Person Page - 322

       Ebenezer/4w Brooks Jr. was born 8 Aug 1691 at Woburn, MA.¹ With his parents removed, ca 1712, to Killingly, CT where, 2 Sep 1716, First Church pastor Mr. Fisk baptised Ebenezer, Jabez, Eleazor, Martha, Eunice and Priscilla, children of Ebenezer Brooks.^2,3 There he married, 14 Aug 1717 (int. 27 Jul, Woodstock), Sarah Child of Woodstock.^4,5 6 children of this marriage, including twins, are recorded at Killingly. "About 1730, a road in Killingly built from Ebenezer Brooks' to Joseph Barret's."⁶ Of Killingly, per 1731 deed.⁷ "Killingly, 1745, church members renewed their covenant, including Ebenezer Brooks."⁸ The death of an Ebenezer Brooks, 1764, probably the same, is recorded in First Church of Killingly records.⁹

       Ebenezer/4w Brooks was born 1 Jun 1712 at Woburn, MA.¹ There he married (1), 28 Oct 1736, Jemima/4 Locke of Woburn, daughter of William/3 Locke and Jemima/3 Russell, with whom he had 13 children.² In a deed of 16 Jan 1739/40, Jabez Brooks mentions sons Nathaniel Brooks, husbandman, Samuel Brooks, husbandman, John Brooks and Ebenezer Brooks, housewrights, and Benjamin Brooks, husbandman, all of Woburn, to whom he conveys his right in a "way leading from the country road between my house and Mr. Belknap's house to the Richardson Row, to lie for an open road," etc.³
     Ebenezer's wife Jemima died at Woburn 5 Nov 1774.⁴ He married (2) (int. 16 Nov 1776, Cambridge), her cousin Elizabeth Locke of Cambridge, daughter of Francis Locke, and widow of Zachariah Symmes.^5,6 "It is related of this family that the chil. of three different marriages resided under one roof in the most perfect harmony; viz. the chil. of Mr. Brooks, by his first wf. and the chil. of Mr. Symmes by both his wives."⁶ "He was a housewright, and Nov. 18, 1783, he sold to James Locke, of Woburn, all his 'estate both real and personal in Wob.⁶'"
     Ebenezer's death is not of record at Woburn. The Sterling (MA) Historical Society writes, July 2004, "Information listed that Ebenezer Brooks, Sr., died Oct. 19, 1789 Æ 86 from consumption. Not verified." If this be the same individual, his age at death has been augmented by 8-9 years.⁶
     The Boston Daily Globe, 16 Aug 1883, under the headline, "Product of a Local Silver Mine Worked More than a Century Ago," reported the following.
     Mr. S. Holden has in his possession twelve silver sleeve buttons. The ore from which they were made was taken from a silver mine opened in Woburn by Ebenezer Brooks in 1759. The buttons have stamped on them the name of Mr. Brooks and the above date. These buttons, and silver enough to make knee and shoe buckles, was got out, and as the tradition says, a barrel of rum was horsed up and the mine worked as long as the rum lasted. Quite a number of years ago some people in Medford came to Woburn and got permission from the owners of the land to work the old mine, but so little silver was found that the work was abandoned.
     The S. Holden mentioned was likely Stoughton Brooks/8w Holden (b. 1828), Ebenezer's great-great-grandson.⁷

       Marah/2 Spencer, also called Alice in the records, was born circa 1642 at Lynn, MA.² She married (1), as his 2d wife, 1662 at Haddam, CT, Thomas/1h Brooks, a blacksmith of Haddam, with whom she had 4 children.^2,3 He died at Haddam 18 Oct 1668.^4,2 She married (2), 1669 at Haddam, Thomas Shaylor of Haddam, with whom she had 5 children.^5,6 11 Apr 1670, administration of the estate of Thomas Brooks was granted to Thomas Shaylor, "the present Husband of the Widow of sd. Brooks." Marah received £32 and one third of the profits of the Land during life, she maintaining and bringing up the Children & teaching the daughters to read and sew and the son to read and write.⁴ Sister Shaylor is mentioned in the will, circa 1682, of her brother John Spencer.⁷ Thomas Shaylor was lost at sea circa 1692.² Marah died before 22 Dec 1714, when she went unmentioned in the long-delayed disposal of her husband Thomas Shaylor's estate.²