Person Page - 1744

       John/1c Brooks, said to be of County Cheshire, England in voluminous family records, removed to New England, date unascertained [Holmes, by 1649; Yale, ca. 1660], perhaps with his brother Henry.^2,3,4,5 He is likely the Brooks male whom Torrey says married, probably in Connecticut by 1654, Mary Griggs, daughter of George Griggs, of Boston, with whom he had 7 daughters.⁶ Jn^o Brookes had a church seat at New Haven, 7 Feb 1668.⁷ There he was enumerated with 7 heads, 29 acres, and taxes of £4 in the 3d division of lands, 1680.⁸ A list compiled at New Haven 22 Dec 1712 records both John and Henry Brooks as New Haven proprietors in 1685.⁹
     At a New Haven town meeting, 15 Mar 1691/92, John Brooks moved that Concidering his old age, low Condicion and present Incapacity, that the towne would remitt his towne Rates for this yeare and for the future the towne by by theire vote graunted his Request. From 1700 through 1708, Townsmen's Records show sums paid for his care, mainly to his son-in-law Daniel Abbot.¹⁰ At a town meeting 16 Sep 1701, The Townes men informed the town that John Brooks and his wife by Reason of their age and impotency were Like to be at the towne charge wholly before Long.¹¹ In May 1711 the Townsmen agreed with Abbot to keep and provide all things sutably for his Mother Brooks soe long as she shall live if he And his wife shall live so long …" Therefore John's death, recorded in First Church records as 17__, occurred sometime between 1708 and May 1711.¹⁰
     John Brooks, says Holmes, "removed to Wallingford with his brother in 1685."¹² Says Yale, "From 1685 down to 1704, John and Henry Brooks were on the list of the proprietors of Wallingford."¹³ Given the New Haven records previously cited, however, it is unlikely that John resided at Wallingford long, if at all, and then only between the years 1686–1691.
     Yale confuses John/1c Brooks of New Haven with John/1f Brooks of Stratford, Fairfield County, when he adds, "[I]t is supposed that he and his family removed to Fairfield county." The Stratford man's will and inventory are dated Mar 1694/5, while the New Haven man was receiving town assistance as late as 1708.¹³

       Beriah/3p Brooks, father unrecorded, was born to Deborah Brooks 20 Mar 1673/74 at Scituate, MA.¹ As Evelyn Beran notes, "The concordance says 'Beriah' means 'unfortunate' — the type of name that might well be given an illegitimate child in those days."² He appears to have been taken into his grandparents' home. The will of Deborah's father William Brooks, undated, but say 1680, directs that "My grandchild Beriah shall be at my wife's dispose."³ Without a patrimony, he removed to marry, 6 Apr 1698 at Stonington, CT, Mary York.^4,5,6 Two subsequent children were recorded at Lynn, MA.
     There is today [2003] a Beriah Brooks Road in Harwich, MA.

