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Henry Brooks (abt. 1592 - 1683)

Henry Brooks aka Brooke
Born about in Manchester, Lancashire, Englandmap [uncertain]
Ancestors ancestors
Son of and [mother unknown]
Brother of and
Husband of — married about 1620 in Englandmap
Husband of — married 27 Mar 1651 (to 15 Sep 1681) in Woburn, Middlesex County, Massachusettsmap
Husband of — married 12 Jul 1682 in Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colonymap
Descendants descendants
Died at about age 91 in Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colonymap
Profile last modified | Created 12 Sep 2010
This page has been accessed 12,996 times.
The Puritan Great Migration.
Henry Brooks migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See The Directory, by R. C. Anderson, p. 42)
Join: Puritan Great Migration Project
Discuss: pgm

Contents

Biography

Name and Origins

Name: Brooke,[1] Brooks, Brookes Born: about 1592 probably in or near Manchester, Lancashire, England (see Tributaries). In 1658, Henry testified he was about 66 years old[2] and then he noted that he was aged 91 in his will dated July 1672.[3][4]

Immigration

At Concord by 1638. The first record of Henry in New England is 14 March 1638/9 when he was admitted as a Freeman,[5] implying that he had been at Concord long enough to earn the privilege of being made "free."

Residence

1639 Concord, Middlesex County, Massachusetts[4][3][1]
1649 Woburn, Middlesex County, Massachusetts[4][3][1]
Selectman Woburn 1667,1671, 1672[citation needed]
Occupation: Clothier[citation needed]

Death and Will

Died 12 April 1683 Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts[6][1][4]
Will Dated18 July 1682[7][1][4]

Marriages and children

Married:
1st: by about 1622 in England Unknown wife (or wives);
2nd Susanna _________, widow of Ezekiel Richardson before 27 March 1651 (the evidence for her last name as Bradford is lacking); died Sept. 15, 1681[6]
3rd: 12 Jul 1682, Annes Jordan, widow of Abraham Jaquith.[1][4]
Children with first wife
first six presumed to be born in England, last two births recorded at Concord, Massachusetts:
  1. John b c 1623 m1 Eunice Mousall m2 Mary Champney, widow of Theophilus Richardson d 29 September 1691.
  2. Hannah m1 Thomas Fox, m2 Andrew Lester m3 Isaac Willey. d 13 December 1647
  3. Sarah m John Moussall, Jr
  4. Timothy b c1638 m1 Marry Russell m2 Mehitable Mowry, the widow Kinsely
  5. Martha m Thomas Bateman. d 1665
  6. Mary m1 Richard Norcross d 24 February 1672 [Uncertain - not named in Henry's will]
  7. Joseph d 12 February 1641
  8. Isaac b c 1643 m Miriam Daniels d 8 September 1686

Research notes

Future profile improvements: profile could use abstract of will/probate; additional sourcing from Snow-Estes Ancestry.

Parentage Parents and grandparents of Henry Brooks (c.1592–1683) of Concord and Woburn, Mass., and his 1st cousin Capt. Thomas Brooks (1595–1667) of Watertown and Concord, Mass., were identified by John Brooks Threlfall, and published in 1998 in Supplement 3 to his Ancestry of My Children[8]. A copy is held by the Mormon Family History Library and available through the Family History Centers on microfilm and microfiche. Supplement 3 is available on microfiche 6004806, though curiously it has been miscatalogued as Supplement 5.

Children Mary (Brooks) Norcross's children are not remembered in Henry's will, so there doesn't seem to be a direct record connecting her to Henry. Her marriage record is in Watertown, the first New England residence of Henry's cousin Thomas Brooks (abt.1594-1667). Thomas's daughter Mary married Timothy Wheeler. If Mary wasn't either daughter, perhaps she was niece of one of the Brooks? As NEHGS Early New England Families project shows her as a daughter of Henry, she remains attached as an "uncertain" daughter.

Great Migration Directory: Brook, Henry: Unknown; 1638; Concord, Woburn [MBCR 1:375; CoVR 1; TAG 53:94, 54:234-35; Snow-Estes 2:282-85].

