Brother to Brother
Mr. William Brooks
Mattemuskeet
Hyde County
April 11th 1816Dear Brother
If those few laines [lines] Shoute [should] Come to hand they will inform you that my self are some what unwell But Not to keep my bed I have One prentice [apprentice] Boy that are Dangerously sick & has Bin for 6 or 8 weeks and thare are But little hopes of his recovery with the Slo fever by the name of John Jones the rest of my family are in health I recivd a letter from Brother Stephen a few weakes past whare In he informed me he & family ware well also My sone [son] Jack I have Nothing worth retaleing to you at present more then [than] to let you now [know] that I have not forgot One of the Smallest Of my Conethion [connection?] Belo I hope you will remember me to them all that are Convenent I will thank you to write to me by the first Oppertunity Or by the Male If you Now [know] of any Negroes to sell that you think wont robt [rob] me to by [buy] for my own use I have sold 2 of mine and wish to lay out about 12 or Less hundred Dollars for Negroes for my Own use if you No of any for sale & woutd [would] write me word I woutd Come down Negroes has takeen a rise with Us Please to write me If they have with you Or what you think I Coutd [could] By [buy] a likely young man for So no more but with respect I am your loving Brother
Jacob Brooks
People mentioned in the letter:
- Jacob Brooks, carpenter by trade, born circa 1760, son of Stephen Brooks, Jr. and his wife, Mary Farrow. He married Sarah "Sally" Warrington on January 7, 1793 in Tyrrell Co., NC. He removed from Hyde County, NC to Johnston Co. NC between 1795-1797. His will was written in Johnston Co. on October 25, 1822 with a codicil attached bearing a date of November 19, 1822. By March 1829 Jacob's widow was living in Madison Co., TN where she died in 1836. Jacob and Sarah had eight known children but no son named Jack, unless he was referring to his son, John William Brooks.
- William Brooks, Methodist minister, born March 12, 1756, also son of Stephen Brooks, Jr. and Mary Farrow. He married Martha Foreman on March 13, 1783. His will was written in Hyde County in December 1837 and was probated August Term 1838, having died June 5, 1838 in Mount Pleasant. William and Martha had nine known children.
- Stephen Brooks [the 3rd] was born February 18, 1764, also son of Stephen Brooks, Jr. and Mary Farrow. He was ordained a Methodist minister at the New Bern Conference in 1789. He was married first to Anna Ernst in Greene Co., TN on March 26, 1793. Anna died 6 years later after having born two children, Henry Ernst Brooks and Mary Brooks. Stephen remarried Margaret A. Whittenburg in Greene Co., TN on January 7, 1800 and together they had 10 known children. Stephen Brooks wrote his will in Greene Co., TN on April 11, 1850 and died there on January 1, 1855.
Letter submitted by Kay M. Sheppard from the Alton Warren Payne files which states that the original letter came from the Adeline Brooks Payne Collection and was owned in the 1970's by Lena White Johnson. Information on the persons mentioned in the letter are from personal research done by Kay Midgett Sheppard and from In Memory Of by Martha Rebecca Swindell & R.S. Spencer, Jr. and Hyde Remembers by R.S. Spencer, Jr.
Copyright 2005
