BEGATS AND BEQUEATHALS

Clarissa E. Brooks

7. Clarissa E. Brooks was born 25 or 28 August 1818 in Madison County, Alabama, and died 1 October 1896 at Oakville in Lawrence County, Alabama. I’ve actually already discussed the life of Clarissa and her husband Fielding Wesley Lindsey on this blog. Wesley was the son of Mark Lindsey and Mary Jane Dinsmore, whose sons Dennis and David Dinsmore Lindsey married siblings Jane and Sarah Brooks, first cousins of Clarissa. 

Clarissa married Wesley Lindsey in Lawrence County, Alabama, on 24 June 1835. The posting I’ve just linked above contains a digital image of the bond Wesley Lindsey gave for this marriage with Clarissa’s brother James Irwin Brooks on 20 June, and notes that the couple were married by Methodist minister Edmond Pearson on the 24^th.^[1] The posting also notes that Clarissa’s date of birth is recorded in the bible of her brother James, which may have belonged previously to their father, as 25 August 1818, while Clarissa’s tombstone in Lindsey cemetery near Speake in Lawrence County gives the birth date as 28 August.^[2]

A digital image of Clarissa’s tombstone is at the posting linked in the first paragraph above, along with a digital copy of her obituary notice in the Moulton Advertiser on 15 October 1896, which states, “Died at home of her son Mr. Samuel Lindsey, near Oakville, on the 1st inst., Mrs. Clarissa Lindsey, in her 77th year.”^[3] The linked posting also notes that the diary of Frances Jarvis Torrence, whose sister Margaret Jane married Thomas Madison Lindsey, son of Dennis Lindsey and Jane Brooks, refers to Clarissa on two occasions in 1855, noting her “liveliness” and ability to keep others laughing.^[4] Finally, as the linked posting also indicates, in writing about her father-in-law Mark Lindsey in an October 1889 remembrance in the Alabama Enquirer, A.G. Copeland says of Clarissa and her cousin Sarah Brooks Lindsey, “No better women live this side of Heaven. None ever sung and shouted more, none will have a better right to the tree of life than they.”^[5]

By her marriage to Fielding Wesley Lindsey, Clarissa Brooks had children James Dennis, William Thomas, George, Mary Caroline, Mark Samuel, and John and David Lindsey, all of whom are discussed in the posting linked in the first paragraph above.

The eighth child of James and Nancy Isbell Brooks was a daughter Alpha Caroline:

Alpha Caroline Brooks

8. Alpha Caroline Brooks was born 5 August 1821 in Lawrence County, Alabama, and died 31 January 1890 at Nicholas, Jessamine County, Kentucky.^[6] On 8 October 1839 in Lawrence County, she married John Milton Davis, son of William and Catherine McCulloch Davis.^[7] The marriage bond, on file in the loose-papers marriage files in Lawrence County, shows John giving bond on 5 October 1839 with Alpha’s brother James Irwin Brooks, who signs the bond as James Brooks.^[8] The marriage record recorded in Lawrence County’s Marriage Book B states that Reverend Moses Stroude Morris married the couple on 8 October. As has been noted in previous postings, Moses Stroude Morris married other members of the Brooks and Lindsey families, including Alpha’s brother Thomas and his wife Sirena Shannon, her brother James Irwin Brooks and Mary Jane Lindsey, and Mary Jane Lindseys’s siblings John Wesley Lindsey when he married Margaret S. Gibson), Sarah Brooks Lindsey when she married James B. Speake), and Mark Jefferson Lindsey when he married Mary Ann Harrison.

Caroline’s husband John M. Davis was born 11 April 1818 in Wayne County, Kentucky.^[9] Following the couple’s marriage, they joined his parents in Clinton County, Kentucky, which was formed from Wayne and Cumberland Counties, where they raised their family and lived to the end of their lives. John M. Davis died in Clinton County on 20 June 1864 and is buried in the Davis Chapel cemetery at Alpha in Clinton County, where Caroline is also buried.^[10] John and wife Caroline and their children appear on the federal census in 1840, 1850, and 1860 in Clinton County, and Caroline appears as a widow and head of her household in 1870 and 1880. As noted previously, Caroline died 31 January 1890 at Nicholas in Jessamine County, Kentucky, and is buried in the Davis Chapel cemetery in Clinton County with her husband John M. Davis and other members of his family.

The children of Alpha Caroline Brooks and John Milton Davis were as follows:^[11]

a. William S. Davis was born about 1842 in Clinton County, Kentucky, and died there before 1850.

b. Nancy Cassandra Davis was born 23 May 1844 in Clinton County, Kentucky, and died 5 August 1922 at Cisco in Eastland County, Texas. On 27 December 1859 in Russell County, Kentucky, she married Reuben Seymour Leveridge, son of John and Rowena Leveridge. Reuben was born 1 May 1832 in Russell County, Kentucky, and died 16 March 1897 at Scranton in Eastland County, Texas. Nancy and Reuben are buried in Pisgah cemetery at Nimrod in Eastland County, Texas.^[12]

c. Vienna S. Davis was born 8 August 1846 in Clinton County, Kentucky, and died 30 October 1933 at Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky. In 1867, she married Marcus Hall in Clinton County, Kentucky. On 5 September 1875, she married Richard Byers Burnett, son of James Burnett and Jane Barrier, in Wayne County, Kentucky. Richard was born 3 March 1836 in Wayne County, Kentucky, and died 21 September 1919 at Monticello in Wayne County. Richard and Vienna are buried in the Alta Vista cemetery of Gainesville, Hall County, Georgia.^[13]

d. James Stewart Davis was born 20 August 1848 in Clinton County, Kentucky, and died 20 December 1928 at Banning in Riverside County, California. On 22 February 1870 at Somerset in Pulaski County, Kentucky, he married Laura Frances Booth Gragg, daughter of Elisha P. Gragg and Elizabeth Crain.^[14] Laura was born in September 1847 in Pulaski County and died 20 November 1937 in Fresno County, California. James and Laura are buried together in Hillside Memorial Park at Redlands in San Bernardino County, California.^[15]

e. Mary Caroline Davis was born 26 March 1851 in Clinton County, Kentucky, and died 31 December 1937 at Russellville in Logan County, Kentucky. About 1874, she married Elias Smith, son of Elias Smith and Elizabeth Meadows. Elias was born in 1847 and died in 1904. Mary and Elias are buried at Maple Grove cemetery at Russellville in Logan County, Kentucky.^[16]

f. Martha Elizabeth Davis was born 11 July 1853 in Clinton County, Kentucky, and died 17 January 1909 at Evansville in Vanderburgh County, Indiana. She married John Will Walton, son of Thomas William Walton and Mary Ann Dorsey, who was born 2 November 1853 and died 26 November 1882. Lizzie and John are buried at Corydon cemetery, Corydon, Henderson County, Kentucky.^[17]

g. John Perciful Davis was born 27 December 1856 in Clinton County, Kentucky, and died 7 June 1924 at Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky. On 31 January 1885 in Wayne County, Kentucky, he married Sophronia S. Oatts, daughter of James David Oatts and Harriet Legrand Worsham. Sophronia was born 12 December 1861 in Wayne County and died 25 October 1951 in Jefferson County, Kentucky. John and Sophronia are buried in Cave Hill cemetery in Louisville.^[18]

Samuel F. Brooks

9. Samuel F. Brooks was born 5 August 1821 in Lawrence County, Alabama, and died before 5 July 1846 in Lawrence County.^[19] As is evident from the birthdate and date of death, Samuel died young; as we’ll see in a moment, a memoir by Simeon W. Barbee published in the Moulton Advertiser on 13 October 1908 recounts the circumstances of Samuel’s early death.^[20]

Note that Samuel and his sister Alpha Caroline were twins. As a previous posting notes, the Brooks family has a long genetic history of producing twins generation after generation down many family lines. 

A Samuel Brooks received license in Lawrence County on 31 July 1835 to marry Jane Matthews, and the marriage was performed by Reverend John R. Young on 3 August.^[21] George A. O’Reilly thinks that this man was Samuel F. Brooks, but I think it’s more likely it was Thomas and Sarah Whitlock’s son Samuel K. Brooks.^[22] Samuel F. Brooks would have been not yet 14 years of age in July 1835, while his first cousin Samuel K. Brooks was approaching 20 at that time. The marriage license has no middle initial, only the name Samuel Brooks, and there’s no document in the file showing him giving bond with a bondsman. Samuel K. Brooks would marry again on 27 September 1838 in Morgan County to Mary Ann Puckett, and again in 1873 in Itawamba County, Mississippi, to Mary J. Gilstrap.^[23] In my view, Samuel F. Brooks died unmarried. His scant estate papers contain no indication that he had a wife when he died.

Samuel F. Brooks died tragically young in yet another of the affrays with which his four older brothers had been charged in Lawrence County (on this topic, see here, here, and here). In his account of the circumstances of  Samuel’s death, Simeon W. Barbee states that Samuel was “a man of rather haughty spirit and domineering disposition,” and notes that he commanded a militia company in Lawrence County along with Nick Eddy, a young man “of humble and rather obscure origin.”  Since his social background and contacts were considered inferior by comparison with Brooks’s, Samuel exerted his “bullying nature” to try to cow Eddy. (The first section of this article is at the head of the posting, with its continuation above this paragraph.)

On a certain morning, Brooks plotted to insult Eddy. He arrived at the militia’s gathering place about 11 A.M. on the morning in question, accompanied by friends, and spat in Eddy’s face. Eddy then drew a small pocket knife and slashed Samuel F. Brooks’s throat, killing him instantly.

As we’ve seen in a previous posting, Barbee also describes Samuel’s brother Johnson H. Brooks as a bully who elicited many public fights and lost an eye in one of them. In this regard, it’s worth noting that, according to June Baldwin Bork citing an unnamed manuscript or document, a contemporary of Samuel and Johnson’s uncle Thomas Isbell described him as “a man with a violent temper and … perhaps the handsomest man I’ve ever seen, but with a cruel mouth.”^[24] A previous posting offers a photograph of Thomas Isbell as a man of advancing years.

On 5 July 1846, Samuel’s brother-in-law Fielding Wesley Lindsey appealed for administration of Samuel’s estate, and on 17 July he gave bond for the administration with Samuel’s brother Thomas R. Brooks and his cousin Barnabas Wallace Isbell.^[25] A case file for the estate settlement in Lawrence County’s loose-papers court files shows Thomas Sparks, John Beaty, and John F. Demasters inventorying the small estate on 22 August 1846, and Fielding Wesley Lindsey filing an account of the estate sale on 21 September 1846.^[26] The inventory and estate sale were entered into court record on 5 October 1846, and there is no final settlement, another indicator that Samuel did not leave a wife or progeny.^[27]

---

^[1] The original marriage bond is on file in Lawrence County; these records have been indexed by Lawrence County Archives, and microfilmed by the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. See also Lawrence County, Alabama, Orphans Court Marriage Bk. B, p. 144.

^[2] On the Brooks family bible, see this previous posting. On Clarissa’s burial place and tombstone in Lindsey cemetery near Speake, Alabama, see her Find a Grave memorial page, created by Warren Glenn, which has a tombstone photo by FHTerry. See also Phil Waldrep, Cemeteries of Lawrence County, Alabama, vol. 1 (P.O. Box 148, Trinity, Alabama, 1993), p. 322.

^[3] Moulton Advertiser (15 October 1896), p. 3, col. 1.

^[4] The diary of Frances J. Torrence is transcribed in Mary Novella Gibson-Brittain, Marie Brittain-Craig, and Marjorie Craig Churchill, The History and Genealogy of Some Pioneer North Alabama Families (Flagstaff, Arizona: Northland, 1969), pp. 97-113.

^[5] A.G. Copeland, “Reminiscences of Morgan County, No. 3,” Alabama Enquirer (Hartselle) (17 October 1889), p. 3, col. 4.

^[6] The date of birth is recorded in the Brooks family bible. Alpha’s tombstone in Davis Chapel cemetery at Alpha in Clinton County, Kentucky, states that she died 31 January 1890, aged 68 years, 5 months, and 26 days: see Find a Grave memorial page of Alpha Caroline Davis, Davis Chapel cemetery, Alpha, Clinton County, Kentucky, created by Laurie Skogsberg Mattson with a tombstone photo by Laurie Mattson. Note that her birthdate as indicated by the tombstone corresponds to the date in the Brooks family bible.

^[7] Lawrence County, Alabama, Orphans Court Marriage Bk. B, p. 238. On John Milton Davis, see George A. O’Reilly, The History of E. James Brooks Family of Lawrence County, Alabama (1500 Trinity Road, Huntsville, Alabama 35802-2779; Oreilly0103@gmail.com), p. 323.

^[8] See the original marriage bond on file in the loose-papers marriage files of Lawrence County, available digitally at the FamilySearch site. 

^[9] For the date of birth, see tombstone of John M. Davis at his Find a Grave memorial page, Davis Chapel cemetery, Alpha, Clinton County, Kentucky, created by Kyroots with a tombstone photo by Judy Reneau. O’Reilly, The History of E. James Brooks Family of Lawrence County, Alabama, p. 323, states that John M. Davis was born in Wayne County, Kentucky.

^[10] See ibid. John’s tombstone records his date of death.

^[11] I’m relying here on the valuable research of O’Reilly, The History of E. James Brooks Family of Lawrence County, Alabama, pp. 323-334, which has more information about these folks than I am providing in my outline sketch here.

^[12] See Find a Grave memorial pages of Nancy Cassandra Davis Leveridge and Reuben Seymour Leveridge, Pisgah cemetery, Nimrod, Eastland County, Texas, managed by Anna Schultheis Bertram, with photos of both uploaded by Jane, crediting Michael Beck at Ancestry.

^[13] See Find a Grave memorial pages of Vienna D. Davis Burnett and Richard Burnett, Alta Vista cemetery, Gainesville, Hall County, Georgia, created by William Roha. Richard’s Find a Grave memorial page has a transcribed obituary from the Wayne County Outlook of Monticello, Kentucky, 9 October 1919.

^[14] See Pulaski County, Kentucky, Marriage Records Bk. 6, pp. 306-7, available digitally at Family Search.

^[15] See Find a Grave memorial pages of James Stewart Davis and Laura F. Gragg Davis, Hillside Memorial Park, Redlands, San Benardino County, California, created by Ron Running.

^[16] See Find a Grave memorial pages of Mary Davis Smith and Elias Smith, Maple Grove cemetery, Russellville, Logan County, Kentucky, created by Judy Brown.

^[17] See Find a Grave memorial pages of Lizzie D. Walton and John Will Walton, Corydon cemetery, Corydon, Henderson County, Kentucky, created by Lynn Fischer and managed by Brecca Walton.

^[18] See Find a Grave memorial pages of John P. Davis and Sophronia Oatts Davis, Cave Hill cemetery, Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky, created by nbgar.

^[19] Samuel’s birthdate is recorded in the Brooks family bible. Samuel had died by 5 July 1846 when his brother-in-law Fielding Wesley Lindsey appealed for administration of Samuel’s estate in Lawrence County: see Orphans Court Minute Bk. I, p. 90.

^[20] S.W. Barbee, “Old Lawrence Reminscent,” Moulton Advertiser (13 October 1908), p. 1, col. 4-5.

^[21] Lawrence County, Alabama, Orphans Court Marriage Bk. B, p. 146. The original license and minister’s return are on file in Lawrence County’s loose-papers marriage files.

^[22] O’Reilly, The History of E. James Brooks Family of Lawrence County, Alabama, pp. 335.

^[23] Morgan County, Alabama, Marriage Bk. 1, p. 351; Itawamba County, Mississippi, Marriage Bk. 7, p. 452.

^[24] June Baldwin Bork, Wayne County, Kentucky, Pioneers: Biographical Sketches and Civil Court Records, vol. 4 (Huntington Beach, CA, 1974), p. 140. As stated above, Bork does not identify who made this observation about Isbell, or her source for it.

^[25] On the appeal to administer, see supra, n. 19. The administration bond is recorded in Lawrence County, Alabama, Guardian Bonds Bk. 1845-50, pp. 33-4: see Valley Leaves 11,1 (September 1976), p. 120.

^[26] See Lawrence County, Alabama, loose-papers court files, box 145, folder 72.

^[27] Lawrence County, Alabama, Orphans Court Minute Bk. I, p. 124.