William Brockenbrough (judge)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

William Brockenbrough (July 10, 1778 – December 10, 1838) 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, planter, politician and judge, including on what 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 ...
.Lyon Gardiner Tyler, Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography (1915), Vol 2, pp. 64-65


Early life and education

Brockenbrough was born in
Tappahannock Tappahannock is the oldest town in Essex County, Virginia, United States. The population was 2,375 at the 2010 census, up from 2,068 at the 2000 census. Located on the Rappahannock River, Tappahannock is the county seat of Essex County. Its nam ...
in
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 ...
, United States, the son of Dr. John Brockenbaugh and his wife Sarah Roane, the daughter of Co. William Roane. He attended the
College of William and Mary The College of William & Mary (abbreviated as W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1693 under a royal charter issued by King William III and Queen Mary II, it is the second-oldest instit ...
in 1798. He studied law.


Career

Brockenbrough had a private legal practice in Essex and surrounding counties, and before the state's highest court in Richmond. During much of his adult life, Brockenbrough would be considered a key member of the "Richmond Junto", alongside his brother John, as well as Judge
Spencer Roane Spencer Roane (April 4, 1762 – September 4, 1822) was a Virginia lawyer, politician and jurist. He served in the Virginia House of Delegates for six years and a year in the Commonwealth's small executive branch (Council of State). The majority ...
and journalist Thomas Ritchie—all from Essex County, so the group was also sometimes known as the "Essex Junto". He became a noted advocate of state's rights, and also published articles under the pseudonym Aristogitan which were critical of fellow Richmonder
John Marshall John Marshall (September 24, 1755July 6, 1835) was an American statesman, jurist, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fourth chief justice of the United States from 1801 until his death in 1835. He remai ...
, particularly the 1819 decision in
McCulloch v. Maryland ''McCulloch v. Maryland'', 17 U.S. (4 Wheat.) 316 (1819), was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that defined the scope of the U.S. Congress's legislative power and how it relates to the powers of American state legislatures. The dispute in ...
. Brockenbrough's political career began in 1802–03, when Essex County voters elected him as one of their representatives in the House of Delegates. He was re-elected once, and after a term on the Council of State described below, again won election and re-election. Brockenbrough did not run for re-election after his second term as a delegate because he became a member of the Council of State in May, 1803. As a member of the Commonwealth's executive body, he was not allowed to hold a legislative office. However, Virginia's state constitution at the time forbad that body remaining unchanged, requiring the legislature to remove two members from that body every third year, and Brockenbrough was one of those chosen for removal in December 1804. Thus, Brockenbrough's term on that body ended the following May. Virginia legislators first elected Brockenbrough as a judge of the general court on February 7, 1809. Not long after the adoption of the Virginia Constitution of 1830, and following the death of Judge John W. Green, on February 20, 1834, Brockenbrough was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of Appeals but died just four years later. In 1810, Brockenbrough may have owned about 30 slaves in Hanover County. In 1820 Brockenbrough owned 20 slaves in Henrico County, Virginia, which included Richmond. A decade later, the last census of his life reported him as owning 23 slaves in Richmond, as well as 46 slaves in Hanover County. His relationship to a family of six free black people in King and Queen County with the same surname is unclear.1830 U.S. Federal Census for King and Queen County, Virginia p. 35 of 82


Personal life

In 1806, he married Judith Robinson White and became the father of John White Brockenbrough. According to family history,
Dolley Madison Dolley Todd Madison (née Payne; May 20, 1768 – July 12, 1849) was the wife of James Madison, the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. She was noted for holding Washington social functions in which she invited members of b ...
said, "as a friend I find Mrs. Judith Brockenbrough unequalled." In 1814, following the burning of
Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...
by Admiral Cockburn, she and Dolley Madison saved what valuables they could from the
White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...
before taking refuge at the
Octagon House Octagon houses are eight-sided houses that were popular in the United States and Canada mostly in the 1850s. They are characterized by an octagonal (eight-sided) Floor plan, plan and often feature a flat roof and a veranda that circles the hous ...
. Judith Brockenbrough's initials are scratched on a windowpane in an upstairs bedroom at
Mount Vernon Mount Vernon is the former residence and plantation of George Washington, a Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States, and his wife, Martha. An American landmar ...
. William Brockenbrough's home in
Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...
, at Fifth and Clay streets, was frequently visited by
Chief Justice Marshall John Marshall (September 24, 1755July 6, 1835) was an American statesman, jurist, and Founding Father who served as the fourth chief justice of the United States from 1801 until his death in 1835. He remains the longest-serving chief justice a ...
and other notable citizens of Richmond.


Children

One son, John White Brockenbroug married Mary C. Bowyer and became a judge of the United States Court for the Western District of Virginia, founder and head of his own law school at Lexington, Professor in the Law School of Washington and Lee University, member of the
Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), also known as the Confederate States (C.S.), the Confederacy, or Dixieland, was an List of historical unrecognized states and dependencies, unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United State ...
Congress, and a publisher of law decisions. One daughter, Mary, married another lawyer, Willoughby Newton. Another daughter, named Judith White after her mother, married Episcopal clergyman John P. McGuire and published her diary written during the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
, "The Diary of a Southern Refugee".


References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brockenbrough, William Justices of the Supreme Court of Virginia Virginia lawyers 1778 births 1838 deaths People from Tappahannock, Virginia College of William & Mary alumni Members of the Virginia House of Delegates Politicians from Richmond, Virginia Brockenbrough family (Virginia) 19th-century members of the Virginia General Assembly