The Remarkable Margaret Brent (Historical Marker)
GPS Coordinates: 38.7908952, -77.0410818
Closest Address: 1 Jones Point Drive, Alexandria, VA 22314

Here follows the inscription written on this trailside historical marker:
The Remarkable Margaret Brent
Landowner, Lawyer, Suffragette
— 1601 - 1671 —
Despite occasional conflicts between European settlers and local Indians, Mistress Margaret Brent of Saint Mary’s City, Maryland, was granted the first land patent on Piper’s Island (later known as Jones Point) in 1654. An extraordinary woman for her time, Brent appears here before the Maryland Assembly requesting not only the right to vote, but the right to two votes—one for herself as a landowner and one as Lord Baltimore’s attorney.
Brents undertaking and medling with your Lordships Estate here… we do Verily Believe and in Conscience report that it was better for Collonys safety at that time in her hands then in any mans else in the whole province… —Letter from the Maryland Assembly, describing Brent's management of Lord Baltimore's will, 1649.
Tobacco Farming
To hold title to her land, Brent was required to cut back the forest and plant tobacco. On most plantations, indentured servants and enslaved African Americans performed the arduous labor.
Erected by National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.
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Here follows an excerpt from the "Maryland History Leaflet No. 1" prepared by Ann Baker:
Margaret Brent (ca. 1601-ca. 1671)
On January 21, 1648, Margaret Brent appeared before the assembly and requested two votes. She asked for one for herself as a landowner and one as Lord Baltimore's attorney. Who was this woman, the first female in the New World to request the right to vote?
Accompanied by two brothers and a sister, Margaret Brent arrived in St. Mary's City on November 22, 1638. She proceeded to claim a land grant, and engaged in numerous business ventures, trading in tobacco, indentured servants, and land. She appeared in court to sue for debts and to protect her interests, and often acted for her brothers as well. Margaret Brent was named with Governor Leonard Calvert as joint guardian for Mary Kittamaquund, daughter of the chief of the Piscataways. Ten years after her arrival, Margaret Brent was prominent as a businesswoman and landowner.
Existence in 17th-century Maryland was precarious. Threatened by disease, life was hard and often short. Under such conditions, some women were forced to step out of the sheltered sphere they had inhabited back in England. Margaret Brent was not the only woman to claim land in her own right or to pursue her own interests in court. However, she chose to do so; she was not forced. Her continuing unmarried state was unusual in a settlement where the male/female ratio was about six to one.
Born around 1601, Margaret Brent was approximately thirty-seven years old when she arrived in Maryland. Little is known about the first half of her life. She was one of thirteen children born to Richard and Elizabeth Brent. The Brents were landed Catholic gentry living in Gloucestershire. Daughters of such families usually lived quietly at home under the domination of their fathers until they married, at which time control of their lives and their fortunes was transferred to their husbands. In light of her later life, it is hard to imagine Margaret Brent indulging in needlework and other maidenly pastimes for thirty-seven years. She seems to have had some education. Her decision to emigrate to Maryland was not so unique; what was unusual was her coming as head of her own household and not as an appendage of her brothers. Her brothers emigrated to seek opportunities in business and public affairs not available to them in England as Catholics and younger sons; Margaret may have emigrated to escape the inherent constraints of her life in England.
Fifteen years after the first settlers arrived, the Maryland settlement faced a severe crisis. In 1645, the civil war raging in England between Charles I and Parliament spilled over into Maryland. Richard Ingle, a Protestant and a partisan of the English Parliament, invaded St. Mary's City, destroyed the property of Catholic settlers, and took the Jesuit priests and Margaret's brother Giles back to England in chains. Governor Leonard Calvert and other settlers fled to Virginia, and the population of the colony dropped drastically. Late in 1646, the Governor returned with soldiers to reestablish Calvert control. However, Governor Leonard Calvert died in 1647 with his own and Maryland's affairs still in turmoil. From his deathbed, exhorting her to "Take all and pay all," he appointed Margaret Brent his executor, a testimony to his faith in her abilities.
Margaret's decisive actions in such troubled times ensured the survival of the settlement. The most pressing problem was paying Leonard Calvert's soldiers, who were on the verge of a mutiny. Margaret averted that disaster by having the assembly transfer to her Leonard Calvert's power of attorney for his brother Lord Baltimore. Because Leonard Calvert's estate was not sufficient, she sold some of Lord Baltimore's cattle to pay the soldiers. Her most famous action, requesting two votes in the assembly, occurred while she was trying to resolve the Calvert affairs.
