Children of Alexander Mackey Brooks (1808-1899): Adopted Daughter Rebecca Ann Chiek and Son Thomas Jefferson Brooks

“Who’s Who in Texas and Why? Robert A. Brooks,” Austin American (4 November 1916), p. 4, col. 6

Or, Subtitled: “Often has the editor of this paper heard his father speak of Tom Brooks and of his tender regard for him”

Rebecca Ann Chiek Brooks Collier

As a previous posting indicates, Alexander Mackey Brooks (1808-1899) and his second wife Aletha Sorrells adopted a daughter, Rebecca Ann Chiek, who is enumerated in their household in Houston, Texas, in 1860 as Ann, aged 9.[1] This census gives A.M. Brooks’s surname, but the other family members — his wife Aletha, her granddaughters Mary and Fanny, both of whose surname was Moffatt, and Ann — are not given surnames in this census.

Children of Thomas Brooks (1775 – 1838) and Wife Sarah Whitlock: Alexander Mackey Brooks (1808-1899) — Move to Texas and Years in Bastrop

Brooks-Wilbarger House, Bastrop, Texas, photo made 12 March 1834 by L.C. Page Jr. for Survey HABS TX-33-C-6, at the Historic American Buildings Survey site maintained by Library of Congress

Or, Subtitled: “I came to Texas in the fall of 1838 and have lived here ever since”

This posting is a continuation of a previous one chronicling the life of Alexander Mackey Brooks (1808-1899), a son of Thomas Brooks (1775 – 1838) and Sarah Whitlock of Wythe County, Virginia, Wayne County, Kentucky, and Morgan County, Alabama. The previous posting focuses on Alexander’s years in Wayne County, Kentucky, and Lawrence County, Alabama. As it notes, according to testimony Alexander gave on 1 November 1895 in the Brazos County, Texas, District Court case, Mary J. Harriman et al. vs. D.C. Giddings et al., his move from Alabama to Texas took place in the fall of 1838.[1]

Children of James Brooks (1772-1835) and Wife Nancy Isbell: Mary Ann Brooks (1832 — 1855/9)

Excerpt from a notice in Moulton Democrat (22 May 1856), p. 3, col. 4, announcing sale of land and enslaved persons from estate of Elliott Jones, Lawrence County, Alabama, naming Elliott’s daughter Lucretia and husband William Tuttle and their children

Or, Subtitled: “Sined in presents of….”

With this posting, I’m now finishing my series documenting the children of James Brooks and wife Nancy Isbell of Wayne County, Kentucky, Warren County, Tennessee, and Lawrence County, Alabama. This posting focuses on their last child, a daughter named Mary Ann.

Children of Charles Wesley Brooks (1829-1896) and Wife Elizabeth Burleson (1835-1920)

Frank W. Johnson, A History of Texas and Texans, vol. 3 (Chicago and New York: American Historical Society, 1916), pp. 1466 — “A Burleson to the bone

The children of Charles Wesley Brooks and Elizabeth Christian Burleson were as follows:

Short Addendum to Posting about Elizabeth Burleson, Wife of Charles Wesley Brooks: Valuable Resources

Texas Historical Commission marker for Mary Christian Burleson cemetery, Bastrop County, Texas, from website of Bastrop County Historical Commission

This is a brief footnote to yesterday’s posting, which focused on Elizabeth Burleson Brooks, wife of Charles Wesley Brooks of Bastrop and Williamson Counties, Texas, and on Elizabeth’s mother Mary Buchanan (Christian) (Burleson). As that posting noted, Charles and Elizabeth ranched with Elizabeth’s mother Mary following their marriage in Bastrop County, in 1855, and a house Mary built on headright land she and her first husband Thomas Christian obtained in 1832 near what is now Elgin in Bastrop County is being preserved by the Mary Christian Burleson Foundation.

