Memoirs of Susannah Brooks Johnson Provide Priceless Snapshots of late-18th Century Brooks Family

For descendants of Matthew and Elizabeth Warren Brooks of 18th-century Virginia, few resources can match the immediacy and relevance of Susannah Brooks Johnson's book Recollections of the Rev. John Johnson and his Home: An Autobiography.

Dictated to son Adam Clarke Johnson in 1869, 75-year-old Susannah's memoir paints a vivid picture of her childhood in the idyllic hamlet of Abbeville, South Carolina. She names parents (Thomas and Susannah Teague Brooks) and grandparents as well as aunts and uncles (and their spouses), describes where each lived (or moved), and relates engaging anecdotes and character sketches about many.

Her description of the incidents surrounding the Revolution (her maternal grandfather was captured and hanged by a local Tory contingent), strips the shiny patriotic gloss of the war away to reveal the hardship and terror of day-to-day life during a brutal and divisive conflict.

Hardship was to become the theme of Susannah's life, though she never descends into self pity in her narrative. Raised Quaker, Susannah fell under the spell of Methodist circuit preacher John Johnson, whom she soon married (over the objections of her parents, who correctly predicted a life of struggle and generously forbore the "I told you so's" when she occasionally had to turn to them for help). Left alone for weeks or months at a time on the frontier, Susannah faced a number of challenges resulting from isolation, illness, and loss as she attempted to cope with single-handedly tending a fledgling homestead and raising the couple's children.

Although only the first two chapters of the book deal with Susannah's ancestry and family history, her own story is captivating and the book is a must-read for anyone with ties to this Brooks family line. This would include the Quaker Brookses of NC, the Brookses of northwest SC and also those of Cocke County TN. To learn more about this Brooks family line, visit the Brooks section of my website. Susannah's book is available on Archive.org in numerous electronic formats, and hard copies can be ordered from Amazon.com.

Delmarva Hendersons in Revolutionary Worcester Co MD Militias

I'm going through some paperwork on loan from fellow researcher Robin Henderson and I ran across an extract of Worcester Co MD Hendersons on Revolutionary militias made by David Jones (also researching the Delmarva Hendersons). 

This seems like a good thing to keep up with, although I'm not prepared to park the data anywhere specific since I don't yet have all of these men parceled into my database. Since this is likely to be of use to other researchers, I thought I'd chart it up here in my blog. I'm dividing it out by companies rather than listing the men alphabetically.

Names taken from The Maryland Militia in the Revolutionary War, by S. Eugene Clements and F. Edward Right.

Captain John Parramore's Company, Wicomico Battalion 1777
Brittingham Henderson 1777, 1780
Ephriam Henderson 1780
Samuel Henderson 1780
William Henderson 1780

Captain Samuel Smyly's Company, Wicomico Battalion, 1780
Curtis Henderson 1780

Captain William Purnell's Company, Wicomico Battalion, 1780
Curtis Henderson 1777, 1780

Captain Matthew Purnell's Company, Sinepuxen Battalion, 1780
John Henderson 1780
William Henderson 1780

Captain William Purnell's Company, Sinepuxen Battalion, 1780
Jesse Henderson 1780

Captain Layfields Company, Wicomico Battalion, 1780
Isaac Henderson 1780
Jacob Henderson 1780
James Henderson 1780
Jenkins Henderson 1780
John Trehorn Henderson, Sgt. 1780
Joseph Henderson, Sgt. 1780
Levi Henderson 1780
Smart Henderson 1780
Thomas Henderson 1780
William Holland Henderson 1780
William Merrill Henderson 1780

Note: There is some confusion in online trees as to whether Brittingham Henderson was the son of Jesse & Rhoda Henderson, or the son of John and Rhoda "Brittingham" Henderson. I have found no satisfactory documentary evidence of either scenario at this point. (Neither have I found proof that either Rhoda was a Brittingham.) A Sally Brittingham married a James Henderson on 21 Oct 1830 in "Maryland" but that's the only documented connection between Brittinghams and Hendersons I have found. A Rhoda "Bowds" (name uncertain) made a December 1804 will and left bequests to sons Brittingham Henderson and William Henderson (one shilling each), but there is no indication of who Rhoda might have been prior to becoming a Henderson, or whether she was the wife of Jesse or John (or either).