This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/QBC.2ACI/2212.1 Message Board Post: Tony, Your Brooks are most likely from the William Brooks and Anne Locke lineage. They settled briefly in Fauquier County, migrated to Culpeper County, and settled in Tazewell County, Virginia. My g-grandmother was Mary Belle Brooks. She is from this lineage. Here is an excert from JTR's Colorful History: But let's get on with the story of William Brooks. He stated in his Pension Application that he was born in Fauquier County, VA Feb. 3, 1752. However, since Fauquier was not formed until 1759 the place of his birth may have been in that part of Fauquier which was formerly Prince William County, formed in Mar 1731. His wife was Ann Locke, born in Fauquier, so the record goes, on Aug. 1, 1749. William died in Thompson Valley on Jan. 24, 1841 and Ann died in Thompson Valley on Oct. 2, 1843. They were married in Fauquier County Sept. 5, 1769 and were the parents of 12 children. In researching the records we have determined his arrival in Thompson Valley to be in 1782. If we are correct in this date, and that their first child was born in 1770, then at least six or possibly seven children came with their parents on pack horses. Can you imagine such a journey through an Indian infested wilderness from the North Fork of the Roanoke River in Botetourt County." What we see on TV has actually happened to our ancestors right here where we live. What was it all like here in Virginia 225 years ago when William Brooks was born? What type of a man was he that at the age of about 30 he would, with several small children, start on such a journey? Well, there was one thing for sure. He wanted a home of his own for his loved ones even if he had to carve it out of this wilderness with his bare hands, and he did exactly that. Ann Locke Brooks must have been of sturdy stock. Family tradition has it that she was kinswoman of John Locke (1632-1704) the noted English philosopher (we have never tried to make a definite connection, but I've heard it said many times.) It is very likely that while living in Botetourt County, William Brooks, after intermittent service in the Revolutionary War, scouted this frontier in 1781, selected the lands for his surveys and took possession in 1782. We have copies of this survey, one of 399 acres and another of 430 acres. At his death his executor sold the land he then held, 441 acres, for $950. We know his lands adjoined that of the Henry Family whose members were massacred by the Indians about 1774. In the Declaration for a Pension filed by William Brooks, on file in the Tazewell Court records, he gave the following record of his services which produced his pension of $26.66 and was granted on June 24, 1833. The record: While a resident of Culpeper County, VA he enlisted in Oct. 1777? and served as a private in Capt. Richard Waugh's Company, Col. James Barber's Virginia Regiment. Again, while a resident of Botetourt County, VA He enlisted in Feb. 1781 and served as a private under Lt. Henry Watterson in Capt. James Woods Company, Col. Hugh Crockett's Virginia Regiment and was in the battles of the Alamance and Whitsall's Mills in North Carolina. He enlisted on Nov. 1, 1781 and served as a private in Capt. Thomas Hamilton's Company, Charles Dabney's Virginia Regiment and was discharged on May 1, 1782 at Richmond. There may well have been other enlistments but since he was 80 years of age at the time of filing his application for a pension, such other service may well hav! e been forgotten. I have among my papers a photostat copy of his application from the Pension Bureau: the date is March 25, 1830? Hope this helps to lead you in the right direction. Dah Jenkins