Hannah (Brooks) Willey (abt. 1625 - 1692)

Born about 1625 in Manchester, Lancashire, England [uncertain]

Ancestors

Wife of Thomas Fox — married 13 Dec 1647 (to 1658) in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Wife of Andrew Lester — married 1661 (to 1669) in New London, New London, Connecticut Colony

Wife of Isaac Willey — married about 1672 (to 1685) in New London, New London, Connecticut Colony

Descendants

Died 1692 at about age 67 in New London, New London, Connecticut Colony

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Gregg Purinton [send private message]

Biography

Hannah (Brooks) Willey immigrated to New England as a child during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640).

Hannah Brook(s) was born in England in about 1625. Her birth year is estimated based on her 1647 marriage year. She was the daughter of Henry Brooks by his first wife, whose name is not known.^[1] Henry is thought to have originated in the area of Manchester, Lancashire, England, although the Great Migration Directory has his origin as unknown.^[2] This profile uses the Brooks variation of her surname, to be consistent with her father's profile.

Hannah arrived in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1638 with her parents and several siblings. Henry was made freeman there on 14 March 1638/9.^[3]

Hannah married, first, Thomas Fox, as his second wife, on 13 December 1647, in Concord.^[4][5] Thomas's wife had died earlier in 1647, leaving Thomas with two young children. Thomas was a farmer.

Hannah and Thomas had children, all born in Concord:^[4][6]

1. Hannah (25 Sep 1648), married Daniel Lester
2. Thomas (26 Feb 1649/50), married Joanna Way
3. Samuel (ca 1651), married Mary Lester, then Bathsheba (Rogers) Smith
4. John (ca 1653), married Sarah Larrabee
5. David (ca 1656), married Lydia Jaquith
6. Isaac (17 Oct 1657), married Abigail Osborne, then Elizabeth Beebe

Thomas Fox died in Concord on 14 April 1658.^[4] In about 1660 Hannah removed with her children to New London, New London, Connecticut Colony. She was probably following her minister Rev. Gershom Bulkley, son of the Rev. Peter Bulkley who was the founding minister of Concord. In her New London records she is often referred to as Ann or Anna.

In 1661 the widow Hannah (Brooks) Fox married her second husband, Andrew Lester, as his third wife, in New London.^[7] The marriage year is based on the birth of their first child on 4 July 1662.

Andrew Lester had come to New London (then called Pequot) in 1650, following his minister, the Rev. Richard Blinman, from Gloucester, Essex, Massachusetts Bay Colony. In 1659 Rev. Blinman left New London to return to Monmouthshire, England, and he was replaced by Rev. Bulkley. Andrew had four children by his first wife Barbara, who died about 1653, and none by his second wife.^[8]

Hannah and Andrew had children, all born in New London:^[9]

1. Timothy (1662), no further records
2. Joseph (1664), married Katherine ____
3. Benjamin (1666), married Ann Stedman

Hannah's daughter Hannah married Daniel Lester, son of Andrew by his first wife, on 1 October 1668.^[7]

Andrew Lester died on 7 June 1669, in New London (New London County court records 2:4). Sometime after his death "Widow Lester from the church at Concord" was admitted to the church of Rev. Simon Bradstreet.^[8]

In about 1672 Hannah (Brooks) (Fox) Lester married, third, Isaac Willey, as his second wife, in New London.^[10]

Hannah's father Henry Brooks wrote his will on 18 July 1682, in Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts Colony. He mentions his "daughter Lestor" in his will, unaware that Hannah had again been widowed and remarried. Henry left her "5 shillings and no more because she hath received her portion already as will appear by a resaite (receipt) under her hand" (See Middlesex County Probate Records Henry Brooks of Woburn (packet #2,835.) ^[11]

Isaac died in about 1685. "Widow Anna Willey, sometime wife to Andrew Lester, Sen., deceased" died in 1692.^[8]

Research Notes

It was not until 1978 that the question of Hannah's parentage was settled. In 1977 John Brooks Threlfall, "Thomas Brooks of Watertown and Concord," ^[12], showed that Hannah wasn't a daughter of Capt. Thomas Brooks (1595–1667) of Watertown and Concord, Mass., rather he suggested that she was probably a daughter of Henry Brooks (c.1592–1683) of Concord and Woburn, Mass., perhaps a brother of Capt. Thomas Brooks. It was this same John Brooks Threlfall who later identified the correct parents and grandparents of Henry Brooks (c.1592–1683) of Concord and Woburn, Mass., and Capt. Thomas Brooks (1595–1667) of Watertown, and Concord, Mass., publishing in 1998 in Supplement 3 to his Ancestry of My Children^[13]. See Henry Brooks (c.1592–1683) or Capt. Thomas Brooks (1595–1667) for more information.

Miriam Brightman Eddy, in "Thomas, Henry and Hannah Brooks of Concord," ^[14] was able to reconstruct the entire life of Hannah (Brooks) (Fox) (Lester) Willey (c.1620–1692), thereby revealing that it was Hannah who was named as, "daughter Lestor" in Henry Brooks' 1682 will.

A large section of unsourced information from the MyHeritage website had been included in this profile. It has been removed, but the link to the website is retained as a reference.