Common errors to avoid:

  1. Daughter Hannah is often incorrectly attached to Thomas Brooks
  2. Unsourced birth locations: 1592 Norwich, Norfolk, England or Cheshire, England

Deed Research

Needs Review

Arrival: 1630 Cambridge, Massachusetts
Henry Brooks, mostly, and John Mousall-- from the web
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=document&guid=efb07b89-a0a1-42de-8bc2-ab83a4e2cf6d&tid=24279608&pid=1675844454
Origins of "American" Brooks
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=document&guid=3aafa7dd-caa4-4a5c-9eb4-b7c81adf9041&tid=24279608&pid=1675844454

Sources

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Jaquith Family in America: p 1-5
  2. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS3Q-CHQZ-P?cat=210946 - 4th item, Film # 007831263 image 381. https://archive.org/details/woburnrecordsofb03wobu/page/284/mode/2up (see ntoes) 27 December 1658 - "Hennery Brooks aged about sixty sixe"
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 The American Genealogist: Vol. 53, Pages: 94-100
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 The American Genealogist: Vol. 54, Pages: 234-235
  5. Shurtleff, Nathaniel. Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England (1853) Vol 1,p 375.
  6. 6.0 6.1 Johnson, Edward F., Woburn Records of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, from 1640 to 1873. Part II - Deaths (Woburn, Mass. : Andrews, Cutler & Co., Steam Book and Job Printers. 1890) p. 20 Internet Archive
  7. Middlesex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1648-1871.Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014. (From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives. Digitized images provided by FamilySearch.org) Case 2835: Will
  8. Threlfall
  • Cutter, William and Arthur Loring. "The Brooks Family of Woburn, Mass." The New England Historical And Genealogical Register Volume 58 (January 1904), pp 48-54 An update of a NEHGR article of the same title by Cutter's father, Dr. Benjamin Cutter, from April, 1875, Volume 29, pp. 153-157. Note: This article was also published as a book by David Clapp & Son, (Woburn, Mass., 1904).
  • Threlfall, John Brooks, 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
  • Eddy, Miriam Brightman. Thomas, Henry and Hannah Brooks of Concord, The American Genealogist. Volume: 54 (1978), Pages: 234–-235 AmericanAncestors.org.
  • Beeman, Craig, Register Report & Ahnentafel Chart for Nathan Brooks (Nov. 1997).
  • Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 29 June 2019), memorial page for Henry Brooks (1592–12 Apr 1683), Find A Grave: Memorial #188961720, citing First Burial Ground, Woburn, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA ; Maintained by Our Family History (contributor 47719401) Burial Details Unknown.
  • Brooks, Robert P. Timothy Brooks of Massachusetts and His Descendants. Pompton Lakes, N.J: Biblio Co, 1927. View on FamilySearch
  • Concord. Concord, Massachusetts Births, Marriages and Deaths 1635-1850. (Boston: The Town, 1895). page 1




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DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with Henry by comparing test results with other carriers of his Y-chromosome or his mother's mitochondrial DNA. Y-chromosome DNA test-takers in his direct paternal line on WikiTree:

Have you taken a DNA test? If so, login to add it. If not, see our friends at Ancestry DNA.



Comments: 21

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Henry Brooks' first wife was Elizabeth Fox of Elland, Yorkshire (W. Riding). I don't have time to go into detail here, but I have laid out the pertinent facts in her life sketch and in that of her husband (ID LYV8-W5D) on familysearch.
posted by Barry Wood
Hi Barry,

If you would like to post your primary sources supporting this name for Henry's first wife so others can see the basis for this claim, I invite you to do so. We need to have reliable sources before changing his first wife's name from Unknown. Thanks.

posted by Jen (Stevens) Hutton
Thanks for the note, Jen.

When I get the time. I have had Covid19 here recently (still coughing) and am behind on everything.

The sources are alluded to in the "life sketch" that I wrote for Henry, at https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LYV8-W5D. The ones that had been missed by others earlier are mainly the bishop's transcripts of Elland (8 mi. NE of Huddersfield), and the parish register of Dewsbury (3 mi NW of Huddersfield).

posted by Barry Wood
I'm working on cleaning up this profile for the Puritan Great Migration Project.

The main part of the bio seems to be a cut and paste from Beeman (which I assume is this one from the source list: Beeman, Craig, Register Report & Ahnentafel Chart for Nathan Brooks (Nov. 1997). Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to be available online, but still needs be removed and the facts incorporated into original text to meet Wikitree standards. Does anyone know where the source can be found?

Edit to add: Never mind! Turns out the text was from the 1904 NEHGR article.

posted by M Cole
edited by M Cole
Brooks-13199 and Brooks-178 appear to represent the same person because: clear dup
posted by Brad Stauf
It appears that several of his children should also be PGM.

