Letter from Elizabeth Brooks-Bidwell to Thomas & Lucy Brooks in Plymouth, Chenango County, New York.
It was sent to me by the Chenango County Historian, 48 Rexford Street, Museum, Norwich, New York 13815
Thomas Brooks
Plymouth in the
County of Chenango
State of New York
Franklin NY
Dec. 10 1819
One interpretation of the
above:
Glastenbury Nov 21
loving Brother and Sister having an opportunity to wright to you to let you know that we are all well as i hope that will find you i will tell you that I had ahard fortin (fortune) i have lost three children letly (lately or it could say Betty?) )an I (or and?) had the consumpsion (consumption) and Simtha (Simantha?) was married and had two Sons She had the dropsy i have got. youngest Polly was way sick with ulcers nine years but died july 24 won year ago She got up in the morning well for her but did (died) not 10 clock (o'clock) i long to see you but do not expect to in this world but I hope that shall meat in heaven dear sister do you wright to me i haint no time to right i must conclude i remain your Sister until > /s/ Elizabeth Bidwell to Lucy and Thomas Brooks
Was Elizabeth Bidwell the sister of Lucy? Barbour Index shows that Elizabeth had a sister named Lucy (b July 1, 1754). The Lucy that was married to Thomas Brooks in Chenango County, died December 31, 1827. Her tombstone tells us she was 71 years and ___ months old. That would have her being born 1756 -- just a scant 1 1/2 +/- difference from the recorded birthdate of Barbour's Lucy. The Barbour records show Lucy, daughter of John and Mary Brooks, as baptised July 1, 1754; they show her younger sister Elizabeth as baptised May 22, 1759. They also show Elizabeth's marriage to Thomas Bidwell on April 30, 1778. They show baptisms for Thomas and Elizabeth Bidwell's daughters Betty, Cinthia and Mabel, the first two of whom were mentioned in the letter from Elizabeth Bidwell to Lucy and Thomas in Plymouth NY.
FURTHER... The Will of Socrates Brooks mentions an Uncle Ephraim Brooks. The above Elizabeth and Lucy had a brother Ephraim born in 1 June 1766 in Glastonbury, CT. This birthdate makes him 75 in 1841-- the same age that Ephraim Brooks gives in his deposition in the disputed Will of Socrates Brooks. I, at first, jumped to the conclusion that Ephraim had to be a brother of Levi and Thomas. I was WRONG! My thanks to Steve Hoffman, member of the BROOKS-NE-L at Rootsweb for clearing my thinking on that point.
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Steve Hoffman writes: "Genealogical notes, hand-written by my grandmother, Gabrielle Brooks-Hoffman (granddaughter of Theseus, twin brother of Socrates), in the early 1900s in a family scrapbook list Thomas Brooks marrying Lucy Brooks. ... In these notes she is consistently accurate in listing all other maiden names of brides, so we have some confidence that Thomas did indeed marry Lucy, whose maiden name was Brooks."
The weight of the above evidence therefore suggests that Lucy, wife of Thomas Brooks Jr, was the sister of Elizabeth Brooks Bidwell and the daughter of John and Mary Brooks."
I agree with you Steve.