I have a meaningful challenge for anyone interested in Thomas and Grace Brooks who would enjoy gaining some research experience at the individual document level. Wiley Brooks Jr., a subscriber, has an unreadable copy of the deed by which Capts. Thomas Brooks and Timothy Wheeler purchased a 400-acre Medford estate in 1660. The challenge, should any one want to take it up, is to secure a legible copy, either from the original county deed registers, or on LDS microfilm, which can be transcribed and circulated. This deed might divulge some hard-earned snippets about Thomas Brooks, such as terms of credit, schedule of occupancy, and witnesses -- if we could read it. I hope to get to it "someday," but one of you could get to it now, if you were interested, and gain some valuable experience in transcribing period records in the process. :-) Mind that this deed does not exist as an original document -- you won't find the autograph of Thomas Brooks at the bottom. It's the county's record of the deed, which was copied into the county register (a huge, Dickensian-sized ledger book) by a clerk from the original paper, which would have then been recycled. (Cotton paper and rags were reused to make more cotton paper, which was scarce and expensive until the development of paper from wood pulp around the time of the Civil War.) But the existing copy is only slightly (to the degree of one court copyist) removed from Thomas, it's tangible, and it's evidence -- as close to the original as we can ever come. I'll be happy to detail where and how to start should anyone be interested. Chris

Hi Chris, I'd be willing to give it a try. Send details. ~~~Pam Outgoing mail scanned by Norton Antivirus 2002 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Christopher Brooks" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, March 23, 2002 1:02 PM Subject: Re: [BNE] HELP! Re: Grace WHEELER > I have a meaningful challenge for anyone interested in Thomas and > Grace Brooks who would enjoy gaining some research experience at the > individual document level. [snip]