Figure of the Week

Daniel Carroll Brent (1759-1815) was the son of William Brent (1733-1782) and Eleanor Carroll (1733-1804).  He was born and resided at Richland in the Wide Water area of Stafford.  In 1782 he married Anne Fenton Lee (1754-1803), the daughter of Thomas Ludwell Lee (1730-1778) and Mary Aylett (c.1738-after 1806) of Bell View and Berry Hill, Stafford County.  Anne died and Daniel married Mrs. Euphan Wallace Washington (1765-1845), the widow of Bailey Washington, Jr. (1753-1813) of Windsor Forest in Stafford.  For many years Daniel C. Brent was in partnership with his neighbor and dear friend Col. John Cooke (1755-1819) of West Farm on the Potomac River.  The two men operated various businesses under the firm names of Brent & Cooke and Cooke & Brent.  From 1791-1795 Brent and Cooke were paid by the U. S. Government to manage the quarry on Brent’s Island, now called Government Island.  The two were also engaged as early as 1799 with Benjamin Adie (1762-c.1822) in a distillery business.  From 1796 until Brent’s death in 1815 they operated several freestone quarries on Aquia Creek.  From 1806 to 1810 they also shared a partnership in the milling business (at Brent’s Mill in Wide Water) and kept a store, sawmill, and blacksmith shop there.