Children of Thomas Whitlock (abt. 1745 – 1830) and Wife Hannah Phillips: Sarah Whitlock (1774 – 1837) and Husband Thomas Brooks

13 November 1839 account of Jane Brooks Lindsey in loose-papers estate file of Thomas Brooks held by Morgan County Archives

Or, Subtitled: “They were married together February 14, in the year of our Lord 1796

Sarah Whitlock was, if I have the children of Thomas Whitlock and Hannah Phillips ordered correctly, the couple’s fourth child. Sarah’s my 4th-great-grandmother. I’ve shared all that I know about her life in a number of previous postings. As this previous posting states, Sarah’s name is recorded in a family bible that belonged to her and her husband Thomas Brooks, and which passed from them to their oldest son Charles Brooks.[1] This bible is discussed in another previous posting

David Dinsmore, Ulster-Scots Loyalist in South Carolina and Nova Scotia Exile: Every Life Worth a Novel (8)

Hants County, Nova Scotia, Deed Bk. 4, p, 508

Or, Subtitled: New Documents Casting New Light on Old Mysteries

And now another addendum to a series of postings from the past — these tracking the life of my ancestor David Dinsmore, who was born in Ulster in 1750, arrived from Belfast with his wife Margaret aboard the Earl of Donegal in Charleston, South Carolina, on 10 December 1767, and received a grant from the colony of 150 acres on the Tyger River in Craven County (later Ninety Six District, then Spartanburg County) on 27 February 1768. When the American Revolution broke out, David took the British side, in 1775 and ended up in Nova Scotia, with his wife Margaret and their five children remaining behind on their farm on Jamey’s Creek of the Tyger River in South Carolina. I told David’s story and the story of his family in a seven-part series (citing documentation you’ll find as you read this series) that began in February 2018 with this posting.

Children of Thomas Brooks (1775 – 1838) and Wife Sarah Whitlock: Sarah (1822 – 1897) and Mic- (1814 – ?)

Moulton Advertiser (3 June 1897), p. 3, col. 4

Or, Subtitled: “A good old Mother in Israel gone”

In this posting, I’ll discuss the last child of Thomas Brooks (1775-1838) and Sarah Whitlock (1774-1837), their daughter Sarah. But before I launch into that discussion, I want to mention, as I finish my discussion of Thomas and Sarah Whitlock Brooks’s children, that the transcript of the register of this couple’s family bible indicates that a child whose name the transcriber read as Mic— was born 14 September 1814.[1] The transcript indicates that this child was a son. 

Children of Thomas Brooks (1775 – 1838) and Wife Sarah Whitlock: James R. Brooks (1818-aft. January 1851) — From Alabama to California for the Gold Rush

27 June 1842 receipt of James R. Brooks to Milton McClanahan for $250 from estate of Thomas Brooks, in Thomas Brooks’s loose-papers estate file in Morgan County, Alabama

Or, Subtitled: “Then began … the emigration to California, by land and sea, of 1849 and 1850,” P. Sioli, Historical Souvenir of El Dorado County, California

The family of Thomas Brooks (1775-1838) and Sarah Whitlock (1774-1837) fascinates me because of the way Thomas and Sarah’s children scattered to so many different places. Only one daughter, Hannah, with husband Wesley Huffaker, stayed in Wayne County, Kentucky, where Thomas and Sarah raised their family. Six went to Lawrence and Morgan Counties, Alabama, where Thomas and Sarah Whitlock Brooks spent the final year or two of their lives (in Morgan County): Jane (married Dennis Lindsey), Charles, Alexander, Samuel, James R., and Sarah. Charles and Samuel then moved from Alabama to Itawamba County, Mississippi, and Alexander lit out for Texas.

Children of Thomas Brooks (1775 – 1838) and Wife Sarah Whitlock: Samuel K. Brooks (1815-1898)

Samuel K. Brooks and wife Mary J. Gilstrap, photo uploaded by phalefamilytree to the Ancestry tree, “Hale/McConnell/Craig Family Tree”

Or, Subtitled: A volume of Wesley’s notes, a lot of books, a looking glass, a lot of queensware, etc.