Sources

1. ↑ Snow, Nora Emma, The Snow-Estes ancestry..., (1939), pp.282-4 InternetArchive
2. ↑ Anderson, Charles Robert, TheGreat Migration Directory
   • Text: “Brook, Henry: Unknown; 1638; Concord, Woburn [MBCR 1:375; CoVR 1; TAG 53:94, 54:234-35; Snow-Estes 2:282-85].”
3. ↑ Vital Records from the New England Historical and Genealogical Register. List of Freemen, v.3 p.96; Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014. (Compiled from articles originally published in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register.) NEHGS member site
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2} Massachusetts: Vital Records, 1620-1850 Concord, v.1 pp.5,6,8; (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2016). NEHGS member site
5. ↑ New England Marriages to 1700. Torrey, v.1 p.573 (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2008.) Originally published as: New England Marriages Prior to 1700. Boston, Mass.: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2015. NEHGS member site
   • Text: "FOX, Thomas1 (-1658) & 2/wf ?Ann/Hannah BROOKS, m/2 Andrew LESTER ca 1661, m/3 Isaac WILLEY 1670/72?; 13 Dec 1647; Concord {Snow-Estes 2:283; Reg. 95:170; Merrick 430; Gibson 46; Fox Fam. News 3:9; Sv. 1:262; DePew 177; Lester 20; Bassett-Preston 97; Brooks (1927 9; Woodstock 5:73}
6. ↑ Tolman, George.,Concord, Massachusetts Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1635-1850, (Beacon Press, Boston, Mass., 1895) InternetArchive
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1} New England Marriages to 1700. Torrey, v.2 p.942 (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2008.) Originally published as: New England Marriages Prior to 1700. Boston, Mass.: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2015. NEHGS member site
   • Text: "LESTER, Andrew1 (-1669) & 3/wf Ann/Anna/Hannah (?BROOKS) [FOX] (-1692), w Thomas, m/3 Isaac WILLEY? 1670/72?; ca 1661; New London, CT {Snow-Estes 2:283; Reg. 58:52, 53; Brooks (1927) 9; Bullard Anc. 266; Gen Mag. 2:284; New London Hist. 287, 310; Winthrop-Babcock 537; Lester 11, 20; Booth (1910) 233; Harvey 594; Brooks 9; Fax Fam. News 4:24; Fox (ms) 2; Willey 1}";
   • Text: "LESTER, Daniel (1642-1717) & Hannah FOX; 1 Oct 1668, 11 Aug 1669; New London, CT {New London VR 116, 189; Lester 20-1; New Haven Gen. Mag. 1957; Fox Fam. News 3:9; Reg. 50:485}"
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1 8.2} Caulkins, Francis Manwaring, History of New London, Connecticut, from the first survey of the coast in 1612 to 1860, (1895), pp.67-68, p.193, pp.286-7 p.67; p.193; p.286; p.310; InternetArchive
9. ↑ Connecticut: Vital Records (The Barbour Collection), 1630-1870 New London, pp.191-2, (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2011.) From original typescripts, Lucius Barnes Barbour Collection, 1928. NEHGS member site
10. ↑ New England Marriages to 1700. Torrey, v.3 p.1677 (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2008.) Originally published as: New England Marriages Prior to 1700. Boston, Mass.: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2015. NEHGS member site
    • Text: "WILLEY, Isaac1 & 2/wf Ann/?Hannah/Anna? (BROOKS) (FOX) [LESTER] (-1692), w Thomas, w Andrew; ca 1670?, ?24 Apr 1672; New London, CT {McCormick-Hamilton 1099; Snow-Estes 2:283; Tubbs (1956) 3C; New London Hist. 287, 310; Harvey 594; Booth (1910) 232; Fox Fam. News 7:11; Converse (1905) 770; Winthrop-Babcock 557; Bullard Anc. 266}"
11. ↑ The Brooks family of Woburn, Mass, The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1847-. v.58 pp. 48-49 (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2018.) NEHGS member site
12. ↑ John Brooks Threlfall, "Thomas Brooks of Watertown and Concord," The American Genealogist, 53 (1977): 94–100 NEHGS member site
13. ↑ John Brooks Threlfall, comp., The Ancestry of My Children: Anna Maarit Threlfall, John Hyyrylainen Threlfall, Margaret Ellen Threlfall, Robert Andrews Threlfall, 3 vols. and 4 supps., (Madison, Wisc.: the compiler, 1970–2000), Supp. 3 (all volumes except supp.3 are on FamilySearch)
14. ↑ Miriam Brightman Eddy, "Thomas, Henry and Hannah Brooks of Concord," The American Genealogist, 54 (1978): 234–235 NEHGS member site

• Commemorative Biographical Record of Middlesex County, Connecticut (Beers, Chicago, 1903) Page 54
• George Oakes Jaquith and Georgetta Jaquith Walker, The Jaquith Family in America, (Boston, Mass.: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1982). borrowable on InternetArchive
• Fox, William Freeman, Thomas Fox of Concord, (1909) pp. 12, 15, 22-3, 59-63 InternetArchive
• The Brooks Family of Woburn, Mass. The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1847-. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2018.) NEHGS member site
• The best material on this family, including all of John Brooks Threlfall's material and an excellent biography of Hannah (Brooks) (Fox) (Lester) Willey (c.1620–1692), was compiled by Christopher Hapgood Brooks and is maintained as part of his Tributaries: Genealogies of the Brooks Families of New England.
• https://www.myheritage.com/research/record-1-249199801-1-5876/hannah-anna-willey-born-brooks-in-myheritage-family-trees?s=216760841 (subscription required)