       John/1g Brooks, of Windsor, CT, plaintiff, represented by "Henry Woolcott, Attorny," prevailed, 15 Jun 1643, in a suit against Thomas Marshfield, and was awarded damages of "xi" (pounds?).¹ He contracted, 1 Jan 1650, "to attend the Rivulet Ferry, the town agreeing to make him a cellar (10 x 15 ft.) for to dwell in before the 25 Dec. His wages were to be bro't in before 8 Jan., and if it fall out that the cellar is not ready by the time aforesaid, the town shall provide a house to put his corn in. He is to attend two days to receive his wages in wheat, pease, and Ind. corn."²
     He married (1), 25 May 1652 at Windsor (both of W.), Susanna Hanmore, with whom he had 8 children.^3,4 "He bo't the N. part of the Hubbard lot on Backer Row, abt. 1655, built and was res. there 1668…."^2,5 Head of household at Windsor, 1670.⁶
     12 May 1668, "Nicholas Wilton, for wounding the wife of John Brooks, and Mary Wilton, the wife of Nicholas Wilton, for contemptuous and reproachful terms by her put upon one of the Assistants, and adjudged, she to be whipt 6 stripes upon the naked body, next training day at Windsor; and the said Nicholas is hereby disfranchised of his privilege of freedom in this Corporation, and is to pay for the Horse and Man that came with him to the Court this day, and for what damage he hath done to the said Brooks his wife, and sit in the stocks the same day his wife is to receive her punishment. The Constables of Windsor to see this attended."⁷
     An undated Windsor record notes that John Brooks contributed £0-1-0 to the poor in other colonies. This probably references the relief effort in which Windsor sent money, silver, cloth, bacon and flax to the Bay and Plymouth Colonies, where many towns had been burned by the Indians during Philip's War. The name of John Brooks is found on a list of Windsor contributors dated 11 Jun 1676.^8,9
     His wife Susanna died at Windsor 7 Nov 1676.^10,11 He removed to Simsbury, and married a second time, perhaps to Elizabeth Hayden.^12,13 John Brooks, inhabitant of Simsbury, was complained of for ill-treating this 2d wife. After the selectmen intervened to remove her from his home, he applied to the Governor and Magistrates in the County Court. 11 Mar 1681/82, Gov. William Leete and Magistrates Major John Talcott and Capt. John Allyn ordered:
     John Brookes haveing been with us & engaged to carry it loveingly with his wife, & to provide for her, we have thought fitt and doe hereby order you to return her to him, giving her like caution to carry suitably to her husband that so they may be comfortable to each other. But if it fall out otherwise, upon information & proofe we shall be ready to take such further order as shall appear necessary. John Brookes hath also engaged that none of his children shall abuse or doe wrong to his wife. The continuance of your care to looke how they carry it to each other is still desired and required.¹⁴
     7 May 1682, 22 men of Simsbury, among them John Brooks, petitioned the general court for permission to gather a church and settle a pastor of their own. The Court granted their petition the following May.¹⁵
     John Brooks died at Simsbury 3 Sep 1682.¹⁶ The inventory of his estate, taken by John Case, Thomas Barber and Peter Buell and presented the same month, was £199-08-09. Six living children were named. Administration was granted to son-in-law John Peirce, who presented the inventory, and Thomas Barber.¹⁶ 6 Mar 1684, "the administrator of John Brookes estate being departed, & the estate being in a wasteing state, none to look after it," the court granted administration to John Higley.¹⁶

       Susanna Hanmore was born in 1632 (Torrey). Of Windsor, CT, there she married, as his 1st wife, 25 May 1652, John/1g Brooks of Windsor, with whom she had 8 children.^1,2 There she died 7 Nov 1676.^3,4

       At a General Court of Election held at Nuport [Newport, RI] on the 13th of the first month, 1644, military officers elected for Portsmouth included "Tho Brookes, Rich:".¹ 27 May of that year, Portsmouth granted to Thomas Brookes an addition of land at y^e upper end of their lotts.² List of Portsmouth freemen, 1655.^3,4 At a meeting of the Governor and Magistrates of Newport, 30 Jan 1670, "There is allowed to Thomas Brookes, for five days service, fifteen shillings."⁵ He married, perhaps (2), by 1672 (Torrey) at Portsmouth or Newport, Hannah (–?–).⁶ The birth of their daughter Hannah, 1672, is found in Newport Friends records, indicating that the parents were then Quakers.
     Carol Pullen-Reynolds writes, "A 1664 deed in CT shows Job Hawkins & Thomas Brooks of Portsmouth? sold land to Thomas Wickham of Wethersfield. As there is no record of how he came to own this land it may have been inherited through an estate or through the dower of a wife or possibly granted when the land was originally settled by someone who remained in another state. It may have been purchased, but for some reason, never formally entered in the record."⁷ Thomas and Hannah Brooks deeded, 1694, "land in East Greenwich (their residence being in Newport)."⁸ 4 Sep 1694, Thomas Brooks of Newport, RI, probably the same, gives receipt for a legacy his daughter Elisabeth Brooks has received, paid by Thomas Way from the estate of John Green, witnesses John Pocock and Arnold Collins.⁹
     NOTE: The question must be asked whether these various records reference the same man, and available evidence is insufficient to provide any definitive answer. For study purposes, early Newport records of Thomas Brooks and successors of the same name are herein chronologically grouped, and associated with particular individuals, as seems most plausible. From the geographical proximity and repetitive naming patterns, the proximate burials of subsequent generations in Newport, and the general paucity of this surname in Rhode Island, we may conclude that these families, at least from the 2d Thomas on, almost certainly constitute a single line, although they may be as yet imperfectly connected.

       Abraham Jaquith, of Charlestown, MA, married, as her 1st husband, Annis Jordan, daughter of James Jordan.^1,2 Admitted a freeman 14 May 1656, he died before 1682, when his widow married Henry/1 Brooks of Woburn.³