Ultimately, Margaret's actions in averting disaster were commended by the assembly to Lord Baltimore, who could not see beyond the loss of his cattle. The Brents never regained his favor and relocated to Virginia by 1651, where Margaret died around 1671.
Margaret Brent remains an enigma. Her life was filled with actions remarkable and unusual for a woman of the 17th century. Documents record at least a part of what she did; we can only conjecture why, just as we can only imagine what she looked like. No contemporary images of her survive.
Source: Ann Baker. Prepared for the use of Government House. ©Maryland State Archives, 1997 (rev. 1998)
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Here follows an excerpt from the Clio Foundation website about Margaret Brent as written by Ben M.:
Introduction:
These two historical markers describe the life and legacy of Margaret Brent (c.1607-c.1671), one of the most notable figures of early American history. Brent, who was Catholic, was a prominent and well-respected landowner, entrepreneur, and lawyer. She owned land in the Virginia and Maryland colonies including the tract of land that formed original part of Alexandria. In 1647 just before his death, the governor of the Maryland Colony, Leonard Calvert (1606-1647), appointed Brent as the executor of his estate and in that role she saved the colony from mutinous soldiers. However, Brent is best known for asking for the right to vote in the all-male colonial assembly in 1648 (she in fact requested to have two votes; one for herself as a landowner and one for her role as attorney for Lord Baltimore, the proprietor of the colony and Calvert's older brother. The assembly denied her request). The markers are located in Jones Point Park, which was part of Brent's landholdings.
Backstory and Context:
Margaret Brent was born around 1601 in Gloucestershire, England to a noble family. Her father, Richard Brent, was the Lord of Admington and Lark Stoke, and her mother, Elizabeth Reed, was the daughter of Edward Reed, who was the Lord of Tusburie and Witten. Brent was one of thirteen children (seven boys and six daughters) and her father apparently tutored her in the law. She immigrated to the Maryland Colony in November 1638 with a sister and two brothers to seek a new life away from the religious turmoil between Catholics and Protestants in England. In 1639, Brent acquired her first land grant in present-day St. Mary's, Maryland and eventually owned 800 acres plus an additional 1,000 acres she received from her brother Giles. Like most of the other settlers, which included Catholic (Jesuit) priests, she grew tobacco. She also also imported and sold indentured servants and lent money to new settlers. She never married and supported herself without oversight from her brothers. Brent represented herself and her brothers in court on a number of occasions, which earned the respect of her peers.
The colony was managed by Cecil Calvert, the second Lord Baltimore, who appointed his brother Leonard Calvert as its governor in 1632. Lord Baltimore knew that in order for the colony to be successful, he would need both Protestant and Catholic settlers. As a result, he declared that the colony would be welcome to any qualified individuals regardless of religion. In short, it was an experiment in religious toleration.
Despite being far from England, Brent and her siblings could not escape the tensions between Catholics and Protestants, which eventually boiled over into the English Civil War (1642 to 1651) fought between King Charles I and the English Parliament. In early 1645, a Protestant sea captain fighting for the parliament, Richard Ingle, sailed to the colony and raided St. Mary's. They destroyed property and seized Giles and the Jesuit priests, whom they took back to England. Leonard Calvert escaped to Virginia and many settlers moved there as well (the population of the colony decreased from around 500 to 100 settlers). The next year, he and a contingent of soldiers returned in December to reassert control and were successful. However, he became ill by summer and appointed Thomas Greene as governor and Brent as executor of his estate. He died on June 9.
The soldiers had not been paid by then and were becoming more disgruntled by the day; mutiny was a real possibility. Before he died, Calvert promised to sell his estate to pay them. However, English law prohibited Brent, as executor, from selling the land. The rectify the issue and avert an existential crisis, on January 3, 1648, the Provincial Court appointed her as Lord Baltimore's lawyer to grant her the authority to sell the property (this was done without Lord Baltimore's approval; there was no time to ask for his consent). It was on the 21st that she appeared before the assembly to request the right to vote. On that day she also sold Lord Baltimore's cattle since Calvert's property was not enough to pay the soldiers.
Lord Baltimore was very angry with Brent and thought she had confiscated his property, but her actions likely saved the colony and its policy of religious toleration. Some historians have claimed Brent as a feminist for requesting the right to vote, which they perceived as her challenging male power. However, others argue that the request was simply an attempt to assert her belief that she was entitled to the right to vote given her role in saving the colony.
Brent and her sister moved to northern Virginia in 1650 and lived on a plantation in what is now Westmoreland County. She apparently bought more land and, after her sister died in 1658, acquired her sister's property of 1,000 acres. Brent died around 1671 in present-day Stafford County, Virginia.