350 Southern Historical Society Papers.
JUDGE WILLIAM BROCKENBROUGH.
An Address Delivered by Prof. Benjamin Blake Minor,
LL. D., on the Occasion of the Presentation of
a Portrait of Judge Brockenbrough to
the Circuit Court of Essex
County, July 17, 1899.
There would be a great deficiency in any gallery of portraits ap- propriate for the circuit court room of Essex county, if it did not embrace one of such a man as Judge William Brockenbrough. The promoters of the collection have felt the truth of this, and have tried to obtain a portrait of so distinguished a son of old Essex. But, for various reasons, their efforts were fruitless. A: length a few of those who cordially approved of getting together such galleries and of placing a likeness of Judge Brockenbrough where it so justly be- longed, determined that this too long deferred honor should be paid him, even in a modified form. They have the pleasure of presenting to the circuit court of Essex an enlarged photograph of him, taken from an oil portrait belonging to the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia, which was presented to them by Mrs. John P. McGuire, a daughter of the eminent judge. The present Court of Appeals is en- titled to special thanks, not only for permitting the picture to be photographed, but for contributing to the expense of procuring the portrait which is now presented.*
The records of Richmond county show that the Brockenbroughs were there, from England, prior to 1701; and some of them were in Essex also at a very early date. Dr. John Brockenbrough, of Tap- pahannock, a surgeon in the Virginia navy during the Revolution, and long a justice of Essex, and Sarah Roane, his wife, were the
- Those, besides the Judges of the Court of Appeals, who presented the
portrait, were Prof. John P. McGuire, stepson of Mrs. Judith (Brocken- brough) McGuire, daughter of the Judge; Miss Mary M. P. Newton, great- granddaughter of the Judge; Austin and Benjamin B. Brockenbrough and Thomas C. Gordon, grandsons of Dr. Austin Brockenbrough and Frances Blake, his wife, and grandnephews of the Judge; B. Blake Minor, Jr., M. D., and Benjamin Blake Minor, Sr., a native of Tappahannock.
The galleries of the portraits of worthies of Essex and some other coun- ties are mainly due to the efforts of Judge T. R. B. Wright.
