CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · People & Ideas

Robert F. Brattan

American politician (1845-1894)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 4, 2026
Entity authorityQ404230 ↗
Source-derived summary

Robert Franklin Brattan (May 13, 1845 – May 10, 1894) was an American politician and lawyer. He served in the Maryland House of Delegates, Maryland Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives.

Early life

Robert Franklin 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. His grandfather was Joshua Brattan, a state delegate from Somerset County. Brattan was named for his uncle, Franklin Brattan, a lawyer who practiced law with David Davis in Illinois. At the age of nineteen, during the American Civil War, Brattan was arrested on a charge of carrying a Southern spy near his home. His father was also arrested on charges of disloyalty.

Brattan attended schools in Somerset County. He graduated from Washington College of Chestertown, Maryland, in 1864.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Robert F. Brattan” as american politician (1845-1894). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Robert, Brattan and American.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1845, 1894, 1864—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Robert, Brattan and American providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Robert F. Brattan”, the useful work is to connect “american politician (1845-1894)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q404230. The first chronological checks are 1845, 1894 and 1864.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Robert F. Brattan”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Robert F. Brattan primary sources, Robert F. Brattan archive and Robert research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Robert F. Brattan”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Robert F. Brattan” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.