Also From daughter Hannah's profile: John Brooks Threlfall 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., in 1998 in Supplement 3 to his The Ancestry of My Children: Anna Maarit Threlfall, John Hyyrylainen Threlfall, Margaret Ellen Threlfall, Robert Andrews Threlfall. I can find Vols. 1-3 on line as well as Supplement 4 and 5, but not Supplement 3. Does anyone have access to it?

posted by Chris Hoyt
Chris, check supplement 5 page 37 of 77 https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/501107-the-ancestry-of-my-children-anna-maarit-threlfall-john-hyyrylainen-threlfall-margaret-ellen-threlfall-robert-andrews-threlfall-supplement-5?viewer=1&offset=0#page=37&viewer=picture&o=search&n=0&q=Henry%20Brooks

He says Henry was "probably" the immigrant and this shows his parentage, maybe Supp. 3 had more supporting sources or detail but this might be a start anyway. Marina pointed out the 'tributaries' site below which is actually pretty good, here's Henry https://www.tributaries.info/p262.htm#i2619

posted by Brad Stauf
edited by Brad Stauf
Thanks. I did thumb through some of the Volumes on familysearch, but it seems Supplement 3 might be the one that has details on the Brooks line, and they don't have that one online.

Attached son John seems to have a baptism, but I have no idea where that came from.

posted by Chris Hoyt
Grace Wheeler was not one of his wives of Henry Brooks. She was married to his cousin(?) Thomas Brooks. Their two families have been confused over the years. One reference gave my ancestor Hannah (Brooks) Fox as the daughter of Thomas Brooks when in reality she was the daughter of Henry Brooks who in his Will calls her by her second married name "Lestor" not even Hannah Lestor. From this I presume that Henry and his daughter, Hannah were estranged maybe caused by her leaving Concord and taking his grandchildren to New London, Connecticut about 1660-1665. His Will made it clear that he was unhappy with her as no father would have disrespected her by calling her just by her married last name only. Just a thought.
posted by William Fox Jr.
edited by William Fox Jr.
Thank you William. Do you have a source to add that indicates who actually was the husband of Grace Wheeler?
It looks like Thomas https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Brooks-441 is connected to the same wives. No sources for the LN of Graces.

It appears that some info comes from: 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

which I don't think is available on line.

posted by Chris Hoyt
This page provides a pretty comprehensive overview with sources of the Brooks families. https://www.tributaries.info/index.htm
posted by M Cole
Sorry, I have to disagree, emphatically, about the alleged "unhappiness." There are many examples of New England Puritans referring to their daughters in wills by the daughter's married surname only. It did not indicate dislike or disrespect. It was merely typical of the laconic New England manner.
posted by Barry Wood
Okay! According to our standards today a father would never refer to his married daughter by her last name only. I was only making an observation as this happened hundreds of years ago and we can not now know the truth of the matter.
posted by William Fox Jr.
On the contrary, it was quite common for Puritan men in the 17th century to refer to their daughters by their married surnames.

In the 1687 will of my 8th great grandfather Thomas Wood of Rowley, Mass., he referred to "my daughter Chute," in the provision requiring his oldest son to pay her five pounds. It cannot be inferred that this usage mean that he was "unhappy with her," because that five pound bequest was five pounds more than the sisters of Thomas' "daughter Chute" received.

Richard Gridley of Boston, in his will dated 1674, provided that: "in Case there Douth remaine anything after my wifes Death I Doe Give to my Daughter Dorlon ten pound that Douth live at the Eastward." See the profile for John Dorlon / Darling / Dorland, as Dollen-1, under the heading "Was His Wife Richard Gridley's Daughter?"

I could cite other examples, but lack time to supply more than the above.

posted by Barry Wood
My PERSONAL tree has no information other than his name. Since many others have actual fact, I have removed myself as a profile manager.
posted by Jerry Murdock
The wives' names in the narrative do not match the wives' names in the data fields. This needs resolving. As does Cathy's find below.
posted by Jillaine Smith
The last 3 children are shown as born in Massachusetts, but the mother is shown as having died in England.
posted by Cathy (Kies) Bennett
My ancestor, Hannah (Brooks) Fox-Lester-Willey was the daughter of Henry Brooks by his yet UNKNOWN first wife not Grace Wheeler nor Annis (Jordon) Brooks.
posted by William Fox Jr.
Brooks-7897 and Brooks-178 appear to represent the same person because: born in England ca 1600, died in Woburn, Massachusetts in 1683, and the father of Hannah (Brooks) Fox, Lester, Willey.
posted by Daniel Nordlund
Brooks-1147 and Brooks-178 appear to represent the same person because: According to Genealogies of the Brooks Families of New England by Christopher Brooks [email address removed] besides Grace Wheeler not being a a spouse these are the same person
posted by Jerry Smith

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Categories: Woburn, Massachusetts | Puritan Great Migration