9 Apr 2021

I made an interesting discovery today regarding the parents of Rebecca Brooks. We always suspected that her parents were a James and Rebecca that we found in the census for Mendham in 1841. By 1851 the elder Rebecca had died and James was a widower lodging with his grandson George Brooks (who had married Frances Snowling). James was born around 1770 in Starston, Norfolk.

I looked for the baptism of the younger Rebecca Brooks and her sister Eliza. The best I could find was a baptism on 10 Feb 1808 of Eliza Brooks daughter of James and Rebecca Brooks, late Pritty. The record comes from Bishops Transcripts for the parish of Redenhall with Harleston and the Hamlet of Wortwell in Norfolk. She was born the previous day.

The problem is that Eliza had a son, John Booty Brooks, in 1822 which would make her just 14. But in that record she is noted as a singlewoman and the following year on 19 Jun 1823 she married John Booty in Weybread, Suffolk. Presumably this was the father of her child. He appears to have been aged 30 at the time of marriage.

John Booty senior died in 1828 and the following year Eliza married William Squire in Weybread. The younger John Booty appears in the 1841 census aged 19 living with James and Rebecca, so the link is quite strong. Unfortunately he died in 1844.

Something else happened to the family around that time because I found a newspaper report from 1845 announcing the sale of James Brooks’ farming stock at Mendham¹. In the 1851 census he is listed as a “pauper late farmer” aged 81.

I looked for his death and found a good candidate: a burial in Weybread, Suffolk of James Brighton Brooks, aged 92, of Withersdale.

I was curious about the Brighton name since it was the first time I had seen it. I searched Ancestry and found a a family tree that showed a James Brighton Brooks born 1766 in Starston. The tree also included a son James Brightwen Brooks (1800-1844) whose son Frederick Charles Brooks (1823) married into the user’s Freeman family².

I looked for more parish records for James Brighton Brooks and came across a marriage of a James Brighten and Rebecca Pritty in Brockdish, Norfolk! Pritty was the maiden name of the Eliza Brooks that I found at the start of today’s search.

Marriage by banns at Brockdish, Norfolk on 17th Sep 1794 of James Brighten and Rebecca Pritty, single woman. He could not sign his name but she could. The witnesses were John King and Thomas Pritty, both of whom could sign their names.³

This could explain why we could never find a baptism for James Brooks. Perhaps he was illegitimate and Brighten or Brooks was his father’s name. He went by the name of James Brooks for all of his life and his surviving family recorded his full name on his death certificate.

I looked on familysearch.org for Rebecca Brooks but couldn’t find anyone matching. However I did find a Rebecca Brighton in Brockdish:

Baptism at Brockdish, Norfolk on 14th Mar 1795 of Rebecca Brighton, dau. of James Brighton and Rebecca Brighton, late Pritty. Private baptism.⁴

This clearly links to the James and Rebecca marriage the year before but I’m still not certain how Rebecca Brighton becomes Rebecca Brooks.

I then found 4 more baptisms of James and Rebecca’s children under the name Brighton in Mendham:

James Brooks, 1796 Phebe, 1797 Thomas, 1799 John, 1801⁵

I’m not sure what to make of it yet. Somehow these people appear to be connected to Rebecca Brooks. I need to find out more about her to try and draw a connection. When looking at her record it’s surprising how little I know. No baptism, burial or marriage after her son George was born. All we know is that a woman named Rebecca Brooks was recorded as the mother of George Brooks.

Mendham, Brockdish, Weybread, Redenhall and Starston parishes are all within 2-3 miles of one another. Mendham and Weybread are in Hoxne deanery, Brockdish, Redenhall and Starston are in the Redenhall deanery. They all surround the parish of Needham which hasn’t featured in any records so far but should be checked.