8. The eighth child of Thomas Brooks (1775-1838) and Sarah Whitlock (1774-1837), Samuel K. Brooks, was born 19 December 1815 in Wayne County, Kentucky. This date of birth is recorded in his parents’ bible. When the bible register was transcribed and published in 1988 in the journal Itawamba Settlers, Samuel’s name was transcribed as Sanford.[1] It’s clear that Sanford Brooks is Samuel K. Brooks, since the same date of birth is recorded on the tombstone of Samuel K. Brooks in Shiloh cemetery in Lee County, Mississippi.[2]

Samuel K. Brooks tombstone, Shiloh cemetery, Lee County, Mississippi, a close-up photo taken by William D. Lindsey

Children of Thomas Brooks (1775 – 1838) and Wife Sarah Whitlock: Hannah Brooks (1811 – 1853) and Husband Wesley Huffaker 

Wesley Huffaker’s signature to 2 May 1850 letter to David Dinsmore Lindsey in loose-papers estate file of Thomas Brooks held by Morgan County, Alabama, Archives

Or, Subtitled: The one child of Thomas and Sarah Whitlock Brooks who remained in Wayne County, Kentucky, dying there of childbirth

6. The sixth child of Thomas Brooks (1775-1838) and Sarah Whitlock (1774-1837), Hannah Brooks, who was named for her grandmother Hannah Phillips Whitlock, was born 5 September 1811. This date of birth is recorded on her tombstone in Bethesda cemetery, at Bethesda in Wayne County, Kentucky, and in her obituary in the Louisville and Nashville Christian Advocate on 23 February 1854.[1] As with her brother Alexander Mackey Brooks, the sibling born immediately before her, her birthdate is not recorded in her parents’ family bible. We know she was a daughter of Thomas Brooks, however, since his 8 October 1838 will in Morgan County, Alabama, names Hannah Huffaker as his daughter.[2] As documents cited in the posting I have just linked state, Thomas’s estate documents show that Hannah’s husband was Wesley Huffaker.

Children of Thomas Brooks (1775 – 1838) and Wife Sarah Whitlock: Margaret Brooks (1803-1855) and Husband Ransom Van Winkle — Morgan County, Illinois, Years

29 June 1847 (or 1849?) receipt of Ransom Van Winkle for payment of his inheritance in right of wife Margaret from Thomas Brooks, and for his brother-in-law Thomas Whitlock Brooks’s share of inheritance, in loose-papers probate file of Thomas Brooks held by the Morgan County Archives in Decatur

Or, Subtitled: “[They] settled on the unbroken prairie, prepared to cultivate the soil; there were spent the last days of the old folks”

This post is a continuation of a previous post tracking the family of Margaret Brooks, daughter of Thomas Brooks and Sarah Whitlock, and her husband Ransom Van Winkle in Wayne County, Kentucky. An obituary of their son Alexander Van Winkle confirms that Ransom and Margaret Brooks Van Winkle moved their family to Morgan County, Illinois, in the fall of 1829.[1] 

Children of Thomas Brooks (1775 – 1838) and Wife Sarah Whitlock: Charles Brooks (1800/1 – 1861), Itawamba County, Mississippi, Years

Photo of Deniah Cornelius Brooks uploaded by JudyKay1234 to her “Hendrick, Lindsey, Sullivan, Brooks” family tree at Ancestry

Or, Subtitled: Migration of Families from Lawrence-Morgan Counties, Alabama, to Itawamba County, Mississippi, Following Depression of 1837

This posting is a continuation of a previous posting discussing the life of Charles Brooks (1800/1-1861), son of Thomas Brooks (1775-1838) and wife Sarah Whitlock. The previous posting tracks Charles in Lawrence County, Alabama, where he married Deniah Cornelius, daughter of Rowland Cornelius and Eleanor Watkins, on 27 January 1823, and where Charles and Deniah and their children lived until 1840, when the family moved to Itawamba County, Mississippi. As the posting I just linked also indicates, Charles appears in the estate records of his father Thomas Brooks, who died in Morgan County, Alabama, on 25 October 1838 with a will naming Charles, his oldest son, as his executor.

Children of Thomas Brooks (1775 – 1838) and Wife Sarah Whitlock: Jane (1797 – 1852) and Charles Brooks (1800/1 – 1861)

Bond of Charles Brooks and John Stewart, 24 January 1823, for Charles’s marriage to Deniah Cornelius, see Lawrence County, Alabama, Marriage Bonds and Licenses 1820, available digitally at FamilySearch

Or, Subtitled: Wherein I Confess That I’ve Made a Whopper of a Mistake, about Which I Need to Tell Readers of This Blog

I need to start this posting with a confession. I make mistakes. I know that will shock you profoundly[!]. In working on this posting, I discovered I have made a colossal one, one that reverberates through previous postings about my Brooks family. Finding that I have gone wrong about one key piece of information will now require me to backtrack through previous postings and correct multiple erroneous statements based on one big wrong turn.

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.