Person Page - 324

       David/4a Brooks was born 6 May 1709 at Concord, MA.^1,2 Of Acton, he married, 13 Nov 1740 at Concord, Elizabeth (Betty) Buss of Concord, daughter of Peter Buss and Rachel Fletcher.^3,4 Mentioned in the will of his uncle Joseph/3a Brooks, 19 Mar 1757.² His wife died at Acton 26 Jun 1757.⁵ He married (2) (int. 2 Dec 1758) Elizabeth Brown of Acton.^6,2 He died circa 1777, when his will was probated.² His widow died there 9 Sep 1818.^7,8

       Deborah/2p Brooks was baptised 18 Mar 1654/55 at the Second Church, Scituate, MA.^1,2 She bore an illegitimate son Beriah at Scituate 20 Mar 1673/74, and was presented to the Court in June "for comitting fornication" [Ply. Col. Rec. 5:148].³ She married, probably between 1676 and 1678 at Scituate, Robert/2 Stetson Jr., son of Cornet Robert/1 Stetson and Honour Tucker, and possibly father of Beriah. (Although the marriage record is not found, the Pembroke death record of Peleg Stetson records the boy as son of Robert and Deborah Stetson.).⁴
     Evelyn Beran writes: "Different sources give conflicting reports on whether Robert Stetson Jr. married Deborah Brooks or her sister Joanna or both. Briggs claims he married both, and places Robert's marriage to Deborah at 1674, age 20, allowing time for son Peleg who died 29 June 1713 ('Peleg, son of Robert and Deborah Stetson' according to the Pembroke record) to be born before Robert's marriage in 1676 to Joanna Brooks. Deane says under Brooks that Deborah married Robert Stetson, and gives no spouse for Joanna; under Stetson, he says that Robert Stetson Jr. married Joanna Brooks 1670. Savage says under Brooks that Deborah married Robert Stetson and Joanna married John Besbedge, but under Stetson he says that Robert Stetson 'm. 1676, Joanna Brooks, says Barry, the later and higher authority, though Deane says Deborah, daughter of William'. Stetson suggests Robert might have married both, Deborah being the second wife—improbable if it was her sister Joanna Brooks who married John Bisby in 1687. Torrey says Deborah married Robert Stetson 1675-1678, and Joanna married John Bisby 13 September 1687."⁵

       Benjamin/4w Brooks was born 14 Apr 1717 at Woburn, MA.¹ 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.² Benjamin married (int. 5 Apr 1746, Woburn), Susanna/4 Kendall of Woburn, daughter of Lt. Samuel/3 Kendall and Elizabeth (–?–).³ Town treasurer, 1750, 1751.³ He died at Woburn 6 Jan 1769 at age 51, "by the falling of a tree." "A jury of inquest, but all well satisfied."^4,5 Buried in the First Burial Ground, where his oft-quoted epitaph reads,
          Loving Husband to His Wife
          A tender Parent two
          Greatly lemented was His Death
          By friends and kindred two.

          The Lord was pleas'd to Call him Home
          And by a Suding Blow
          'Twas By the Falling of A Tree
          To His Long Home did Go.

          And now He slumbers in the Dust
          And will not rise before
          The Lord the Judge descends from Heaven
          And time shall be no more.⁶
     His widow married (2), 5 Aug 1771, Josiah/4 Johnson Jr.⁷

       John/1 Albree was born in 1688 at Nassau, New Providence Island, in the Bahamas, and orphaned when his father was killed, 1699, by Spanish pirates.¹ He married, May 1711 at Boston, Elizabeth Green.¹ He was baptised as an adult 6 Sep 1713.¹ His wife died at Medford, MA, 6 Dec 1751.² There he died 29 Aug 1758.³
     In a Spanish/pirate raid on Nassau in 1699, the town's occupants were put to the sword. The only survivors, says Charles Brooks, were John and his Elizabeth, three years younger. They fled for protection to a cargo vessel, whose captain brought them to Boston in 1700 and took them into his family. They were put to school and John was apprenticed at the age of 14 for seven years to a Malden weaver. "His master found him a silent and thoughtful boy, and made him a good weaver." When he became of age he moved to Medford, and soon bought a small house. He operated a gristmill and weaving shop in Medford and "grew comparatively rich." His sister Elizabeth, who died unmarried, became his housekeeper.
     His wife Elizabeth was a relative of Gov. Belcher of Massachusetts.¹ See Charles Brooks, 520–21.⁴