BRENT, MARGARET

Maryland pioneer; b. England, c. 1601; d. Virginia, c. 1671. Her parents, Richard, Lord of Admington and Larkstoke, Gloucester, England, and his wife, Elizabeth (Reed), had 13 children. With her sister Mary and her brothers Giles and Foulke, Margaret immigrated to St. Mary's, Md., in November of 1638, bringing letters from Lord Baltimore ordering Gov. Leonard Calvert to grant them as large a portion of land and as great privileges as had been given to the first settlers. To the initial grant of 70 1/2 acres of townland and 1,000 acres outside the town, Margaret gradually added extensive holdings; she was the first woman in Maryland to hold land in her own right, and she played an important part in the affairs of the colony. During Claiborne's rebellion she raised a small body of volunteers in defense of the Calvert government and property. Subsequently, as executrix of Governor Calvert and as attorney for the proprietary interests, she engaged in a multiplicity of lawsuits. In January of 1648 she asked the Maryland assembly to give her voice and vote in her double capacity as executrix and attorney. Although her request was refused, the assembly later came to her defense when the heirs contested her handling of the Calvert estates. Her brother Giles, an ardent royalist, made over his Maryland property to her (1642); and when he moved to Virginia (1646), he made her his attorney. Margaret stayed in Maryland until 1650, when, having made George Manners attorney for her own and her brother's interests, she joined Giles in Virginia. Her will, dated Dec. 26, 1663, and admitted to probate on May 19, 1671, left her land in Maryland and Virginia to her brother Giles and his heirs.

Bibliography: Maryland Historical Society, Transcripts from the Public Records: References to Mistress Margaret Brent, 1638–1644. Archives of Maryland (1883–) v. 1, 4, passim. w. b. chilton, "The Brent Family," Virginia Magazine 13–21 (1903–13), passim. a. repplier, "The Elusive Lady of Maryland," Catholic World 138 (1933–34) 660–669.

[j. de l. leonard]