davefff@comcast.net wrote: >While searching for my DAVENPORT line that went to Columbus, OH >I came across the following story of the Wife of David BROOKS b. >20 MAY 1793 in Princeton, Worcester County, MA. Hopefully, this >will be an addition to somebody's BROOKS ancestry. Did notice >also that another son of David BROOKS and Patience WHITE, >parents of above David BROOKS, another Reuben, is not my Reuben >BROOKS b. Jan. 1790 ( and the search goes on, and on, and >on)...Everything I've seen at Rootsweb Worldconnect and >Familysearch seem to be lacking in some important Details >concerning David BROOKS & Keziah HAMLIN [snip] The story begins at Princeton, where I've done a fair amount of digging because my direct ancestors lived there. Today Princeton still has various roads, districts and structures named for the Brooks family. Blake's History of Princeton, in two vols., is a substantial town history, much better than most. Vol. 2 contains the standard genealogies (very well done -- I've found no discernible Brooks errors), and p. 37 has the family you mention. Most of the Brookses at Princeton descended from Capt. Thomas/1 Brooks of Concord through Capt. Charles/5 Brooks, my direct ancestor, the first Brooks to arrive at Princeton, in 1764 from Marlborough, followed by a cousin Enoch of the same line. David/5 Brooks, of the Woburn line (Nathaniel/4, Jabez/3, John/2, Henry/1) was born at Woburn, settled at Lancaster as a young man, where he married Patience White 14 Jun 1774, and apparently soon removed to Princeton, as the birth of a son was recorded at Princeton 1 Jan 1775. (Son David/6, a twin, was born at Princeton 20 May 1793.) Here's more about David/5, from Blake, 2:35: "David Brooks was a Carpenter and Builder, more particularly of churches of which he had charge of building quite a number in western Massachusetts and southern Vermont and New Hampshire. He is credited with a statement made in his later days that he 'had built fourteen meeting-houses and had a family of fourteen children.' "The History of Northborough, Massachusetts records, "The increase of wealth and a regard for the institution of religion led the inhabitants of this town in the spring and summer of 1808 to erect a new and more spacious house for public worship. The new church is 56 feet square, and a projection of 34 feet by 15, surmounted by a tower and cost, including the bell, $11,408.04. The cost of bell was $510.00; its weight 1200 lbs. The meetinghouse was built by Col. Eams (sic) and Captain David Brooks, of Princeton, Mass." (Vol. 11, the Worcester Magazine & Historical Journal, Published Worcester, Mass. 1826. See page 176.)" Of David/6, Blake writes, 2:36-37, that "he went to Ohio in 1817 where he married Dec. 19, 1822, Keziah Hamlin daughter of Nathaniel Hamlin ... After locating in Columbus, Mr. Brooks several times returned to Princeton though at that time the Journey was long and filled with danger. The trip had to be made overland by horseback or horse and buck-board through the then almost-unsettled country. He was owner of the White Horse Tavern, a famous hostelry of that day in Columbus, Ohio. The name afterwards changed to Eagle Hotel, situated on the National road. He died July 9, 1848; she died Feb. 4, 1875." Blake also mentions the family tradition that Keziah Hamlin was the first white child born "in what is now Columbus, Ohio." Sorry that this discourse sheds absolutely no light on your Reuben b. 1790, but perhaps it will help someone looking into Brookses in early Columbus. Chris |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Christopher Brooks BROOKS Families of New England http://www.tributaries.org ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||