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Facts and Events
Robert Brooke was one of the Early Settlers of Augusta County, Virginia
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Advisory on Robert Brooke
Some sources claim that Robert Brooke was born abt. 1730, but since he was old enough to acquire land in Orange/Augusta County in 1741, he was certainly born prior to that date, probably by 1720 or slightly before.
Early Land Acquisition in Augusta County, VA
Robert Brooke's land (Beverley Manor SW, 500 acres, 1741) as shown on the map meticulously drawn by J.R. Hildebrand, cartographer. This map is copyrighted©, used by permission of John Hildebrand, son of J.R. Hildebrand, April, 2009.
Acquisition of Land from Orange County, Virginia Records:
- Pages 326-29. 25-26 Nov. 1741. William Beverley, Esq., of Essex County to Robert Brooke of same. Lease and release for £15 current money. 500 acres... William Campbell's corner... James Millis' line... William Robinson's corner... Robert Moffitt's line... (signed) W. Beverley. Wit: Richd. Winslow, W. Russell, Ben. Downs. 27 Nov. 1741. Acknowledged by William Beverley, Esq. [Orange County Virginia Deed Book 6, Dorman, pg. 37-38].
Disposition of Land from Chalkley's:
- Page 309.—4th October, 1760. Robert Brooke and Mary, of Essex County, to John Hunter, £40, 500 acres conveyed to Robert by Beverley, 26th November, 1741; corner Wm. Campbell; James Miles' line; Wm. Robinson's corner; Robt. Moffet's line. Teste: Robert ( ) Hunter, Wm. Palmer, Samuel Hunter, John ( ) McCallam.
Note: this land was again sold in the following transaction in 1770:
- Page 356.--17th June, 1770. John Hunter and Frances ( ) to Samuel Hunter, 40 pence, 128 acres conveyed to John by Robert Brookes, conveyed by Beverley, 26th November, 1751, in Beverley Manor; John Thompson's line; corner Robert Hunter, now John Thompson; corner Anthony Black, a cabin by the road between John Hunter's and his son, Samuel Hunter's. Teste: W. Christian, David Carson.
Records of Robert Brooke in Augusta County, VA
- Page 184.--__ August, 1764. Valentine Yoacon's estate appraised, by John Candler, Robt. Brooks, Zachariah Moorman, Chas. Lynch, administrator.
- Edmund Brooke of Prince William, next friend of Robert, Elizabeth, Humphrey, Mary, and Rosalin Brooke, infants of Humphrey B. Brooke, deceased, vs. Carter Beverley--O. S. 196; N. S. 69--Bill, 1810.
- Jane Alien, widow of Robert Allen, Jr., living in Kentucky, vs. Jacob Butngardner, heirs of Isaac Hayes, heirs of James Flack--O. S. 210; N. S. 74 -- Patent by Dunmore, 20th June, 1772, to Thomas Walker, for 800 acres in Augusta, between Beverley Manor and South Mountain, cor. Lazarus Inman, John Campbell, Wm. Teas. Deed 30th October, 1801, by James Elack and Mary, his wife, to James Hayes of Albemarle. Tract purchased from Jane Alien. Deed 30th Dctober, 1801, by same to Jacob Bumgardner and Isaac Hayes; part of tract purchased from Jane Alien. Will of James Hayes of Albemarle: Nine children, viz: James, David, Isaac, Nathaniel, Thomas, William, Mary, Sarah Ann, Malinda. Son John and daughter Elizabeth married, to Robert Brooks. Dated 6th December, 1812, and recorded by the Circuit Court 13th May, 1813.
From Annals of Augusta County, Virginia, from 1726 to 1871, by Joseph Addison Waddell, pg. 17:
- The first passage of the Blue Ridge, and entrance into the Valley by white men, was made by Governor Spotswood in 1716.!; About the last of July, or first of August in that year, the Governor, with some members of his staff, starting from Williamsburg, proceeded to Germanna, a small frontier settlement, where he left his coach and took to horse....... The only authentic account we have of the expedition is the diary of John Fontaine, and that is very meagre. The gentlemen of the party were: Governor Spotswood, Robert Beverley, the historian, Colonel Robertson, Dr. Robinson, Taylor Todd, Fontaine, Mason, Clouder, Smith and Brooke.
- First, in regard to the early settlement of the country. In 1727, Robert Lewis, William Lynn, Robert Brooke, Jr., James Mills, William Lewis and Beverley Robinson petitioned the Governor and Council as follows: "That your Petitioners have been at great Trouble and Charges in making Discoveries of Lands among the Mountains, and are desirous of taking up some of those Lands they have discovered ; wherefore your petitioners humbly pray your Honours to grant him an order to take up Fifty Thousand Acres, in one or more tracts, on the head branches of James River to the West and Northwestward of the Cow Pasture, on seating thereon one Family for every Thousand Acres, and as the said Lands are very remote and lying among the great North Mountains, being about Two Hundred Miles at least from any landing—Your Petitioners humbly pray Your Honours will grant them six years' time to seat the same."
Pg. 82:
- "Friday.—Set out about nine. Got to Captain Downs's where was Colond Fry, one of his Majesty's Commissioners, Colonel Jefferson, one of the surveyors for his Majesty, and Captain Winsl0, for Lord Fairfax. After having eat breakfast, came the Honorable William Fairfax and Colonel William Beverley, his Lordship's Commissioners. Likewise Colonel Lomax, one of his Majesty's Commissioners Likewise George Fairfax, Esq., and Mr. Robert Brooke, one of his Majesty's surveyors."
- Colonel Peter Jefferson, father of the President, was county sur- veyor and subsequently county lieutenant of Albemarle. He died in 1757. Colonel Beverley was the patentee of "Beverley Manor," in Augusta. Colonel Lomax, grandfather of the late Judge J. T. Lomax of Fredericksburg, was a Burgess from Caroline county in 1756. Mr. Robert Brooke was the grandfather of Governor Robert Brooke and Judge Francis T. Brooke. He accompanied Governor Spotswood in his visit to the Valley in 1716.
Pg. 87:
- Treaties With Indians. On the 2nd of July, 1744, a treaty was concluded at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, between Thomas Lee, member of the Council of State and one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of the Colony of Virginia, and William Beverley, Colonel and County Lieutenant of the county of Orange and member of the House of Burgesses, Commissioners appointed hy the Governor of Virginia, and twenty-five chiefs of the Six United Nations of Indians. In consideration of four hundred pounds, current money of Pennsylvania, paid partly in goods and partly in gold money, the Indians renounced their riy;ht and claim to all the lands in the Colony of Virginia, and acknowledged the title thereto of the King of Great Britain. This is known as the Treaty of Lancaster, and the instrument was witnessed by James Patton, Robert Brooke, Jr., James Madison and others. The deed was proved in the General Court and ordered to be recorded, October 25, 1744.
Pg. 353:
- James Lyle, the first clerk of the District Court at Staunton, was a member of the Rockbridge family of that name, and a brother of Capt. William Lyle, long a prominent citizen of Rockbridge. His wife was Margaret Baker, from the lower Valley, a cousin of Mrs. Judge Stuart, and aunt of Mrs. Judge L. P. Thompson. He died in 1793, and his wife survived him about forty years. The only child of Mr. and Mrs. Lyle was a daughter named Juliet, who became the wife of Abram Smith, of Rockingham. The second wife of Robert S. Brooke, of Staunton, was a daughter of Abram and Juliet Smith.
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