Looking across the Anacostia River to the District of Columbia in 1833
Brent-Col. William, Clerk of the Circuit, District and Criminal Courts of D.C. died Washington, D.C. December 14, 1848, in the 74th year of his age.
The notice appeared in the National Intelligencer, 16 December 1848, the day after his death. William served as Clerk of the Circuit Court for Washington County, District of Columbia for forty-three years, from 1805-1848 and as Clerk of the Criminal Courts from 1838-1848. The above notice is only an abstract of the obituary. There was a poem that appeared in the Daily National Intelligencer - Memorial poem, to the family, by "C" - On the Death of Col. Wm. Brent which was addressed to "the Members of his Family" and unfortunately said nothing about his life nor his family.
His father was Robert Brent, a merchant planter from an old Virginia family in Stafford County. His mother was Ann Carroll, sister to Archbishop John Carroll, 1735-1815, and Daniel Carroll II, 1730-1796, signer of both the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution. His brother Robert was the first mayor of Washington D.C. and another brother was the chief clerk for the Department of State and served as U.S. consul to France.
Col. William Brent's first wife, Catherine Walker Johnson, died in 1822. His second wife, Elizabeth Neale, died in 1863. All three are buried in the Carroll family graveyard - St. John the Evangelist Cemetery - in Forest Glen, Maryland.
Related links:
William Brent, biographical sketch
Will of William Brent, 1848
Resolutions, on the Death of William Brent, at the Circuit and Criminal Courts, District of Columbia, 15 December 1848
Gravestone of William and his second wife, Elizabeth Neale, Forest Glen, Maryland
Gravestone of William's first wife, Catherine Walker Johnson, d.1822, Forest Glen, Maryland
Robert and Ann Carroll Brent, parents of William Brent
Painting of the "City of Washington from Beyond the Navy Yard, " by George Cook, 1833, is from Wikimedia Commons, licensed under Public Domain, and comes from the White House Historical Association. The painting shows a view of Washington as it looked when William was living there.
Transcription of the notice of death is from Extracts of Some of the Marriages and Deaths Printed in the National Intelligencer, Washington, D.C. Between the Years 1806-1858, compiled by Frank Willing Leach. Historical Society of Pennsylvania. FHL MF 0441391, p.166.
