Person Page - 3

William/1s Brooks was born in England, perhaps as early as 1610, perhaps as late as 1627/28, to unknown parents. The 1610 date may derive from Sheldon, who includes it in his histories of Northfield (1875) and Deerfield (1896), Massachusetts. A widely circulated tale is that William, b. London, 1610, first emigrated to Virginia and then to New England. In more than 20 years of research, however, this writer has yet to find any contemporary evidence supporting such a claim. The distantly secondary sources accompanying such claims inevitably reference each other in circular fashion.^1,2,3 Some of the frequent conjectures in general circulation about William's origins are easily disproven, most notably the claim of a Whitchurch, Hampshire birth advanced in the so-called "Beverly Brooks" manuscript held by NEHGS and the Pocumtuck Library in Deerfield, Massachusetts.
     William Brooks first appears in New England 6 Feb 1648/49 at Springfield, Massachusetts, when he took the oath of fidelity (meaning that he was then at least 21 years of age).⁴ There he married, 18 Oct 1654, Mary/2 Burt, daughter of Henry/1 Burt and Ulalia/1 Marche, with whom he had 16 children.^5,6 She was at the time recently delivered of an illegitimate child by Sgt. Samuel/2 Wright Jr. (who would be raised as Remembrance Brooks), for which Mary had been judged guilty of fornication (as also with Joseph Bond) and publicly whipped. (She paid a 30s. fine in lieu of a second whipping for her relations with Bond.) Wright was also whipped, and ordered to pay monthly maintenance for the child for 7 years, and then to pay costs to put the child forth to be an apprentice.⁷
     In the account books of William and John Pyncheon, father-and-son patroons of the Connecticut River Valley, are numerous notations of business dealings with William Brooks. Styled a tailor, William obtained the raw materials of his trade (cloth goods) from the Pyncheons.⁸
     In 1668, John Bagg, Edmund Pringridays and William Brooks joined hands and fortunes in a joint lease of town land on Chicopee Plain, located on the west side of Connecticut River in what is today West Springfield (details in the table below). Their initial cooperation did not survive the term of the lease.⁹ 5 May 1669, W^m Brookes complained of John Bagg, Edmund Pringridays and Joseph Bedortha that between them they had left 6 cattle in the field overnight without the required keeper. The Selectmen found for the complainant, and fined the cattle owners 30s. between them.¹⁰
     The defendants of 1669 pushed back the following year. 16 Sep 1670, Reice Bedortha complained against William Brookes and Mary his wife for theire abusing of his son Joseph Bedortha by Bad language flinging a stick at him and using Reproachfull words Threatning expreshons and Taunting speeches. William Brooke and Mary his wife appeared, and though they partly denied the charges, magistrate Pynchon found them "both guilty of a very great Misdemeanor Touching that Busyness." He fined William 20s. and witness fees, and Mary 10s. Bagg and Pringridays were now witnesses against the Brookses.¹¹
     In 1675, Rev. Samuel/3 Mather was preaching at Deerfield, and boarding with William Brooks, who must have been in residence there that year.¹² Then Philip's War erupted, and after Lothrop's defeat at Bloody Brook, on the 18th of September, Deerfield's garrison and inhabitants abandoned the place.¹³ William's sons John and William were killed in an Indian ambush at Westfield on the 27th of October.¹⁴ Their father was among those who took the oath of allegiance at Springfield, 31 Dec-1 Jan 1678/9.^15,16
     William Brooks and son Ebenezer were each granted 50 acres "beyond, or at ye upper end of Hight streete," at nearby Suffield, Connecticut, 1680. These grants seems to have been made in consideration of the family's losses in the war.¹⁷ 8 Aug 1680, William Brooks was bound in the amount of £20 to produce his daughter Patience, pregnant and unmarried, at the September court session.¹⁸ He was one of 34 qualified voters at Suffield's first town meeting, 9 Mar 1681/82.
     5 Jan 1686/87, the land on the west end of Main Street, Deerfield was taken up. William Brooks, now resident at Deerfield, had the third and fourth lots, one in his own right and one by right of Quentin Stockwell, whose interest he had purchased. See the table below for the subsequent bargain he struck with the town.¹⁹ He died at Deerfield 30 Dec 1688^20,21, and his widow Mary 31 Aug following.²²

William/2s Brooks Jr. was born 8/18 Aug 1655 at Springfield, Massachusetts.^2,3,4 He and his younger brother John were killed 27 Oct 1675 in an Indian ambush at Westfield, in the early months of Philip's War.^5,6 Rev. Edward Taylor chronicled the event:

