Person Page - 11

       Abigail/3s Brooks was born 15 Oct 1708 at Deerfield, MA.¹

       Nathaniel/3s Brooks Jr. was born 26 Oct 1710 at Deerfield, MA.¹ There he married (1), 8 Dec 1734, Abigail/4 Allen of Deerfield, daughter of John/3 Allen and Abigail Severance.^2,3 (Their siblings Aaron Brooks and Elizabeth Allen also married). He lived at Cheapside [the less accessible section of Deerfield beyond the Pocumtuck River] in 1734, removed to Winchester, NH in 1735, and thence to Greenfield, MA in 1743.^4,5,6 His wife Abigail died 30 Sep 1745.⁷ He married (2), 25 Oct 1750 at Deerfield, Rebecca Clary, widow of Ezekiel Bascom.^8,9 Chosen tithingman at Greenfield's 1st town meeting, 3 Jul 1753.¹⁰
     In August, 1756, a party of Indians attacked five men working at a place called Country Farms in the northerly part of Greenfield. Nathaniel Brooks was one of those captured, and was carried off to Canada.
     Says Sheldon, "In 1756 five men were at work in the farm fields, including Nathaniel Brooks. They placed their guns against a stack of flax and were busy in another part of the field. A party of Indians concealed nearby slipped in between them and their guns and fired upon them. Deprived of their weapons they sought safety in flight and proved themselves good runners at least. Graves and Brooks were taken captive, the others shot. The first (Graves) was old and infirm and unable to travel and so was killed, soon after they left the spot. Brooks never returned and nothing is known of his fate."^4,5 Thompson's Hist. Greenfield states, "was seen in Canada in September, 1758, but nothing more is known of him."⁶
     The account book of John Stebbins of Deerfield, tanner, currier and shoemaker, contains the following entries for Nathan^l Brux for the year 1743: leather for a bullet pouch, £0-02-0; a pare of stichdowns, 0-5-6; a pare of mogasons, 0-8; soaling & heal taping your wife shoas, 0-5-6.⁶

       Abigail/4 Allen was born 27 May 1717 at Deerfield, MA.^1,2 There she married, as his 1st wife, 8 Dec 1734, Nathaniel/3s Brooks Jr. of Deerfield, son of Nathaniel/2s Brooks and Mary/3 Allis.^3,4 (Their siblings Elizabeth Allen and Aaron Brooks also married). She died at Greenfield (rec. Deerfield) 30 Sep 1745 at age 28.⁵

       Abigail/4s Brooks was born 6 Apr 1735 at Winchester, NH (also rec. Deerfield, MA, as 5 Apr).^3,1,2 She married, 9 Jan 1754 at Deerfield, Elisha/5 Wells of Greenfield, MA, son of Joshua/4 Wells and Elizabeth Smead, with whom she had 13 children.⁴ There she died 20 Dec 1772 at age 37.⁵ He married twice more, and died 5 Oct 1792.⁵

       Elisha/5 Wells was born 12 Nov 1731 at Deerfield, MA.^1,2 There he married (1), 9 Jan 1754, Abigail/4s Brooks of Deerfield, daughter of Nathaniel/3s Brooks and Abigail/4 Allen, with whom he had 13 children.³ There she died 20 Dec 1772.⁴ There he married (2), 18 Sep 1775, Mehitabel Mattoon, daughter of Isaac Mattoon and Mary (–?–).⁵ She died at Greenfield 29 Jun 1776, 3 days following childbirth.⁶ He married (3), 25 Dec 1777 or 78 at Hatfield, Rhoda Graves of Hatfield, who died 7 Dec 1817.^4,7 He died 5 Oct 1792 at age 60.⁴

       Abner/4s Brooks was born 16 [Brookfield VR] or 17 [Warren VR] Aug 1734, probably at Warren (then Western), MA (also rec. Brookfield).^2,3,4 He is recorded, 1770, in the census return of Onslow, Lunenberg County, Nova Scotia, where his family was enumerated as 5 Protestant Americans: 1 man, 1 woman, 1 boy and 2 girls. His brothers Phineas and Martin appear in the same county census at Horton and Onslow.⁵ He died circa 1804 at Southampton, New Brunswick.⁶

       Benjamin/3s Brooks was born 26 Feb 1717/18 at Deerfield, MA.¹ A soldier in the French and Indian Wars.^2,3,4 He married, by 1750, Mary Miller of Northfield, daughter of Benjamin Miller, with whom he had 13 children.^2,4 Of Northfield, where he died 15 Jun 1786 at age 68.^2,3