Francis Taliaferro Brooke (August 27, 1763 – March 3, 1851) was a

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

lawyer, soldier, politician and judge. He served in both houses of the

Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, and the first elected legislative assembly in the New World. It was established on July 30, ...

before fellow legislators elected him to the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals (which later became the

Supreme Court of Virginia The Supreme Court of Virginia is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It primarily hears direct appeals in civil cases from the trial-level city and county circuit courts, as well as the criminal law, family law and administrativ ...

), where he served decades and became that body's fourth President (now called Chief Justice).

Early life and education

Brooke was born in

Spotsylvania County Spotsylvania County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is a suburb approximately 60 miles (90km) south of D.C. It is a part of the Northern Virginia region and the D.C. area. As of 2024, Spotsylvania County is the 14th most populat ...

. His parents were Richard Brooke of Smithfield and Ann Hay Taliaferro (of one of the

First Families of Virginia The First Families of Virginia, or FFV, are a group of early settler families who became a socially and politically dominant group in the British Colony of Virginia and later the Commonwealth of Virginia. They descend from European colonists who ...

). They were the uncle and aunt of Major General Dabney Herndon Maury. His elder brother Robert Brooke would become governor of Virginia, and another brother, Lawrence Brooke, was the surgeon of the ''Bon Homme Richard'', commanded by

John Paul Jones John Paul Jones (born John Paul; July 6, 1747 – July 18, 1792) was a Scottish-born naval officer who served in the Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War. Often referred to as the "Father of the American Navy", Jones is regard ...

. Like his brothers, Brooke received a private education from tutors and in private grammar schools in Fredericksburg. During the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

Brooke was active in the

militia A militia ( ) is a military or paramilitary force that comprises civilian members, as opposed to a professional standing army of regular, full-time military personnel. Militias may be raised in times of need to support regular troops or se ...

and served on General Greene's staff with the rank of lieutenant. At the end of the war he studied medicine for a year, but then decided to study law in his brother Robert’s office. Francis T. Brooke was a member of

the Society of the Cincinnati ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

of the State of Virginia.

Career

After admission to the bar in 1788, Brooke traveled westward to the

Ohio River The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...

and practiced in Monongalia and Harrison counties (in what after the American Civil War would become

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

). However, Brooke returned to the Chesapeake bay area and was elected Commonwealth’s Attorney (prosecutor) for

Essex County, Virginia Essex County is a County (United States), county located in the Middle Peninsula in the U.S. state of Virginia; the peninsula is bordered by the Rappahannock River on the north and King and Queen County, Virginia, King and Queen County on the s ...

, where he also had a private legal practice and would be was elected to the House of Delegates in 1794. Two years later he moved nearer his family's home in Fredericksburg and won election to the

State Senate In the United States, the state legislature is the legislative branch in each of the 50 U.S. states. A legislature generally performs state duties for a state in the same way that the United States Congress performs national duties at ...

in 1800. After the Revolution, Brooke remained active in the Virginia militia and was promoted to the rank of major in 1796, lieutenant colonel in 1800 and brigadier general in 1802. He was an original member of the Virginia

Society of the Cincinnati The Society of the Cincinnati is a lineage society, fraternal, hereditary society founded in 1783 to commemorate the American Revolutionary War that saw the creation of the United States. Membership is largely restricted to descendants of milita ...

. In 1811, fellow legislators elected Brooke a judge of the Supreme Court of Appeals, his fellow judges made his president of that court for eight years, from 1823 to 1831. The legislature re-elected Brooke as judge in 1831, and he continued in office until his death on March 3, 1851.

Personal life and death

Judge Francis Brooke married twice, and survived his eldest son, who died in Macau. In 1791, Francis Brooke married Mary Randolph Spottswood Brooke (1775–1803) and their children who survived to adulthood included John Francis Brooke (1795–1849), Robert Spotswood Brooke (1800–1851) and Mary Randolph Spotswood Brooke Berkeley (1803–1875). The widower remarried in 1804, to Mary Champe Carter Brooke (1788–1846), who bore John Brooke (b. 1805), Francis Edward Brooke (1813–1874) and Helen Brooke Forman (1821–1899). Judge Brooke was buried at the Brooke family cemetery in Spotsylvania County, where he joined his first wife, and would be joined by other family members. His grandson, also Francis Taliaferro Brooke (1846-1913), would join the Confederate States Army as a private and survive the American Civil War, in which the family lost all their enslaved property.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brooke, Francis Taliaferro 1763 births 1851 deaths Virginia state senators Justices of the Supreme Court of Virginia Virginia lawyers Taliaferro family (Virginia) People from Spotsylvania County, Virginia Virginia militiamen in the American Revolution 18th-century members of the Virginia General Assembly