Remembrance/2sf Brooks was born, perhaps about the beginning of 1654, at Springfield, Massachusetts, the illegitimate child of Samuel Wright Jr. and Mary Burt, who subsequently married William/1s Brooks. [The first child of William and Mary Brooks, a son William, was born 18 Aug 1655.] Remembrance's parents were presented for fornication and sentenced to public lashes after the child's birth. The court assigned her care to her mother, and ordered her father to make monthly child support payments for seven years, and then to pay 40s. to put her out as an apprentice.^2,1 Raised as Remembrance Brooks, she married, 7 Jan 1674 at Springfield, James Brown of Hatfield.³
     Her luck in matrimony was no better than in the circumstances of her birth. Her husband was branded with a "B" on the forehead for burglary the following September, was in court again the succeeding March for assault and for profaning the Sabbath, and was the subject of a debt action in 1684. They settled at Deerfield, where she gave consent to her husband's sale of land in 1697.⁴ They removed to Colchester, Connecticut, where he died 8 Jul 1711.⁵

John/2s Brooks was born 10 Feb 1656/57 at Springfield, Massachusetts.^3,4 He and his older brother William Brooks were killed 27 Oct 1675 in an Indian ambush at Westfield, in the early months of Philip's War.² Rev. Edward Taylor chronicled the event:

James Brown, of Hatfield, Massachusetts, was born circa 1655.^1,2 He married, 7 Jan 1674 at Springfield, Remembrance/2sf Brooks of Springfield, daughter of Sgt. Samuel/2 Wright and Mary/2 Burt.³ 8 Feb 1678, he took the oath of allegiance at Hatfield.⁴ They removed to Colchester, Connecticut, where he died 8 Jul 1711.⁵
     

Sarah/2s Brooks was born 4 May 1658 at Springfield, Massachusetts,^2,1, where she married (1), 11 Jul 1678, Dea. Jonathan/2 Taylor Jr. of Suffield, Connecticut, son of Jonathan/1? Taylor and Mary/2 Wright, with whom she had 3 daughters^3,4,5, and who died at Suffield 23 Jan 1725/26.^6,7 She married (2), as the 3rd of his four wives, by 1731, Dea. John/2 Hanchet of Suffield, son of Dea. Thomas/1 Hanchet and Deliverance Langton.^6,8 She died at Suffield 6 Jan 1733, a. 74.⁸

Dea. Jonathan/2 Taylor Jr. was born 11 Mar 1654/55 at Springfield, Massachusetts,^3,1, where he married, as her 1st husband, 11 Jul 1678, Sarah/2s Brooks of Springfield, daughter of William/1s Brooks and Mary/2 Burt, with whom he had 3 daughters.^4,5,6 Grantee at Suffield, Connecticut, 1680, where his homestead, like that of his brother Samuel, was on the west side of Springfield road "(now Crooked Lane)."⁷ He died at Suffield 23 Jan 1725/26, leaving no male heirs.^2,8

Dea. John/2 Hanchet, born 1 Dec 1649 at Wethersfield, Connecticut,², removed to Westfield, Massachusetts, where he married (1), 6 Sep 1677, Hester Pritchett of Suffield.^3,4 He removed to Suffield, Connecticut, where he had a grant of 40 acres, 1679⁵, and was one of 34 qualified voters at Suffield's first town meeting, 9 Mar 1681/82. His wife died there 29 Nov 1711⁴, and he married (2), 1713, Mary Skinner of Suffield, daughter of Dea. Joseph Skinner and Mary/2 Filley, and widow of Nathaniel/3 Harmon.^4,6 He renewed the covenant at Suffield, 23 Jun 1728.⁷
     John Hanchet's 2nd wife died 17 Sep 1730⁴, and he married (3), by 1731, Sarah/2s Brooks of Suffield, daughter of William/1s Brooks and Mary/2 Burt, and widow of Dea. Jonathan/2 Taylor Jr.^8,4 She died at Suffield 6 Jan 1733, a. 74⁴, and he married (4), 3 Jul 1733, Mrs. Sarah Southwell, who survived him.^4,9 He died at Suffield 23 Oct 1744, a. 94, the last of the town's original proprietors.¹⁰
     "John Hanchet, oldest son of Deacon Thomas, was at Westfield, and married Esther Pritchet of Suffield, 1677; had two children, then removed to Suffield, 1680, was freeman, and voter at the first town meeting. He held many offices, was Deacon for many years. He had six children born at Suffield. The Suffield Hanchetts are his descendants."⁴