George Brooks, Supposed Father of Christopher Williams Brooks - Records Search Results

Many researchers believe George Brooks to be the father of Christopher William Brooks, b. 1781. A land grant was issued to George Brooks, Sgt by the state of NC for 1000 acres in Maury Co., TN for Revolutionary War Service. The land grant stated that the land was to be transferred to Christopher Brooks, "heir of George Brooks." Because Christopher Brooks was still a minor, the land grant was then transferred to Henry Williams, whom I believe to be Christopher's grandfather (assuming Christopher is son of Christopher Brooks Sr and Susannah Williams). After Henry Williams died, Elizabeth Williams, his wife and executrix of his estate, sold his interest in this land to Nathan Williams (probably son of Elizabeth and Henry Williams) in 1813.

Today, I searched for George Brooks in the these records at the NC State Archives, 109 E. Jones Street, Raleigh, NC. My goal was to find some hint of relationship to other Brooks family members. Although I did not see mention of any family members, I did find the following records:

1. Caswell Co., NC List of Taxables for 1777, 1780, & 1784 , microfilm, Call No. 020.70001:

• 1777: Glouster District, George Brooks, 650 Acres, 7 wp, 0 bp - Where did this 650 acres come from? I did not see a land grant in Caswell, Orange, or Granville County, NC Land Grants.

• 1780: I only looked for Christopher Brooks. I don't believe George Brooks was listed.
• To Do: Look up George Brooks in 1780 tax list
• 1784: No George Brooks

2. Caswell Co., NC Record of Wills, Volumes A, B, C, microfilm, Call No. 020.80001. These records were also abstracted by Katherine Kerr Kendall's "Caswell County, NC Will Books, 1777 – 1814 & 1814 - 1843" which can be searched on ancestry.com

• I don't think I looked specifically for George Brooks here; if so, it was a younger George Brooks who is the son of Charles & Sally (Williams) Brooks
• I did not find an older George Brooks in the Will Book abstracts using Ancestry.com's search function either

3. Caswell Co., NC Loose Papers of Estate Files, Call No. 020.508.xxx

• Although I did not review the specific folder on this trip, I am fairly certain there were no BROOKS estate folders at the Archives (I inquired in June 2005)

4. Caswell Co., NC Land grants from the State of NC, card catalog:

• George Brooks, File no. 444, 300 acres, Entry no. 622 entered 11 Jan 1779; Grant no. 605, issued 13 Oct 1783; Book 53, p. 25; Located on the Middle fork of the South Fork of Country Line Creek

5. Caswell Co., NC Index to Real Estate Conveyances, Grantors and Grantees, microfilm

• These records need to be searched again. The Grantors index was indecipherable because the pages copied were too light. To Do: Review Kendall's Deed Abstracts 1777-1817 at the Olivia Raney History Library