William Brooks

The Brooks Family
Yancy County, NC    Rock Creek 1850’s  Fork Mt. Area 1860’s
BROOKS Wm Bill Hensley

BROOKS Wm Brooks, Uncle Ellis Jessee        BROOKS Wm Brooks - Orpha Jessee

As to the family history about having Indian heritage in our Brooks line, here is what I’ve heard
but haven’t seen any documentation to support it. According to family history Nancy ____ the
wife of William Brooks was a full-blooded Indian but I don’t think anyone knows which tribe.
I have heard some of my uncles (Garrett line whose mother was a Brooks) talk about Constants
(Constantinople , son of William) as being half Indian. Constants was the father of John who then
would have been one quarter Indian, and so on. I believe there are some definite physical
characteristics in the Brooks family that would indicate Indian heritage.
I have pictures of Joseph (my great-grandfather), James, Solomon, and Benjamin Brooks (all sons
of John and Elizabeth Hill Brooks).  John and Elizabeth went to Buchanan
County after the Civil War from Mitchell County, NC, and then on to Russell County.
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BROOKS

The Brooks Family came from Yancy County, NC.
Constantine was in NC, his son John came to Russell County to Rock Creek 1850’s and Fork Mt. Area 1860’s.

Altha Rudolph Brooks d/o William M. Brooks & Mary Sutherland
Mary died at the at the age of 33 due to complications from the birth of their 6th child Deward.
Mary d/o Mahala Kiser and Jessee Sutherland
Mahala d/o Joseph Kiser, Jr. & Mary Polly Childress
Jessee s/o Daniel Sutherland & Phoebe Fuller
William Brooks s/o John Brooks & Elizabeth Hill
John s/o Constantine (Constantnople) Brooks (Rutherford County, NC) * Rutha Daily
Constant s/o William Brooks & Nancy ? (full blooded Indian)

William Brooks was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in 1745 and died in Rutherford County, NC or in Cleveland County, NC in 1844. He enlisted in the Army in 1776 – the year the Revolutionary War began – where he was living at the time in Fredrick County, Maryland. He enlisted for a period of one year. During this year of service, he participated in the Battles of Harlem, Long Island and White Plain, New York. In White Plain he was wounded and sent to the hospital. After his release from the hospital, his tour of duty was complete and he moved to Guilford County, North Carolina. While a resident of Guilford County, he served three additional short tours of duty including the Battle of Charleston, South Carolina.

About 1787-88, he moved westward into Rutherford County and settled on Sandy Run Creek, which in 1841 became Cleveland County, North Carolina. This is the county where he died. We actually found no record of his marriage, but did find that his wife was named Nancy and the records show they raised nine sons and one daughter on the farm they owned and run a grist mill. According to his will, their children were John 1779, David 1781, Samuel 1797, Constantanople 1783, Joseph 1785, Issac 1787, Moses 1795, Aaron 1790, Hiram 1793, Elizabeth 1802.

Constant married Ruth Daily and was the only son to remain in Cleveland County. They raised a large family of 10 or 11 and one of their sons was John Brooks that married Elizabeth Betty Hill (or Hillmaiden) who had Alfred, Martin, James, Judith, John, Mary E. (Grandpa) Charles, William, Solomon and Rebecca C.

BROOKS Charles AND Nancy Boyd son of John & Elizabeth Brooks BROOKS Charles Brooks Family

Charles & Nancy Boyd Brooks & family

28 Comments

28 thoughts on “William Brooks”

  1. I would love to see some pictures of charles brooks, My great grand father, I am the grand daughter of eula belle brooks childress (daughter of charles)

    Reply

  3. My ancestor named William Brooks also lived in Rutherford county NC during this time. His wife was Susannah, and he had 4 sons: Phillip, Thomas, James, and Middleton, and 1 daughter Susannah. He came to NC from VA, where he had fought in the Rev. War. He came about 1794, and died in 1836 at his son’s home in SC. Have you run across any of these sons in your research in Rutherford county NC?

