Copy of will of James Brooks filed in Peter Peters and Wife vs. Admrs. of James Brooks, Frederick County, Virginia, Chancery Court 1831-007
Or, Subtitled: Old and week in body but of sound and perfect mind and memory
In a long series of postings of which this is the final one, I’ve been following the children named in the 9 July 1786 will of Mary Brooks of Frederick County, Virginia (and see also here), and have tracked the descendants of those children for a generation or two.[1] As we’ve seen, Mary’s will names the following children:
Tombstone of Luke Woodward, Find a Grave memorial page for Luke Woodward, Woodward family cemetery, Rectortown, Fauquier County, Virginia, created by Hope, with tombstone photos by Hope
Or, Subtitled: Northern Virginia Family Making Tracks to West Virginia and Ohio
This posting continues the discussion of the children of Sarah Brooks Ashdale (1750/1755 — 1810/1820) that I began in the previous posting with information about Sarah’s son James, who was, I believe, the older of her two sons and possibly her oldest child:
Will of James Brooks, 16 August 1824, Frederick County, Virginia, Will Bk. 12, pp. 120-1
Or, Subtitled: A Litany of Perhaps and Supposes: How Do You Solve a Problem Like the Ashdales? How Do You Hold a Moonbeam in Your Hand?
This posting on the Brooks line I now want to discuss will, I’m afraid, be full of words like “perhaps,” “suppose,” “seems likely” — qualifiers signaling how sparse the information I’ve been able to find about this family line is, so that the best I can do with it is to make educated conjectures on the basis of such limited evidence as appears to be available.
Letter of George Rice Kiger accepting commission as 2nd lieutenant, Voltigeurs Company, Grand Gulf, Mississippi, 6 April 1847, in NARA, Letters Received by the Office of the Adjutant General Main Series 1822-1860, John H. King file, RG 94 M567, digitized at Fold3
As the previous posting ends by telling you, Rebecca Rice and George W. Kiger had the following children: Edwin Rice, George Rice, Mary Elizabeth, Daniel Jacob, and perhaps (more on the “perhaps” below) John Patrick, all with surname Kiger. As the posting I’ve just linked also states, George appears to have had a daughter prior to his marriage to Rebecca Rice whose name is given in the will of Rebecca’s mother as Emilia Luca Ried, and who appears in other documents as Emeline Lucia Kiger.
A portrait of George W. Kinger uploaded by K. Grant to her “Kiger-Madera-Lucas-Wells Tree” at Ancestry, with no indication of its provenance
Or, Subtitled: Military Careers Persisting Down Family Lines, as Families Scatter to Four Corners of the Earth
The last child of George Rice and Elizabeth Brooks, Rebecca (who was probably named for George Rice’s sister Rebecca Rice Connell), produced an interesting family with husband George W. Kiger, with sons who followed in the military footsteps of their grandfather George Rice, and who scattered to various places from Winchester, Virginia, where all were born. I’ve spent a great deal of time trying to track the children of George W. Kiger and Rebecca Rice, primarily because there are gaps and inconsistencies in what I can discover about this family, and I had hoped to fill those gaps and resolve the inconsistencies by researching t the entire family.
Or, Subtitled, “I George Rice of the town of Winchester tavern keeper“
Regarding George Rice and Elizabeth Brooks’s two sons Edmund and George, I have limited information. As we have seen, Edmund died testate with a will dated 20 April 1796 in Frederick County, Virginia.[1] The will (a digital image is at the posting I just linked) was probated on 4 April 1797 in Frederick County, indicating that Edmund died between the 1796 date and the 1797 one, almost certainly in Frederick County.
Or, Subtitled:At the “ſign of the Indian Queen” in Bairdſtown, Micajah Roach is “determined to exert himſelf to accommodate travelers in the beſt manner the country will afford, excellent ſtables, clover lotts, &c“
When I promised in my last posting a follow-up piece about the children of George Rice and Elizabeth Brooks, I thought I’d have that article done in no time at all — and that the task would be simple. I thought wrong.
Will of George Rice, Woodford County, Kentucky, Will Bk. A, pp. 72-4
Or, Subtitled: “I give and devise all my estate in Lands lying on the Western Waters to my six Children“
George Rice died testate in Woodford County, Kentucky, with a will dated 4 August 1792 and proved at October court 1792 in Woodford County.[1] The will reads as follows:
Will of Elizabeth Brooks Rice, 18 February 1816, Frederick County, Virginia, Will Bk. 9, pp. 535-6
Or, Subtitled: “Your Orator Further Sheweth” — Valuable Inheritances and Predictable Litigation
With this posting, I’m climbing back up the Brooks family tree and starting to track lines stemming from another daughter of Mary Brooks, the earliest Brooks ancestor I’ve been able to prove. As I’ve indicated previously, Mary died testate in Frederick County, Virginia, with a will dated 9 July 1786.[1] In her will, Mary named children Mary (Hollingsworth), Elizabeth (Rice), Thomas, Sarah (Asdril [i.e., Ashdale]), Susanna (Haynes), and James. As the posting I’ve just linked says, I have not been able to discover the name of Mary’s husband, or her maiden surname, or where this family lived before I first catch sight of them in Frederick County, Virginia, records in March 1767.