for the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is made up of 13 members: 9 district representatives and 4 at-large members. Councillors are elected to two-year terms and there is no ...
, and of the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention of 1820–1821.
While in the legislature, he took a prominent part in suppressing lotteries, which at that time were flourishing in the state. Mr. Brooks gave liberally, and without parade, to many benevolent objects, and, besides this, his private donations for many years exceeded his domestic expenses.
Personal life
On November 26, 1792, Brooks was married to Ann Gorham (1771–1830), a daughter of
Nathaniel Gorham
Nathaniel Gorham (May 27, 1738 – June 11, 1796; sometimes spelled ''Nathanial'') was an American Founding Father, merchant, and politician from Massachusetts. He was a delegate from the Bay Colony to the Continental Congress and for six months ...
(1738–1796), the 14th
President of the Continental Congress
The president of the United States in Congress Assembled, known unofficially as the president of the Continental Congress and later as the president of the Congress of the Confederation, was the presiding officer of the Continental Congress, the ...
, and sister of
Benjamin Gorham
Benjamin Gorham (February 13, 1775 – September 27, 1855) was a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts.
He was the son of Nathaniel Gorham, who served as one of the Presidents of the Continental Congress. Benjamin was born in Charlestown in ...
, a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts. They were the parents of 13 children, of which the following survived to adulthood:
* Edward Brooks (1793–1878), who married Eliza Root
* Gorham Brooks (1795–1855), who married Ellen Sheppard in April 1829.
* Ann Gorham Brooks (1797–1864), who married Nathaniel Langdon Frothingham (1798–1870) on March 2, 1818.
* Peter Chardon Brooks Jr. (1798–1880), who married Susan Oliver Heard (1806–1884) on November 9, 1825.
* Sidney Brooks (1799–1878), who married Frances Dehon (1805–1871) on December 27, 1827.
* Charlotte Gray Brooks (1800–1859), who married
Edward Everett
Edward Everett (April 11, 1794 – January 15, 1865) was an American politician, Unitarian pastor, educator, diplomat, and orator from Massachusetts. Everett, as a Whig, served as U.S. representative, U.S. senator, the 15th governor of Mass ...
(1794–1865) on May 8, 1822.
* Ward Chipman Brooks (1804–1828)
* Henry Brooks (1807–1833)
* Abigail Brown Brooks (1808–1889), who married Charles Francis Adams Sr. (1807–1886), on September 3, 1829.
Brooks died January 1, 1849, in Boston, Massachusetts, bequeathing what was believed to be the largest estate in Boston, about two million dollars, to his seven surviving children. He was originally buried at the
Salem Street Burying Ground
Salem Street Burying Ground is a cemetery located at the intersection of Salem Street and Riverside Avenue in Medford, Massachusetts. The Salem Street Burying Ground was used exclusively from the late 17th century to the late 19th century for th ...
* He is considered to have been one of the 100 wealthiest Americans, having left an enormous fortune.
* The town of
Chardon, Ohio
Chardon is a city in and the county seat of Geauga County, Ohio, United States. The population was 5,242 at the 2020 census.Charles Francis Adams Sr. was named after him, Peter Chardon Brooks Adams.
References
;Notes
;Sources
* ''
The Education of Henry Adams
''The Education of Henry Adams'' is an autobiography that records the struggle of Bostonian Henry Adams (1838–1918), in his later years, to come to terms with the dawning 20th century, so different from the world of his youth. It is also a sh ...
''
* A biography of Brooks, by Everett, may be found in Hunt's "Lives of American Merchants" (New York, 1856).
Attribution