Children of James Brooks (1772-1835) and Wife Nancy Isbell: Charles Wesley Brooks (1829-1896) —Wife Elizabeth Burleson (2)

Frank W. Johnson, A History of Texas and Texans, vol. 3 (Chicago and New York: American Historical Society, 1916), p. 1471

Or, Subtitled: “One of the truly great pioneer women of the state”

This posting is a continuation of my discussion of the 11th child of James Brooks and Nancy Isbell of Wayne County, Kentucky, Warren County, Tennessee, and Lawrence County, Alabama, their last son Charles Wesley Brooks (1828-1896). As the previous posting featuring Charles indicated, in this posting I’ll provide additional information about Charles’s wife Elizabeth Christian Burleson, daughter of James Burleson and Mary Randolph Buchanan. 

Children of James Brooks (1772-1835) and Wife Nancy Isbell: Charles Wesley Brooks (1829-1896) (1)

Frank W. Johnson, A History of Texas and Texans, vol. 3 (Chicago and New York: American Historical Society, 1916), p. 1468

Or, Subtitled: “A life-long Mason, a Methodist, and a staunch Jeffersonian democrat…he took little stock in national prohibition, nor in woman’s suffrage. He deplored ‘a short-haired woman’ or acrowing hen!’”

The following posting continues my series about the children of James Brooks and Nancy Isbell of Wayne County, Kentucky, Warren County, Tennessee, and Lawrence County, Alabama. This posting focuses on their 11th child, Charles Wesley Brooks.

Children of James Brooks (1772-1835) and Wife Nancy Isbell: John Wesley Stewart Brooks (abt. 1823-1876/7)

Tombstone of Lieut. J.W.S. Brooks, see Find a Grave memorial page of J.W. Brooks, Davis Chapel cemetery, Alpha, Clinton County, Kentucky, created by Kyroots, with a tombstone photo by Judy Reneau. 

Or, Subtitled: Military Enlistment Cards Capturing Physical Descriptions — Blue Eyes, Fair Hair and Complexion, 6’2″ Tall

This post is a continuation of a series of postings about the children of James Brooks (1772-1835) and Nancy Isbell of Wayne County, Kentucky, Warren County, Tennessee, and Lawrence County, Alabama. To see previous postings in this series, click on the “previous posting” link at the bottom of this posting, and then continue doing that with each posting that pops up until you reach the link I just provided above. The following posting focuses on James and Nancy’s tenth child, John Wesley Stewart Brooks:

Children of Thomas Brooks (abt. 1747 – 1805) and Wife Margaret: James Brooks (1772 – 1835) and Wife Nancy Isbell (2)

Inventory of estate of James Brooks, Lawrence County, Alabama, Orphans Court Minutes, Bk. D, pp. 162-3

Or, Subtitled: 17 Hedd Hogs, 1 Gray Horse, 1 Looking Glass, 1 Large Bible, etc.

In my last posting, I shared with you the information I have about the life of James Brooks, son of Thomas and Margaret Brooks of Frederick and Wythe Counties, Virginia, from his birth in Frederick County in 1772 to the death of his wife Nancy Isbell Brooks at Oakville in Lawrence County, Alabama, on 9 October 1835. I told you that James moved with his parents and siblings from Frederick to Wythe County, Virginia, in 1792, after James had come of age in Frederick County in 1789. 

Children of Thomas Brooks (abt. 1747 – 1805) and Wife Margaret: James Brooks (1772 – 1835) and Wife Nancy Isbell (1)

Wayne County, Kentucky, Marriage Bonds 1801-1813, p. 66

Or, Subtitled: From Virginia to Alabama by Way of Kentucky and Tennessee

We’ve met the second child of Thomas and Margaret Brooks, their son James Brooks, in previous postings. As we’ve seen, James’s year of birth, 1772, is recorded in the register of a bible belonging to James and his wife Nancy Isbell. A transcript of this bible register was published in November 1952 by Memory Aldridge Lester in the Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine, with a note that the bible belonged at that time to Nettie Raymond Brooks Young of Moulton, Alabama, and Lester had transcribed the bible at Mrs. Young’s house in June 1951.[1] Lester published the same transcript again in 1974 in a book entitled Old Southern Bible Records.[2] The posting linked above provides digital images of both transcripts.