Death notices in the Boston Commercial Gazette of 27 Jul 1820 include the following: DEATHS. | In this town, … James Brooks, son of Wm. S. Brooks, aged 11; … This allows us to correct several errors in print. In the published VR of Medford, MA, p. 33, is the following birth entry: ____, ch. William and w., Mar. 21, 1808. P.R.42. [P.R. 42 indicates a private family record, i.e., someone's compiled genealogy, was the source of the record, and not a town document.] Rev. Charles Brooks, in his History of Medford, mistakes the 1808 record for that of James, and says of his parents, "In addition to the list of children shown they lost 2 sons named James…" However, the following birth record, from the published Arlington, MA VR, makes clear that the James who died in 1820 was the same born in 1809: Brooks, James, s. W[illia]m S., Apr. 3, 1809. Thus there was one son James, and not two. William Gray Brooks (father of Rev. Phillips, and one of his generation's Brooks family historians) also made the mistake of "doubling the count" for James, an error which is repeated in the contemporary book, "The Brooks Family," by Floyd Brooks. As did yrs truly, relying on William Gray Brooks, prior to this time. This James is the son of Capt. William Smith/6 Brooks and Eleanor Forman, in the line of Capt. Thomas Brooks. Chris |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Christopher Brooks BROOKS Families of New England http://www.tributaries.org ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||