Person Page - 429

       Barnabas/4c Brooks was born 15 Jun 1749 at Farmington, CT, and baptised that month at the Episcopal church in Bristol.^1,2 Recorded in 1776 at Claremont, NH, where he, his father, and his brother Benjamin each refused to sign the declaration of Revolutionary loyalty known as the New Hampshire Association Test attached to that year's state census, while brother Cornelius "made no association." All three brothers later removed to Otsego County, NY.³ Probably the same who was at Claremont, 1790, with 1 boy and 6 women in his household. (Another Barnabas was recorded not far away at Bennington, VT.).⁴ He died after 1820 in Otsego County.⁵
     He lived in the township of Mill Creek, NY, of which Blakely writes (1907): "North of the old turnpike and a little east of Charles Bowen's once stood the peculiar house of Barney Brooks. It was about forty feet long and sixteen feet wide. On this farm about 1834 a man named Burroughs claimed to have found a silver mine, having melted up his wife's spoons to 'salt it down.' Several caught the fever, and the farm was bought at a fabulous price. A shop was erected, a forge built and drilling and blasting continued for a year or more. Burroughs did not succeed in keeping his secret, and the bubble burst. The great silver mine of Arabia was abandoned. A large pile of almost worthless ore, containing a very small amount of lead and antimony, was left a monument to the god of greed that can still be seen."⁶

       Cornelius/4c Brooks was born 11 May 17[47] at Farmington, CT.^2,1 His wife was Hannah, known from the g.s. of his son Abel.^3,4 Of Claremont, NH, 1776, where he "made no association" (failed to respond to? rejected?) the declaration of Revolutionary loyalty known as the NH Association Test attached to that year's state census. His father and brothers Benjamin and Barnabas, all of Claremont, each openly refused to sign the same oath. All three brothers later removed to Otsego County, NY.^5,6
     Cornelius was apparently recorded twice in the 1790 census. At Claremont, his household consisted of himself and another adult male, six boys under 16, and four females in the household.⁷ The exact same household composition was recorded for a Cornelius Brooks at New Ipswich, NH.⁸ The 1800 census recorded him at Otego, NY, with one male under 10, one male 10-15, two males 16-25, one male 45+ (himself), and one female 45+ (Hannah). Also recorded in Otego that year was their presumed son Rice Brooks.⁹ In 1810 the household included Cornelius, Hannah, and one (son) 16-25.¹⁰ In 1820, still at Otego, their household included only Cornelius and his wife, while (presumed son) Ira headed his own household at Otego that year.¹¹
     His Otego farm was on or near Otsdawa Creek, where he is said to have sold two-thirds of an acre to Jair Cook before 1800.¹²