John
BROOKS
wager2986, 7270
ca1630
- after1685
Father:
Mother:
Family 1 : Mary GRIGGS
1. Mary BROOKS
2. Mary BROOKS
3. Elizabeth BROOKS
4. Sarah BROOKS
5. Hannah BROOKS
6. Ruth BROOKS
7. Sophia BROOKS (twin)
8. Elizabeth BROOKS (twin)
9.+Mary BROOKS
10. Sarah BROOKS
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- John BROOKS
| (ca1630 - after1685) m ca1653
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TIMELINE
1630
1631
1632
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1685
????
INDEX
wager2986, 7270
Savage lists several men named "John Brooks" and unfortunately many sources carelessly mix and match information of two of these listed consecutively: 1) John Brooks of New Haven; and 2) John Brooks of Windsor. The John Brooks who had a daughter named Mary who married Mathew Ford is the first one from New Haven and is described in the following way:
"JOHN, New Haven 1649, had three ch. there bef. 1656; of wh. two were Mary, b. 5 Sept. 1654; and Elizabeth 29 Sept. 1656; beside Sarah, 9 Apr. 1661; perhaps more, and may have been, after, of Wallingford, and there had Hannah, b. 9 Feb. 1664; Ruth, 7 Feb. 1666, wh. m. 2 July 1688, William Baldwin; Sophia; and Elizabeth 6 Dec. 1668; but perhaps these were tw.; Mary, m. at Wallingford, 12 Jan. 1675, Matthew Ford; and Sarah m. 29 Aug. 1687, Benjamin Robbins. John and Mary were proprs. of New Haven 1685."
Unfortunately, the Mormon Website (http://www.familysearch.com/) has listed his death date as 3 SEP 1682, which is clearly not the John Brooks of New Haven, but the John Brooks of Windsor (that John Brooks of Windsor also married Susannah Hanmore, not this one; some projects even list marriage information of yet another John Brooks of Woburn, who in 1649 married Eunice Mousall). Adding insult to injury, Savage clearly states that John Brooks' wife was named Mary and they were living together in New Haven in 1685.
The listing in Savage for George Griggs mentions also his daughter Mary Brooks (listed as such in his will dated 4 JUL 1655). If one reads carefully all of the entries in Savage for men named Brooks, John Brooks of New Haven is the most likely candidate in 1655 to be married to Mary Griggs (b. ca1629), not to mention Savage lists his wife's name as Mary. Otherwise, the only other two candidates in Savage would be either Richard Brooks of Easthampton, or Thomas Brooks of Kittery, both of whose wives (if any) are not accounted for. Of course, there could have been other men named Brooks not listed in Savage, but the theory that John Brooks married Mary Griggs is a fairly good one.
Lastly, there is a separate listing in Savage for Henry Brooks of Wallingford (as well as his eldest son Thomas):
"HENRY, Wallingford, m. 21 Dec. 1676, Hannah, wid. of Samuel Blackley, had Thomas, b. 27 Mar. 1679; and he contin. at W. to 1713. He came, says tradit. from Cheshire, Eng. and may have been s. of John of New Haven, or perhaps his br."
One could safely assume that Wallingford is a settlement small enough that only one clan named Brooks would be there. That gives us the clue that John Brooks may have also been of Cheshire.
LINKS: http://www.gencircles.com/users/joycerahn/1/data/3825