BEGATS AND BEQUEATHALS

Or, Subtitled: “Of English Descent” or “a Native of Ireland” — Take Your Pick

As I stated at the end of my penultimate posting, after having shared with you the information I have about Thomas Brooks (abt. 1747- 1805), I now want to focus on Thomas’s mother Mary Brooks, who died testate in Frederick County, Virginia, with a will dated 9 July 1786.^[1] Mary’s will was proven in Frederick County court on 4 April 1787, so she died at some point between those two dates. Until I discovered the Frederick County court minutes stating that Mary and Thomas Brooks brought the will of James Brooks to court for probate on 2 November 1779 – this document is discussed here – Mary Brooks’ will was just about the sum total of what I knew of this Brooks family in the generation prior to Thomas Brooks. As the posting I’ve just linked explains, we now know that Mary was the widow of a James Brooks who died in Frederick County prior to 2 November 1779. The will his widow Mary and son Thomas brought for probation at that court session was apparently never fully proven and recorded, unfortunately.