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 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:

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 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. 

Mary Brooks (d. 1787, Frederick County, Virginia): What I Know (and Don’t) about the Earliest Generation of This Brooks Family

Transcript of will of Mary Brooks, 9 July 1786, Frederick County, Virginia, Will Bk. 5, p. 158

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. This will is just about the sum total of what I know of this Brooks family in the generation prior to Thomas Brooks.