Henry Brockman

Kent, England

General Notes

Henry Brockman immigrated to Maryland in 1674. He came from Barbados. He married Rebecca Salmon. Only one child, Samuel I, is known to have been born.

The Brockmans, Brockmanns, are of English and German origin. Positive
proof of the family being lineal descendants of John Brockman of Essex,
England, is still lacking. Documentary evidence of the family in America
starts with Henry Brockman of Maryland and Samuel Brockman who lived in Drysdale Parish, King and Queen County, Virginia, in 1731, and Samuel and William Brockman, who witnessed the will of Edward Pigg in St. Goorge's Parish, Spotsylvania, in 1739. A land grant was issued by Governor Gooch, dated August 5, 1731, for 22 shillings, William Mays acquired from the Commonwealth a grant for, 500 acres lying in Drysdale Parish, on both sides of Port Tobago Road. Of this amount, 100 acres was a gift from Daniel Coleman, 150 acres was acquired from Henry Shackleford, from James Ambrose, and 250 acres from surplus land of the state. Description shows that it adjoined Samuel Brockman, Richard Milliner, Craddocks, Rose, Ryan and Halls. Thomas Madison had 300 acres next to Rev. John Mays, minister, which may have been acquired by Samuel Brockman, who traded his 300 acres in King and Queen to John Henderson for 300 acres in Spotsylvania, plus 1,200 pounds of tobacco as a premium. Thomas Salmon of St. Marie's County patented land in St. George Parish in 1727.

Samuel Brockman who lived in King & Queen, Spotsylvania and Orange, left a will at Orange, probated 1766. His wife is known onlv as Mary, but there are indications that she was Mary Madison, (or Mary Mason) daughter of John Madison, Jr. and sister of Ambrose Madison (wife Frances Taylor). His children by his will.
(1) Samuel, wife Rebecca. I have thought that possibly she was Rebecca
Salmon, and that perhaps she was confused with the wife of Henry; also, there are indications that this Rebecker, wife of Samuel, was daughter of John Graves.
(2) William must have been born by 1718, as he witnessed a deed In 1739. His wife was Betty. William left a will at Albemarle giving the names of his children. John Brockman, third son presumed to have married Mary Collins, daughter of Joseph; Elizabeth, married Anthony Street; Sarah, married John Henderson, Rachael, married John Rogers and she was a widow by 1776 when her mother died; another daughter deceased at the time her father wrote his will, 1762, married a Haley and John Haley was legatee when the estate of Samuel's wife was closed in 1776. A James Haley and wife Susannah deed land to Samuel I in 1746, and Samuel
Brockman II in 1749, but this is not proof of the parents of John Haley as Henry Chiles also had a daughter Susannah who married a Haley, and
there was a Susannah Haley who witnessed a will of John Haley in Louisa in 1760.

Mary Collins, wife of John Brockman, was daughter of Capt. Joseph
Collins, whose father was John Collins. John Collins married a daughter
of Mrs. Amy Wyatt of Lower Norfolk County. I have always felt that Amy
Brockman, wife of Thomas, was a Gatewood or a Wyatt. Many of the Collins family named their children Wyatt as a Christian name, so that it appears that John Collins married Mary Wyatt, and was father of Joseph and others.

Samuel Brockman of King and Queen County, VA was probably the son of Henry Brockman of Barbados, Maryland and Virginia and wife Rebecca Salmon. He was living on Port Tobago Road, Drysdale Parish, King and Queen County in 1731. In 1732 he bought land in Spotsylvania (later Orange), where he moved and built a home naming it the "White House". His will, dated Nov 3, 1762, was probated Sept. 25, 1766. Final deposition of his estate was made January 15, 1776, when his widow died. His daughter Mary signed her name Mary M., so we assume her mother's maiden name began with M. "The Brockman Scrap Book"
[This Family of Mine 2.FBK2.FTW]

Notes
1. Henry is believed to have come to America by way of Holland (where he may have gone to escape Cromwell). Supposition that Henry Brockman went to the Barbados about 1649 is based on the statement "when the Protestants took over, I could no longer worship as I wanted to" -- this would be after Cromwell took over from Charles I. This indicates that Henry Brockman was not a refugee in that his hfe was in danger for supporting Charles I, but his security was threatened by the edicts of Cromwell. (OCVF III:19). When that portion ofthe Barbadoes now known as Surinam was traded to the Dutch for New Amsterdam (now New York), Henry acquired passage to St. Marys county, Maryland, and SO acres of land in that county, from Captain John Jourdaine in exchange for a seven year indenture. (copied from information submitted to the Brockman Forum (GenForum) by Paul R. Brockman on 25 May 1999. Captain Jourdaine of Rouen, Kingdom of Normandy, was enroute to America with a shipload of Hollanders at this time. The first record documenting Henry Brockman in St. Marys county, Maryland was dated 1674 (when Capt. Jourdaine made an application for land for Henry Brockman whom I have transported to Maryland (1667 + 7 yearsof indenture) = 1674.
2. On 27 Apr 1674 Henry proved right to SO acres of land in Maryland for his term of service to Capt. John Jourdaine, also of St. Marys co., MD. (Vol. 18, folio 13 in the Land Commissioners Office, Annapolis, MD). On the same day of his claim, Henry Brockman assigned his right of SO acres to Captain Thomas Salmon. It is believed that Henry married in Maryland and had only one son, Samuel. Speculation exists about his wife; was she a Salmon or a Samuell? Did he move with his family to the New Kent county area of VA where the Salmons located? These and many more questions will probably never be answered because the records that would have held this information were destroyed during the Civil War.
4. It is strongly believed that Henry had only one son, identified in the following records as either Samuel I or Sr. This is to distinguish him from his son, Samuel II or Samuel, Jr. The Salmons and Brockmans both moved to King and Queen co., later to Albemarle and Orange. It is said that Samuel, son and heir, was Protestant, which is what the later family was. Henry Brockman, however, is believed to have been Catholic. Thomas Salmon of MD was a cooper and Samuel I, Henry's son, was also a cooper. (p. 5, Scrapbook).
6. Samuel's mother, Mary, was a widow in 1717 and living in King and Queen county, Virginia. She was granted 420 acres of land in this county for sponsering the immigration of 9 people to Virginia. It is possible that this woman, Mary, married secondly a Mr. Pettis. Since her name at this time (1717) was Mary, what happened to Rebecca?
7. An interesting note about Henry Brockman claiming his SO acres of land in Maryland is found on pages 20-2 1, Early American History. One point of clarification, however, must be made; the Henry Brockman written about in the above pages is the immigrant Henry Brockman EXCEPT THAT William E. Brockman uses the incorrect date of birth for him; he uses 8 Nov 1623 instead of 1647. The 1623 date is for a different Henry Brockman, a distant cousin of the immigrant Henry. The Henry born in 1623 was a son of Sir William Brockman and Anne Bunce.
8. William E. Brockman, on page 8 of Orange County VirginiaFamilies, IV ~ states It seems likely that Henry Brockman met the Samuells through Captain Jourdaine who had arrived in Maryland in 1634 on their own ship the Samuel and Mary. Sir Richard and Lady Mary Samuell were witnesses to the will of Sir Henry Skipworth in Maryland on November 20, 1638, and this ship the Samuel and Mary was anchored in Chesapeake Bay August 28, 1669.

Click here for details of Henry's family with Rebecca Salmon