Genealogical and Family History
of the
STATE OF MAINE

Compiled under the editorial supervision of George Thomas Little, A. M., Litt. D.

LEWIS HISTORICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY
New York
1909.

[Please see Index page for full citation.]

[Transcribed by Coralynn Brown]

[Many families included in these genealogical records had their beginnings in Massachusetts.]

BROOKS The Brooks family is one of the oldest in Massachusetts, and the ancestral home at Medford has been occupied for many generations. Governor John Brooks was born there about 1752. The family is less numerous in Maine, but representatives of two of its branches came here in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. (I) Thomas Brooks came from London, and settled in Watertown, Mass., where he was admitted freeman Dec. 7, 1636. He soon moved to Concord, that state, where he was captain, constable and representative for seven years, beginning in 1642. In 1657 he purchased of the commissioners for five pounds the right of carrying on the fur trade. In 1660 Captain Brooks and his son-in-law, Timothy Wheeler, bought four hundred acres in Medford. Captain Thomas Brooks married Grace, whose family name is unknown. Children: Joshua, Caleb, Gershom, Mary (who married Capt. Timothy Wheeler), and Hannah (who married Thomas Fox). Mrs. Grace Brooks died May 12, 1664, and Capt. Thomas Brooks died at Concord, Mass. May 11, 1667, leaving an estate whose inventory amounted to about four hundred and fifty pounds. (II) Deacon Joshua, the eldest son of Thomas and Grace Brooks, was born in Watertown, 1636, and settled in that part of Concord, Mass., which became the town of Lincoln. He was a tanner by trde, and it is supposed that he sold his paternal estate in Medford to his brother Caleb. He was made a freeman May 26, 1652. He was married Oct. 17, 1653, to Hannah, daughter of Capt. Hugh Mason. Children: Hannah, John, Noah, Grace, Daniel, Thomas, Esther, Elizabeth, Joe and Hugh. (III) Noah, second son of Deacon Joshua and Hannah (Mason) Brooks, was born about 1655 in Concord, and died there Feb. 1, 1739. He was known as "Noah of Concord." He apprears on the records in 1684 as a witness to an Indian deed, and was selectman in 1702-04-09. When Acton was set off from Concord in 1735, his farm was included in the new town, and he was thenceforward a resident of Acton, living to the good age of eighty-three years. He was married in 1685 to Dorothy Wright, of Sudbury, Mass., who was born in 1659-60, and died March 15, 1750, aged ninety years, as appars on her tombstone in Concord. Children: Dorothy, Joshua, Ebenezer, Samuel, Benjamin, Mary, Thomas and Elizabeth. (IV) Deacon Joshua (2), eldest son of Noah and Dorothy (Wright) Brooks, was born Oct. 14, 1688, in Concord, and resided in Lincoln, Mass. He was married April 24, 1713, to Lydia Wheeler. (V) Deacon Joshua (3), son of Deacon Joshua (2) and Lydia (Wheeler) Brooks, probably resided in Concord or Lincoln. He was married in 1745 to Hannah Simons, of the latter town. (VI) John, fifth son of Deacon Joshua (3) and Hannah (Simons) Brooks, was born May 19, 1771, in Lincoln, and went to that portion of Hallowell, Maine, which is now Augusta, in 1784, being then thirteen years of age. He accompanied his uncle, William Brooks, and remained about one year, returning to Massachusetts. On attaining man's estate, he settled in Maine, and entered into partnership with his uncle on the east side of the Kennebec river, where he owned a farm upon which he built a large two-story house, uniform with the pattern of that day. He was married Jan. 31, 1796, to Susan, daughter of Lieut. Samuel Cony. Late in life he removed to Farmington, where he died Feb., 1864, aged ninety-three years. Children: Susan Johnson, Hannah Simons, William Augustus, John Cony, Susan Eliza, Pauline Augusta, Henry Albert, James Lowell, Mary Caroline, Samuel Spencer and Hannah Johnson. (VII) Samuel Spencer, youngest son of John and Susan (Cony) Brooks, was born March 28, 1821, in Augusta, Maine. He became a hardware merchant in that town, deriving therefrom a lucrative livlihood. He conducted business for the long period of half a century, during which time he won and retained an enviable reputation among the business men of the city for sterling integrity and straightforward transactions, and his steadily increasing patronage was proof sufficient that he paid strict attention to the needs and wishes of his patrons, whom he treated in a most curteous manner. A wam personal friend of James G. Blaine, he was a firm adherent of Republican principles, but gave little personal attention to politics. He was for years one of the pillars of the South Congregational church, of Augusta. He was married Nov. 5, 1861, to Mary Caroline Wadsworth, of Augusta. Children: 1. Albert Wadsworth, see forward. 2. Samuel Cony, born Feb., 1866, educated in the public schools, Amherst College, from which he graduated in class of 1888, and then entered the Divinity School at Yale College, remaining one year; he then went west, establishing Sunday-schools; he died in 1889. 3. Percy Willis, see foward. 4. Florence, born Oct. 29, 1869, married June 21, 1894, Robert Treat Whitehouse, of Portland. 5. Marguerite, born Aug. 29, 1873. (VIII) Albert Wadsworth, eldest son of Samuel Spencer and Mary Caroline (Wadsworth) Brooks, was born in Augusta, Maine, July 28, 1863. He was educated in the public schools of Augusta and Amherst College, graduating from the latter in the class of 1885. He at once engaged in the hardware business in Augusta, as a member of the firm of S. S. Brooks & Company, continuing until 1899. He then organized the corporation of Brooks Hardware Company, but later disposed of a portion of his stock, and retired from the active management of the business. In 1901 he engaged in the wholesale grain and flour business as treasurer of the B. F. Parrott Company, in which capacity he is still serving. He has served many years in both branches of the city government, and for fifteen years has been a member of the school board, acting as chairman of the same. He is a Republican in politics. He is a member of Bethlehem Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Cushnoc Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; Alpha Council, Royal and Select Masters; Trinity Commandery, Knights Templar, Maine Consistory, thirty-second degree; Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, of Augusta. Mr. Brooks married (first) Nov. 21, 1893, Mary McDaniel, daughter of Gardiner F. and Adelma A. (Saulsbury) McDaniel, of Augusta. Child: Barbara. Mrs. Brooks died June, 1903. Mr. Brooks married (second) June 16, 1908, Alice Hope Davies, daughter of George F. and Ida H. (Springer) Davies, of Waterville, Maine. (VIII) Percy Willis, third son of Samuel Spencer and Mary Caroline (Wadsworth) Brooks, was born Dec. 2, 1868, in Augusta, Maine. He attended the public schools of his native place, including the high school, after which he entered Bowdoin College, and was graduated a Bachelor of Arts in 1890. For some time after leaving college, he engaged in teaching and was principal of the high school at Woolwich, Maine. In 1891 he went to Boston, Mass., and entered the office of N. W. Harris & Company, a firm which dealt extensively in bonds and various investment securities. Ten years later, in July, 1901, he became a member of the firm, and this connection continued until October, 1906. Before the termination of his partnership he opened an office in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, which he successfully operated until the spring of 1907. At that time he formed a partnership with others, under the firm name of P. W. Brooks & Company, and established an investment banking house on Broadway, New York City, and is now actively and successfully prosecuting business as the head of the establishment. Mr. Brooks is a member of the Bowdoin Alumni Association, of New York, the Lawyers CLub, of New York, the Larchmont and Corinthian Yacht clubs, of New York. Mr. Brooks was married June 21, 1905, to Mary Morris Marshall, of Youngstown, Ohio.