Robert Franklin Bratton

Robert Franklin Brattan (May 13, 1845 – May 10, 1894) was an American politician and lawyer who served in the Maryland House of Delegates, the Maryland Senate, and the U.S. House of Representatives. A Democrat representing Maryland, he contributed to the legislative process during one term in Congress, serving during a significant period in American history and representing the interests of his constituents from Maryland’s 1st Congressional District.

Brattan was born on May 13, 1845, in Barren Creek Springs in Somerset (now Wicomico) County, Maryland, to Elizabeth (née Venables) and Joseph Brattan. His father was a merchant and agriculturist, and his family was active in public life; his grandfather, Joshua Brattan, served as a state delegate from Somerset County. He was named for his uncle, Franklin Brattan, a lawyer who practiced in Illinois with future Supreme Court Justice David Davis. During the American Civil War, when he was nineteen years old, Brattan and his family came under suspicion for Southern sympathies; he was arrested on a charge of carrying a Southern spy near his home, and his father was also arrested on charges of disloyalty.

Brattan attended local schools in Somerset County before pursuing higher education at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland. He graduated from Washington College in 1864. Shortly thereafter, in September 1864, he was appointed deputy register of wills for Somerset County, a position he held until March 1867. During this period he began his legal training, reading law with the firm of Jones & Irving under Isaac D. Jones and Levin Irving. He was admitted to the bar in July 1867 and continued with Jones & Irving until January 1868, when he left to establish his own professional footing.

In 1868, Brattan entered private practice in partnership with James U. Dennis, an established lawyer and state senator. His involvement in public affairs had already begun by this time. In 1865 he served as a member of a state convention that selected delegates to a peace convention held in Philadelphia the following year, reflecting his early engagement with post–Civil War reconciliation and Democratic Party politics. He went on to serve as a member of several state and congressional conventions, building a reputation within Maryland’s Democratic organization.

Brattan’s formal legislative career commenced with his election to the Maryland House of Delegates in 1869, where he served in the 1870 session. He was elected to the Maryland State Senate in 1873 to fill the unexpired term of George R. Dennis. Over the next two decades he became a prominent figure in the state legislature, winning re-election to the Senate for terms beginning in 1879, 1887, and 1890. He served in the Senate from 1874 to 1876, from 1880 to 1884, and from 1888 to 1892. In 1890, he was chosen President of the Maryland State Senate, underscoring his influence and standing among his colleagues. At the Maryland Democratic Convention in 1891, he was considered for the nomination for state comptroller, although he did not secure the nomination.

After his extended service in the Maryland Senate, Brattan resumed and continued the practice of law in Princess Anne, Maryland. Late in his life he was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland’s 1st District, serving in the Fifty-third Congress. His tenure in Congress lasted just over a year, from the beginning of that Congress until his death in office. During this period he participated in the national legislative process at a time of economic and political transition in the post-Reconstruction era, representing the Eastern Shore of Maryland in the federal legislature.

Brattan’s personal life was closely intertwined with his professional associations. In December 1884 he married Nellie Hooe Dennis, the daughter of his law partner and fellow state senator James U. Dennis and the niece of George R. Dennis, whose Senate term he had earlier completed. The couple had three children: Cecilia, Nellie, and Robert Franklin. His brother, J. Y. Brattan, was a newspaper editor with the Baltimore Morning Herald, reflecting the family’s broader engagement in public discourse and civic life.

Robert Franklin Brattan died at his home in Princess Anne on May 10, 1894, from Bright’s disease, while still serving in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was interred in St. Andrew’s Cemetery at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Princess Anne, Maryland. His death placed him among the members of the United States Congress who died in office in the nineteenth century, closing a career that spanned local legal practice, state legislative leadership, and national service.