Henry Brooks

• General Notes
  • What follows is a narrative biography I've constructed based on extensive
    research on the Middlesex County, MA Brooks lines. (Henry is my collateral
    ancestor, Thomas my direct ancestor.) One basic source for Henry is the
    NEHGS Register, which carried articles in both 1875 and 1904, from which
    much of the following is taken. Post me offlist if you'd like me to email
    this narrative file with a bibliography and the source citation footnotes
    which I omit here for reasons of space and relevance to the general
    readership.
    
    Christopher Brooks
    
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    Henry (1) BROOKS was born about 1592, place and parents unknown, which is
    known from a Dec 1658 suit in which he testified he was then "about 66"
    years of age. He married (1), say 1620 in England, an unnamed wife with
    whom he had 6 children. (Here I include Hannah Brooks, who, while sometimes
    ascribed to Thomas Brooks of Concord, MA, was probably the daughter of
    Henry. Threlfall, examining Hannah's parentage, concludes that Thomas and
    Henry Brooks "most likely were brothers," as have Shattuck, Blake and
    several others.)
    Henry Brooks first appears in Massachusetts Bay Colony on 14 Mar 1639,
    when, of Concord, he was admitted freeman. He appears as a property owner
    on the Woburn tax list between 1649 and 1657. On 20 Dec 1650 William
    Brackenbury of Charlestown conveyed to Henry Brooks six parcels of land in
    Woburn (178 acres) at a place commonly called Horn Pond, together with a
    house frame. Henry's homestead, described in Woburn records of 1678, was
    located on South Street (present lower Main Street), and as late as 1789
    was owned by a direct descendant, Capt. Nathaniel Brooks.
    Henry married (2), before 27 Mar 1651, Susanna BRADFORD, widow of
    Ezekiel Richardson of Woburn, with whom he had no children. Described by a
    contemporary authority as "an ancient and skilful woman, living at Woburn,"
    famous for her attainments in medical science, she died at Woburn 15 Sep 1681.
    He was selectman of Woburn in 1667, 1671 and 1672. "Henry Brooks and
    wife Susanna conveyed property to Theophilus Richardson, the son of
    Ezekiel, which stands as a confirmation of this relationship?." He married
    (3), 12 Jul 1682, Annis JORDAN, widow of Abraham Jacquith, and made his
    will six days later.
    "In his will, dated July 18, 1682 (six days after his last
    marriage), he names wife Annes; son-in-law, John Mousall; sons John,
    Timothy and Isaac; and daughters, Sarah and Lestor [Hannah2 (Brooks)
    Lester]; also grandchildren, Isaac and Henry, sons of his son Isaac, and
    Miriam, their sister?. An abstract of the will of Henry Brooks is published
    in the Hon. Edward F. Johnson's Abstracts of Early Woburn Deeds, p. 31. He
    described himself in the will as a clothier, and as 'stricken in years,'?
    his age being then about 91 years.
    "The will of Henry Brooks describes his lands with some particularity;
    to his daughter, Lester, or Lestor, he gives and bequeaths 5 shillings, and
    no more, because 'she hath received her portion already'; to his 'Rev.
    pastors, Mr. Thomas Carter and Mr. Jabez Fox,' he gives 20 shillings
    apiece. Isaac, his son, was his sole executor, and his trusted friend,
    Lieut. William Johnson, he desired should be overseer, and he gave him 20
    shillings. He made his executor his residuary legatee, and desired that his
    two grandchildren should not alienate any of the land he gave them during
    their father's life.
    "The inventory discloses about 20 acres of upland on the east side of
    the highway; 7 acres of meadow, adjoining to said land; 8 acres of meadow
    in Forty Pound Meadow, given to the children of Isaac Brooks; about 80
    acres of upland on west side of the highway on both sides of the river,
    given to the two sons of Isaac Brooks; the great lot in Woburn Common
    [meaning not the present Woburn Common, now a square in Woburn Centre, but
    lots in Woburn common lands or land], given to Miriam, daughter of Isaac
    Brooks, 42 acres; 3 small lots in Woburn Common, amounting to about 15
    acres; for a division of woodland in Woburn Common land, the half given to
    the two sons of Isaac Brooks; 6 acres of meadow land in Shred Pine Meadow;
    for the town privilege in herbage, the half given to the two sons of Isaac
    Brooks; 5¼ acres of swamp bottom; and 15 acres of land by Mount Discovery.
    "These lands can be traced by deeds for three generations. (See Early
    Woburn Deeds, by Hon. Edward F. Johnson.)."
    Henry BROOKS died 12 Apr 1683 at Woburn, MA.
    Having exhausted the verifiable evidence, we pass on to a wondrous
    tale which Rev. Increase Mather included in his history of King Philip's
    War, concerning Henry Brooks: