a. Thomas Jarrett Brooks was born 30 September 1839 in Lawrence County, Alabama. This date of birth is inscribed on his tombstone in Shiloh cemetery, Lee County, Mississippi.[1] The transcription of the register of the bible of his grandfather Thomas Brooks states, however, that Thomas was born on an unspecified day in November 1836.
As previous postings have noted, Thomas’s oldest son Charles Brooks purchased this bible at his father’s estate sale on 20 April 1839 in Morgan County, Alabama, and when he moved to Itawamba County, Mississippi, the following year, Charles brought the bible with him to Mississippi. Researcher Corinne Crider of Corsicana, Texas, a descendant of Charles Brooks, thought, as the posting I’ve just linked states, that from Charles, the bible then passed to his nephew Christopher Joseph Brooks, son of Samuel Brooks and Mary Ann Puckett. As a result of this transmission process, the bible register first records information about Thomas Brooks and wife Sarah Whitlock, then about Charles Brooks, wife Deniah Cornelius, and their children, and finally about some members of the family of Samuel K. Brooks and Mary Ann Puckett.
To me, it seems fairly certain that the date of birth given on Thomas’s tombstone is correct and not the date read by the transcriber of Thomas Brooks’s bible, which precedes the marriage of Thomas J. Brooks’s parents. The 1910 federal census confirms the September 1839 birthdate.[2]
On 24 October 1860 in Itawamba County, Thomas married Elizabeth Wells Phillips, daughter of John Phillips and Elizabeth Flannagan.[3] Following their marriage, Thomas and Elizabeth farmed and raised their family in Itawamba and then Lee County, after the latter county was formed from Itawamba in 1866. Thomas died in Lee County 4 May 1920, according to his tombstone, and his wife Elizabeth died 9 June 1915, with the tombstone she shares with Thomas in Shiloh cemetery giving her date of birth as 26 March 1843.
As the oldest son of Samuel K. Brooks and Mary Ann Puckett, Thomas Jarrett Brooks was named for his grandfathers Thomas Brooks and Jarrett/Jared Puckett. Why numerous family trees published at various sites online have decided to name him Thomas Jefferson Brooks is a mystery to me.
b. Robert James Brooks was born about 1842 according to the 1850 federal census, which enumerates him in the household of his parents in Lawrence County, Alabama.[4] In a GEDCOM file a descendant of Samuel K. Brooks, Cathy Hendon of El Paso, Texas, sent me in January 1997, a birthdate of 27 September 1841 is given for him. It’s not clear to me what source Cathy Hendon is citing for this birthdate.
By 1860, Robert is gone from his parents’ household and I do not find him elsewhere on the federal census, so it appears he died between 1850 and 1860 in either Lawrence County, Alabama, or Itawamba County, Mississippi. As we’ll see below, Samuel and wife Mary Ann used the same given names for their last son. This is another indicator, I think, that the first son named Robert James died young.
c. William Mack Brooks was born 4 December 1843 in Lawrence County, Alabama. He has been discussed in a previous posting that has photos of him, his wife and first cousin Martha Ledbetter Brooks, daughter of Charles Brooks and Deniah Cornelius, and photos of their tombstones in Eggville cemetery at Eggville in Lee County, Mississippi.[5] As the posting I’ve just linked stated, William and Martha married 4 July 1865 in Itawamba County,[6] and he died 26 June 1919 at Eggville. Martha was born 21 May 1844 in Itawamba County and died 16 October 1912 at Eggville.
This is, I believe, the William M. Brooks who enlisted in Co. H of the Mississippi Volunteer 43rd Infantry (CSA) at Mooreville in Itawamba County on 30 April 1862.[7] He may then have been mustered into Co. G of Ham’s Regiment, Mississippi Cavalry, at Tupelo on 5 May 1864.[8] His service papers for the 43rd Volunteer Infantry say that he was absent from that unit without leave from March 1864. William M. Brooks’s brother Christopher Joseph Brooks was also in Ham’s Regiment, also enlisting on 5 May 1864 at Tupelo.
d. Christopher Joseph Brooks was born 25 October 1845 in Lawrence County, Alabama. This date of birth is given on an application his son John Howard Brooks made on 21 October 1950 when John applied for a U.S. headstone for his father as a military veteran, naming his father as Joe Brooks, the name by which Christopher Joseph Brooks went.[9] A Find a Grave photo by Kathy Johansen of a marker for Christopher Joseph Brooks’s grave found in Shiloh cemetery shows only a plain white cross with no name or date on the marker.[10] The U.S. military veterans’ headstone for which Joseph’s son John Howard Brooks applied in 1950 is also in Shiloh cemetery, with the name Joe Brooks and with no dates on it, only an inscription stating that he served in Co. H of Mississippi 10th Infantry (CSA) (i.e., Ham’s Regiment).[11]
On 16 September 1863 in Itawamba County, Joseph Brooks married Sarah Jane Erwin, daughter of John Anderson Erwin and Mary Berry.[12] As noted previously, Joseph then enlisted in Co. B of Ham’s Regiment of Mississippi 10th Infantry (CSA).[13] His service papers show him enlisting initially in Co. F of the 1st Battalion of Mississippi State Cavalry, which subsequently became Co. B of Ham’s Regiment. He enlisted on 20 January 1864 at Bigby Fork under Captain Gilstrap, who is, I believe, a relative of Mary J. Gilstrap, third wife of Joseph’s father Samuel K. Brooks. The card for this initial enlistment found in his service papers states that he was aged 18, born in Alabama, a farmer, 5’10” with hazel eyes, dark hair, and fair complexion. The service papers show him enlisting again on 5 May 1864 at Tupelo, with an annotation stating that he had been absent without leave from 23 May 1864.
The Find a Grave memorial page for Joseph’s wife Sarah Jane Erwin, who is buried in Shiloh cemetery with Joseph, states that she was born 8 September 1845 and died 2 December 1890.[14] This page has a photo of the same marker found on the Find a Grave memorial page for Christopher Joseph Brooks in Shiloh cemetery — a plain white cross with no name or dates — so I am not certain of the source for the dates of birth and death given for Sarah Jane Erwin.
Following Sarah Jane’s death, Joseph remarried to Helen M. Brooke in Lee County on 25 November 1891.[15] Helen was the daughter of John Andrew J. Brooke and Syrena McNutt, and was born 2 May 1846 in Itawamba County, according to Cathy Hendon’s GEDCOM file cited above.
The previously cited October 1950 application of Joseph’s son John Howard Brooks for a U.S. military veterans’ headstone for his father states that Joseph died 18 July 1900. I do not have a death date for his second wife Helen Brooke Brooks; she was living as of 1930, per the federal census of that year, which enumerates her with her brother George Brooke in Lee County.
At the head of this posting is a photo of Christopher Joseph Brooks that was sent to me by Cathy Hendon in January 1997. When she sent this photo, Cathy Hendon told me that her brother owns the original, and that it had been given to her grandfather Benjamin Franklin Brooks by his mother Amarilla Prewitt Brooks, wife of John Howard Brooks — the John Howard Brooks who was a son of Christopher Joseph Brooks discussed previously.
e. Samuel Asbury Brooks was born 21 January 1848 in Lawrence County, Alabama. This date of birth is recorded on his tombstone in Saltillo cemetery, Saltillo, Lee County, Mississippi.[16]
On 25 February 1880 in Lee County, Samuel married Lizzie O’Calligan.[17] Samuel gave bond for the marriage with J.L. Mitchener on 24 February and he and Lizzie were married the following day. I have been unable to find any information about Lizzie/Elizabeth except that her listing as the wife of Samuel A. Brooks on the 1880 federal census, in which she and Samuel are enumerated in his father’s household in Lee County, indicates that she was born in Tennessee in 1855.[18] Members of an O’Callaghan family descending from James Patterson O’Callaghan (1827-1882) are buried in Lee County, including at Saltillo, but I have not been able to connect Lizzie O’Calligan to this family.
Samuel died in Lee County on 25 February 1892, according to his tombstone marker in Saltillo cemetery.[19]I have not found a death or burial record for Lizzie O’Calligan Brooks, or information about whether she survived Samuel. I have not found a marriage record for her after Samuel’s death, and I do not spot her on the 1900 federal census.
f. Anne Sarah Brooks was born 25 October 1850 in Lawrence County, Alabama. This date is recorded on her tombstone in Shiloh cemetery, Lee County, Mississippi, which looks to have been placed on her grave following the death of her husband Bolin White Hendrick in 1932 and after the death of his second wife Deniah Martha Jane Brooks in 1939.[20] The tombstone is a shared tombstone commemorating Bolin and both of his wives.
On 23 December 1868 in Lee County, Anne Sarah Brooks married Bolin White Hendrick.[21] Bolin Hendrick gave bond with J.H. Kennedy on the 21st, and the couple married on the 23rd.
Anne Sarah died 18 January 1889. The date of death is recorded on her tombstone in Shiloh cemetery.[22] As a previous posting notes, Bolin then remarried on 30 December 1890 in Lee County to Anne Sarah’s cousin Deniah Martha Jane Brooks, daughter of John Cornelius Brooks and Susan Buchanan. John Cornelius Brooks and Anne Sarah Brooks were first cousins.
Anne Sarah Brooks was named for her grandmothers Anne Collins Puckett and Sarah Whitlock Brooks.
g. Mary E. Brooks was born 7 January 1855, according to a Find a Grave memorial page that has been set up for her by Alberta Knotts.[23] This same date of birth appears in the GEDCOM file of Cathy Hendon cited above. I do not find a source for this date of birth, but federal censuses consistently place Mary’s birth in 1855-6.
On 6 November 1872 in Lee County, Mississippi, Mary married William Henry Wood, son of James Wilson Wood and Malona Catherine Thompson.[24] Charles Simeon Brooks, son of Mary E. Brooks’s first cousin John Cornelius Brooks, married William Henry Wood’s sister Martha E. Wood. The marriage record shows that W.H. Wood gave bond for the marriage with B.W. (Bolin White) Hendrick on 6 November and license was issued the same day. There is no record of the marriage’s return. Bolen White Hendrick, was, as we’ve seen Mary E. Brooks’s brother-in-law, husband of her sister Anne Sarah Brooks.
The Find a Grave memorial page for Mary I’ve just cited above states that she died in 1884 in McNairy County, Tennessee.[25] Cathy Hendon states that Mary died in McNairy County in July 1884. As her Find a Grave memorial page states, her place of burial is not known.
Following Mary’s death, William Henry Wood remarried and moved with their children to Ellis County, Texas, where he died 1 April 1905. His tombstone in Auburn cemetery at Auburn in Ellis County states that he was born 4 May 1851.[26] His parents were living in Itawamba County, Mississippi, at the time of his birth, so he would have been born there.
h. Charles F. Brooks was born 1 April 1857 in Itawamba County, Mississippi, according to Cathy Hendon’s GEDCOM file. I do not know the source of this birthdate. Federal censuses from 1860-1880 place his birth between 1855-8.[27]
On 14 May 1879 in Lee County, Charles married Elsinora N. Johnson, daughter of William Daniel Johnson and Frances Eunice Brooks.[28] As a previous posting notes, Frances Eunice was a daughter of Charles Brooks, a brother of Charles F. Brooks’s father Samuel K. Brooks. The marriage record shows Charles giving bond with his father for the marriage on 14 May and then receiving license and marrying Elsinora on the same day.
The 1880 federal census is the last record I’ve found for Charles F. Brooks. It shows him and wife Elsinora two households from his parents in Lee County. I do not find either Charles or Elsinora on the 1900 federal census in Lee County, and have not found a marriage record showing Elsinora marrying after Charles died — if she survived him. I have also not found burial records for either.
h. Robert James Brooks was born 1 January 1861 in Itawamba County, Mississippi. This date of birth is recorded on his tombstone in Shiloh cemetery, Lee County.[29] As noted previously, he was given the name of a brother born twenty years earlier, who died young.
On 31 October 1886 in Lee County, Robert married Earnest Morgan, daughter of John Berry Morgan and Sarah Indiana Armstrong.[30] Robert gave bond for the marriage with F.M. Roper on 28 October, and license was issued, with the couple marrying on the 31st.Robert James Brooks died in Lee County, Mississippi, on 30 July 1897, and as previously noted, he’s buried in Shiloh cemetery there, with both his dates of birth and of death stated on his tombstone. Following his death, his widow Earnest moved with her parents and her children by Robert James Brooks to Oklahoma, where she died on 2 September 1936 at Hodgen in Le Flore County. She is buried in the Hodgen cemetery with a tombstone stating her dates of birth and death; she was born 21 September 1869 in in Itawamba County, Mississippi.
[1] See Find a Grave memorial page of Thomas Jarrett Brooks, Shiloh cemetery, Lee County, Mississippi, created by Ron Turner, with a tombstone photo by Laura LeCornu Young.
[2] 1910 federal census, Lee County, Mississippi, 2nd supervisor’s district, beat 2, p. 24A (ED 2; dwelling/family 48; 24 May).
[3] Itawamba County, Mississippi, Marriage Bk. 5, p. 285.
[4] 1850 federal census, Lawrence County, Alabama, district 8, p. 403 (dwelling 546/family 545; 4 November).
[5] See Find a Grave memorial page of William Mack Brooks, Eggville cemetery, Eggville, Lee County, Mississippi, created by Debra O’Neill, with tombstone photo by Judy Harden/Barbara Wallace/Matthew Malone, and of Martha Ledbetter Brooks, same creator and tombstone photographers.
[6] Itawamba County, Mississippi, Marriage Bk. 6, p. 138.
[7] NARA, Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Mississippi, RG 109, available digitally at Fold3.
[8] Ibid., available digitally at Fold3.
[9] See NARA, Applications for Headstones for U.S. Military Veterans, 1925-1941, RG 92.
[10] See Find a Grave memorial page of Christopher Joseph Brooks, Shiloh cemetery, Lee County, Mississippi, created by Thelma Brooks Morgan, maintained by TCHA Research Library.
[11] See Find a Grave memorial page of Joe Brooks, Shiloh cemetery, Lee County, Mississippi, created by Judy Harden/Barbara Wallace/Matthew Malone, with tombstone photos by these creators and also by Laura LeCornu Young.
[12] Itawamba County, Mississippi, Marriage Bk. 5, p. 333.
[13] NARA, Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Mississippi, RG 109, available digitally at Fold3.
[14] See Find a Grave memorial page of Sarah Jane Erwin Brooks, Shiloh cemetery, Lee County, Mississippi, created by Thelma Brooks Morgan, maintained by TCHA Research Library, with a tombstone photo by Kathy Johansen.
[15] Lee County, Mississippi, Marriage Bk. 6, p. 390.
[16] See Find a Grave memorial page of Samuel Asbury Brooks, Saltillo cemetery, Saltillo, Lee County, Mississippi, created by Ed and Sue Anderson, with a tombstone photo by Ed and Sue Anderson.
[17] Lee County, Mississippi, Marriage Bk. 4, p. 244.
[18] 1880 federal census, Lee County, Mississippi, p. 104B (ED 89; dwelling 111/family 117; 8-9 June).
[19] See supra, n. 16.
[20] See Find a Grave memorial page of Anne Sarah Brooks Hendrick, Shiloh cemetery, Lee County, Mississippi, created by Ron Turner, with a tombstone photo by Laura LeCornu Young.
[21] Lee County, Mississippi, Marriage Bk. 1, p. 354.
[22] See supra, n. 20.
[23] See Find a Grave memorial page of Mary E. Brooks, burial details unknown, created by Alberta Knotts.
[24] Lee County, Mississippi, Marriage Bk. 2, p. 295.
[25] See supra, n. 23.
[26] See Find a Grave memorial page of William Henry Wood, Auburn cemetery, Auburn, Ellis County, Texas, created by Roy Gatewood, with a tombstone photo by Tommy and Janice Faries.
[27] 1860 federal census, Itawamba County, Mississippi, p. 132 (dwelling/family 865; 13 August); [22] 1870 federal census, Lee County, Mississippi, Saltillo post office, p. 401A (dwelling/family 303; [no day given] August 1870); 1880 federal census, Lee County, Mississippi, p. 104B (ED 89; dwelling 109/family 115; 8-9 June).
[28] Lee County, Mississippi, Marriage Bk. 4, p. 140.
[29] See Find a Grave memorial page for Robert James Brooks, Shiloh cemetery, Lee County, Mississippi, created by Ron Turner, with tombstone photos by Kathy Johansen, Laura LeCornu Young, and Judy Harden/Barbara Wallace/Matthew Malone.
[30] Lee County, Mississippi, Marriage Bk. 5, p. 390.
Begats and Bequeathals 