    Reply

    • Isaac C. Abbott??? How can he be an Abbott if he was William Brooks son?? Are you thinking of Isaac Crayton Brooks? We would all like to know who William Brooks parents are. Would also like to know who Nancy is 🙂
      Rory Bowers

      Reply

  6. Sherry,
    Thank you so much for all the pictures. You have been such a help and blessing in my journey of ancestry.

    Thanks again,
    Cristi

    Reply

  7. I am a descendant of William & Nancy Brooks through their son, MOSES. Moses, Perry Green (Civil War), Alvin, Augustus (my grandfather), Billy Lee (my father), myself. My father’s brothers & sisters (12 in all ) were all dark complected with beautiful, black eyes. My father & his twin brother were both light-the lightest of all the children & I, in turn, am very fair along w/my siblings. I have a pic of my Dad’s g/ma & she does look very native American. My father said she was part Indian but I don’t know how much. It’s interesting to see how ‘different’ all the aunts & uncles (deceased now) looked & all of us cousins! Some are light but many are quite dark. My dad’s g/ma was named Nancy Hicks. She told my father that her father was 1/2 Indian (Joe Hicks). I am aware that many Indians did not register as Indian for fear of being put on a reservation, so records would be hard to find. Regarding William’s parents; my research stated there’s no record of them–but states they were from England & he was raised by a man in YELLOW BREECHES, Pa.

    Reply

  8. I am a descendent of William and Nancy Brooks my father was Frank L Brooks son of just Brooks his father was James B Brooks his father was Isaac Creighton Junior his father was Isaac senior son of William and Nancy Brooks. If anybody has any info please contact me by email or by telephone 1-707-301-5450 I do have some photos and saw

    Reply

  9. I am a descendant of William Brooks as well. My name is Wally Calvin Brooks Jr. My father was WCB Sr. Several years before my father passed away in 2007 he put together some detailed records of our lineage going back to William Brooks. Its great to learn we have many cousins in the world. My father grew up in Cherryville, NC and we moved to Florida when I was young. I’d love to share some information with you if interested.

    Reply

  12. Thank you for responding back Wally. My father was frank Lawson Brooks he was born in the smoky mountains North Carolina his father was Jesse Brooks son of James B Brooks he was son of Isaac Creighton Junior which was the son of Isaac senior son of William and Nancy Brooks. My father passed away back in the late 70s. I started researching my family history about 10 years ago. I got a contact with my dad’s brother that was still living at the time in North Carolina smoky mountains. He filled me in on a lot of info. He gave me lots of photos some of James Brooks but none of Isaac Junior Brooks or William. All of this family searching all started with me looking in to see if we had black in us. Is been a long and stressful Road searching our family history everybody has different info and it’s hard piecing it together. It is great finding another cousin I would love to share information and photos with you. Please contact me as soon as possible or whenever you’re available .

    Reply

  14. The John Brooks in the family picture is Elizabeth’s son; my great grandfather. Charles is my great uncle. I descend from John’s marriage to Sarah B. Thacker.

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  15. I might as well throw my family in here… my 3rd Great Grandmother was Nancy Brooks. She was born in 1827 in Rutherford County, North Carolina. Nancy married Isaac David Smith 22 Jan 1850 in Lumpkin County, Georgia. Nancy is the daughter of Aaron Brooks, b. 1794 in Rutherford County and Elizabeth Sieger b. 1795 in Virginia. Aaron Brooks was the son of William Brooks (1745-1844) and Nancy Matthews (1750-1840). Before them is pure speculation. Nancy Brooks and Isaac David Smith had 7 children; Frances Ann Josephine Smith (1850-1940), Sarah Jane Smith (1853-1941), Mary Lucinda Caliska b. 21 Mar 1855 d. 1923, Aaron Jefferson b. 17 Jul 1857 d. 12 Feb 1935, Isabella b.1859 d. 1870, Samuel Moore b. Jan 1865 and Isaac Joseph Smith b. 28 Apr 1867 d. 15 May 1926. I have marriage information for all but Sarah, Mary and Isabella. Isaac Joseph Smith and his wife Frances Holt (1866-1914) had four children. I have the remainder of the family but I won’t bore you with it.
    Rory Bowers
    Fort Smith, Arkansas

    Reply

      • Hi Tracie, you are not my first contact with a decedent of Joseph Brooks. I have confirmed another cousin through DNA testing. I am not sure that I agree with Nancy “Matthews”. The evidence either does not exist or has not been discovered that William Brooks married a Nancy “Matthews”. There are many of us who would really like to know who she was. We can prove your family line fairly easily with a simple Ancestry DNA test. My family line is through Nancy Brooks, Joseph’s younger sister. With your DNA test we could easily prove the lineage back to William Brooks (triangulation). Eventually someone will discover the marriage certificate for William and we will all learn who Nancy was.
        Rory Bowers
        Fort Smith, Arkansas

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