Arguments for “Bebby” Brooks

Being Edmond “Lilly” Brooks

First of all, abstracting old records results in many errors. The difficulty is in recording and re-recording these records in the primitive time periods concerned and then for us to read and interpret these records today. With that in mind, imagine that the name of “Bebby” Brooks is handwritten, probably quickly. Reading a handwritten “l” is often confused with a “b”. Suppose also that a clerk in 1800 copying these records misread it and rerecorded the “l” as a “b”. That record got passed down to us in a distorted sense. Also, an “e” is easily confused with an “i”. An original record for “Bebby” Brooks which doesn’t make much sense to us (its singularity for instance) might have been misread from “Lilly” Brooks.

This is simply semantics until we consider that there was a very prominent gentleman living in Anson Co, NC about that time (large landowner, official) by the name of “Edmond Lilly”. It was common practice to name a son or daughter after someone of importance. And, the name “Lilly” wouldn’t have sounded so much a feminine one as it would the name of a great man of the day. After all, my father was named Baylus Cade Brooks after a Baylus Cade from Lenoir, NC.

Is it that far a stretch to assume then that what was recorded as “Bebby” Brooks might not be a reference to Edmond “Lilly” Brooks?