Bedale & Masham area BROOKS

I was contacted this last week by a lady who tells me her Great Great Grandmother is Hannah Brooks born circa 1813 in Summerside, Ilton cum Pott.

This has brought me back to old research and one which I deem important to try and resolve if I can any assumptions and speculation made.

Hannah was baptised in Masham on the 30^th October 1813 daughter of Joseph & Sally BROOKS of Summerside.

In my Family Tree I have a speculative link to Joseph BROOKS via my 5x Great Grandfather George BROOKS – I am working on the possibility they may be Half Brothers however so far everything I have tried to prove this has failed.

All records I have for George BROOKS indicate he is born circa 1763 in Wilsill, the only baptism at this time is in Pateley Bridge on the 4^th December 1763 son of James BROOKS.

I must state at this time that it is a known fact that the Pateley Bridge Parish Records are incomplete which is one reason a lot of evidence has been lost and many families either can not be connected using this method or just disappear.

My research revolves around James BROOKS who Marries Alice HUDSON in Pateley Bridge on the 6^th July 1756 my 6x Great Grandparents and the parents of George.  Alice dies and is buried on the 31^st January 1771.

On the 11^th May 1780 in Pateley Bridge a James BROOKS marries Mary FREAR I believe this is my  James BROOKS the parents of Joseph BROOKS he is Baptised on the 2^nd March 1783 in Pateley Bridge.  Joseph has a sister Jinny Brooks born 1785 and dies in 1786 daughter of James Brooks a Parish Pensioner.  Mary is buried in Pateley Bridge on the 29^th October 1785 wife of James Brooks a Parish Pensioner and it is here I lose sight of James and I do not know where he went. 

I pick Joseph up again and can only presume it is the same Joseph son of James & Mary when he marries on the 25^th November 1807 in Masham to Margaret Ascough a witness at the marriage is George BROOKS. It states Joseph is a Bachelor age 25 and is a Weaver. [is this my George Brooks].

George has a marriage bond dated 1809 and surety for this Bond is a Robert ASCOUGH, Inn Keeper (this may be coincidence)….Robert ASCOUGH is also a witness to the Marriage in Kirkby Malzeard on the 6^th November 1809 George is a Weaver from Pateley Bridge.

GEORGE & JOSEPH are Weavers both from Pateley Bridge and all my research shows so far that in Pateley Bridge at this time there are clearly 2 distinct branches of BROOKS Families one all are Farmers and live in the Bewerley area and one are Weavers living in the Church Bank area, of course this still does not prove anything but does give me something to consider.

At the time of writing this I have located more Bedale BMD’s in the early 1840’s of which I have now purchased in the hope they may lead me to new clues – my family have done a DNA test and it was trying to locate MALES down different BROOKS families coming out of Pateley Bridge did I find Joseph Brooks hoping for a Male line to exist as far as I am aware he only had 2 daughters from his second marriage to Sally Wilkinson in 1812.

Hannah c.1813 & Mary c. 1816 both baptised in Masham.

Many Thanks to my recent contact I have received a Photo of Hannah and now know she Married William Wright in Masham on the 20^th December 1834, Following the family via Census records Hannah always has a 2 year age discrepancy, this is also something I am trying to double check but so far everything I have seen so far does indeed suggest she is the daughter of Joseph & Sally.

Sadly all attempts to link the families together have failed Joseph dies in 1870 in the Workhouse in Bedale so no family member registers his death, the only thing I have is that they appear in one Census on the same page and they all live in the same place.

I do not know what happened to Mary, Hannah’s sister.

If anyone knows anything about any Masham, Bedale, Summerside, Ilton cum Pott , Moorhouse BROOKS relations I would love to hear from you.

Updated in 2012 - those researchers trying to disprove my theory of a second marriage to a 50 year old and linking Mary Frear to the younger James Brooks need to look again at their research and look again at the Parish Records a 20 year old James Brooks would not be listed as a Parish Pensioner.  If you can however prove me wrong i would very much like to see new documents and evidence so i can re-evaluate my trees - much of the BROOKS research in Pateley Bridge is verging on Speculation and Assumptions due to the lack  of accurate Parish Records.

See also Barnsley & Monk Bretton BROOKS