I am enjoying looking through the entries of the Ghost of D.C. blog . They had a interesting post on the First Mayor of D.C Robert Brent. See Robert Brent: Friend of Thomas Jefferson and Washington City’s First Mayor
Now the post is interesting because it gives a lot of D.C. History and how involved Thomas Jefferson was involved in even the most mudane affairs such as Liquor permits. However it is mentioned as a side note part of the Carroll family of Maryland — a prominent Catholic family.
Well indeed he was. His Uncle was the first Bishop appointed for the United States and his various Carroll relations were major players in our Country's founding. Daniel Carroll , another uncle was a member of the Constitutional Convention and a signer of the Constitution.
Brent's family was not from early Catholic American Royalty ( persecuted but still Royalty as it goes) but his Catholic dad was pretty well off when he married into the Carrolls. As noted here at this blog post via When Washington Was Irish Robert Brent later married into another rather prominent Catholic family the of Notley-Young via the his marriage with Mary Young. . As is noted there the Carroll family and the Notely Youngs had a tradition of marrying between their respective clans . As to the Notley- Youngs see this interesting post Notley Young’s Mansion…and Chapel? and the comments that details a lot of this exciting early Catholic History.
While an earlier post made the comment that the Brent family line was not all that impressive it looks sort of impressive to me. For Robert Brent's ancestors and some of the role they played see here.
One final note as to politics. I am curious of the poltical leanings of Brent. Many Carrolls were Federalists , and were not always Jefferson politics friendly to my knowledge. Thought as to people like Senator Carroll , a signer of the Declaration of Independence, the relationship was cordial. It appears that all worked out for the best.
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