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Welcome to our Brooks Family!
A Family Research Page developed and researched by Baylus Cade
Brooks, Jr. and dedicated to Baylus Cade Brooks, Sr., son of Reverand Edgar Marcelus
Brooks (pictured to the left). Rev.
Brooks wrote the history of our family in Brooks of Union County, NC,
published in 1925! Much of what we know
about our early history is due to him and the family documents that he had in
his possession until the day of his death in 1943. My uncle, Cullen Brooks of Chatham, Va. Once told me that upon
his father’s death, they found the old documents bound in tobacco twine and an
old chest containing Confederate money, totaling more than $150,000!! That’s right! Our ancestors were rich!
Why didn’t they share it with us today?
Well.. because they had invested quite heavily in the Confederate States
of America and, thanks to the Civil War, had lost it. Oh, well.. easy come… ?
I just wish I knew what happened to the rest of that Confederate
money! It would be worth a fortune
again today…
Well.. we
still have the family documents… they are in the care of Dr. Robert E. Brooks
of Fayetteville, NC. And they have been
abstracted by yours truly. These
documents date back as far as 1814 and contain bills of sale for slaves, land
documents, receipts for taxes and even one copy of an actual survey done for
William Brooks II in 1832! They’re
available for sale at $15.00 plus $1.50 S&H at the following address:
Baylus Cade Brooks, Jr.
6214 155th Drive
Live Oak, FL 32060
Note to all
Brooks genealogists…
Originally, I had believed that John Brooks and William Brooks
(the first two in the Anson County, NC region) were brothers. I had arrived at this conclusion out of
careful research through the years. I
was wrong. It is SO possible to ASSUME
something in genealogy. Often, it
helps… you "assume" something to be true to test the hypothesis and
see if the facts fall into place. The
problem arises in making the assumption and then just…. leaving it that way,
forgetting that you made the assumption.
I did this. It was a funny
feeling the day that I rechecked the 1763 tax records for Anson County, NC and
found not one "John Brooks" on the list, but two! They were listed as "John, Jr."
and "John, Sr." and, of course…. "William Brooks." I had overlooked this VERY important
clue. The John Brooks formerly thought
to be the son of "John of Va" was born in 1758, making him only 5
years old in 1763… not quite old enough to own land, much less pay taxes on
it! There must have been an older John
Brooks, born before 1745, which would put him in the age bracket closer to
William, perhaps a brother to William.
Well, the "John of Va" found on 1782 tax lists for Anson
County, NC must be the oldest "John Brooks," probably William's
father who probably died not long after the 1782 tax list where he was listed
as an "invalid." Make another
note of this, please… I am ASSUMING that William is his son! Please don't quote this "work in
progress" as absolute fact. It's
only "probably" what happened.
Now, here's how I believe our family history to have proceeded:
In 1762…
William Brooks,
John Culpeper, John Lee and
Anne Trull (according to History of Anson County, NC) were the first
four settlers to obtain land in what would become Anson Co, NC along the
Rocky River. This was stated to have
occurred in 1747 and was granted to them by George Augustus Selwyn through his
agent, Henry McCullough. Well, Selwyn
didn’t inherit this land from his father until the early 1760’s and since the
first record of the Brooks in the deeds occurred in 1762, we must conclude that
1760ish was the arrival of the Brooks brothers in the Anson Co, NC area. The authors of The History of Anson
County, NC must've gotten these
facts wrong, I’m afraid.
The connections between these families can be seen in this deed:
25 Apr
1765. John
Culpepper of Anson to William Brooks of same, $25, 100 acres on South side
Rocky River, where Brooks now lives at John Lee's ford, Richardson Creek./s/ John
Culpepper (seal):wit:Henry Stokes, Thos. Denard, Jacob Denard. DB 3 p.239
What the history books seem to ignore, is that John Brooks I “of VA” was the
father and rec’d the original 500 acre land grant; whereas, William only rec’d
100 acres. John Brooks was actually the
most prominent figure in the early Brooks family history from this region, at
this time… now, after William moves down the river to the Island Creek area,
the more modern Brooks family saga begins!
He had many children who were as fruitful as he and produced many Brooks
descendants.
Undoubtedly, so did John’s descendants… it’s just that they
didn’t stay in the area. They probably
went off to Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama and the like. In fact, the John Brooks b.1758 is probably
the son of John Brooks II, son of John Brooks I "of VA" rather than
the reputed William Brooks. There is
much to weed out here. This is, without
doubt the root cause of the history books giving so much credit to William
Brooks I. Although, I'm sure he
deserves it.. after all, he did perpetuate the Brooks name quite well in the
Anson Co, NC area, with descendants in Stanly, Union, Anson and many other
states. However, history is written by
the living. And the living in Anson Co,
NC don't remember John… just William.
The Brooks are said to have come from Culpeper Co, VA and settled
on the Rocky River. Many early records
would tend to agree… however, just how the other early Anson Brooks fit into
this family is still a matter of conjecture.
I have endeavored to make such “hunches” and have presented them here as
well. All “conjectured” data presented
in this set of webpages will be clearly noted.
Any “WAG’s” (Wild –ss Guess’s) on my part will be backed up with proof
and noted in the text. Where these
occur, I have noted them with “BCB NOTE:” for elaboration purposes.
The Hardships of Research
Anson
Hotel Fire
1868 - July Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions
for Anson County:
It is ordered by the Court for
the information of those who succeed us and the living present alike that the
following be made a part of the records of this Court:
On Thursday morning, April 2, 1868, between twelve and one o’clock, a fire
occurred in the town breaking out near the store house of J. R. Hargrave, then
unoccupied except as a depot for some cotton, which rapidly extended to the
store houses occupied by Morton’s Brewery and the Anson Hotel, destroying them;
thence communicating northward burning the store houses of S.W. Cole, A. E.
Bennett and Jesse Edwards, involving the Court House, the entire records of the
Superior Court, the most part of those of the County and Equity Courts, and the
line of buildings extending thence eastward to and including the jail and
kitchen, where by great efforts and the blessings of Our Heavenly Father, it
was stopped. About 32 buildings were destroyed. In consequence of the loss of
the Court House, the Court met at the Baptist Church within the corporate lands
of the Town of Wadesborough.
- Remarks
from the memory of Risden F. Bennett recorded Sept. 13, 1912. Minute
Docket N./79 -NCA
This fire
undoubtedly destroyed many records pertinent to our searches… what we have
today has been pieced together from remnants and copies that have survived
mostly due to hard-working historians and genealogists and family members that
kept their memoires and heirlooms, which often included family papers. We owe all of these folks our thanks for
their efforts!
Now, on to the
good stuff….
TABLE OF CONTENTS
John & William Brooks of Culpeper Co, Va
William Brooks I of Stanly Co, NC
William Brooks II of Stanly Co, NC
Brooks Stories and Newspaper
Articles
