Shepherd Brooks.
The late
Shepherd Brooks, one of
Medford's best-known citizens and a member and benefactor of the
Medford Historical Society, accepted Pilgrim Tercentenary membership in the New England Historic Genealogical Society in the summer of 1919, soon after that new form of membership was instituted by the society
[p. 12] in order to commemorate the three hundredth anniversary of the
Landing of the Pilgrims by the establishment of a Pilgrim Tercentenary Memorial Fund for the benefit of the Society, and the following memoir of him appeared in
The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol. 77, pp. lxv-lxvii (supplement to the issue of April, 1923) and is reprinted here by permission.
Shepherd Brooks, A. M., of
Boston and
Medford, Mass., a Pilgrim Tercentenary member since 1919, was born in
Baltimore, Md., where his parents,
Gorham and Ellen (
Shepherd)
Brooks of
Boston and
Medford, were temporarily residing, 23 July 1837, and died in
Boston 21 February 1922.
He was a member of an illustrious
Massachusetts family, of which the immigrant ancestor was Thomas Brooks, an early settler of
Watertown, who was admitted a freeman 7 December 1636 and soon afterwards removed to
Concord, where he was constable in 1638 and later deputy and captain.
In 1660 he and his son-in-law,
Timothy Wheeler, bought four hundred acres of land in
Medford; but he continued to reside in
Concord, and died there 21 May 1667.
Among his children by his wife Grace, who died 12 May 1664, was Caleb, born, probably in
England, about 1632, who removed from
Concord to
Medford and died 29 July 1696, aged 64.
His two wives, Susanna and
Hannah, were sisters, being the daughters of
Thomas Atkinson; and by the second wife,
Hannah, he had two sons, Ebenezer of
Medford, whose grandson,
John Brooks (1752-1825), was the wellknown Governor of
Massachusetts, and Samuel of
Medford, who was born 1 September 1672 and died 3 July 1733.
This Samuel married
Sarah Boylston, daughter of
Dr. Thomas Boylston of
Brookline and sister of the wife of his brother Ebenezer; and their son Samuel of
Medford, who was born 3 September 1700 and died 5 July 1768, was by his wife,
Mary Boutwell of Reading, the father of five children, one of whom was
Rev. Edward [p. 13] Brooks of
Medford, A. B. (Harvard, 1755), A. M. (
ib., 1760), who was born 4 November 1743 and died at
Medford 6 May 1781.
For a few years after his graduation at
Harvard Edward Brooks was librarian of Harvard College, and in July 1764 he was settled as pastor at
North Yarmouth, Me. Here, however,
Mr. Brooks's somewhat liberal theology proved unacceptable to his flock, and in March 1769 he was at his own request dismissed from his pastorate and returned to
Medford.
He took an active part in the stirring events of 19 April 1775, and in 1777 was appointed chaplain on the frigate
Hancock, which was captured by the
British off
Halifax,
Mr. Brooks being held for some time as a prisoner.
By his wife,
Abigail Brown, whom he married in September 1764, daughter of
Rev. John and
Joanna (Cotton)
Brown of
Haverhill and great-great-granddaughter of the famous
Puritan teacher,
Rev. John Cotton of
Boston,
Mr. Brooks had two sons and two daughters.
His second son,
Hon. Peter Chardon Brooks, who was born at
North Yarmouth 6 January 1767 and died in
Boston 1 January 1849, was named for one of his father's Harvard classmates, Peter Chardon, who died prematurely in the
West Indies in October 1766, the son of an eminent
Boston merchant of
Huguenot descent, whose house stood at the corner of the present Bowdoin Square and Chardon Street, on the site recently occupied by the
Bowdoin Square Baptist Church.
The family of
Rev. Edward Brooks was in straightened circumstances after his death; but the young
Peter Chardon Brooks, starting in business in
Boston about 1789 as a
marine-insurance broker, rose to be one of the most eminent merchants of
Boston, and accumulated a fortune.
He resided in
Boston in the winter, and passed his summers on his ancestral acres in the western part of
Medford, where he built a large mansion house.
At various times he held public office in the
Commonwealth, serving in both branches of the State Legislature, in the Executive Council, and in the Constitutional Convention of 1820.
[p. 14] In 1792 he married
Ann Gorham, daughter of
Judge Nathaniel of
Charlestown.
Of their large family of thirteen children,
Charlotte Gray Brooks became the wife of
Hon. Edward Everett, and
Abigail Brown Brooks the wife of
Hon. Charles Francis Adams, son of
President John Quincy Adams.
Gorham Brooks of
Medford, son of
Peter Chardon Brooks, was born at
Medford 10 February 1795, entered Harvard College, from which he received the degree of
Bachelor of Arts in 1814 and that of Master of Arts three years later, and died 10 September 1855.
He married, 20 April 1829,
Ellen Shepherd, who was born in
Louisiana 22 August 1809 and died II August 1884, daughter of Resin
Davis and Lucy (
Gorham)
Shepherd.
Their only daughter died in infancy; but their eldest son,
Peter Chardon Brooks, A. B. (Harvard, 1852), A. M. (
ib., 1871), who was born at
Watertown 8 May 1831 and died in
Boston 27 January 1920, married, 4 October 1866,
Sarah Lawrence, daughter of
Amos Adams Lawrence, A. B. (Harvard, 1835), A. M. (
ib., 1838), and was a well-known and public-spirited resident of
Boston and
Medford, while their younger son, Shepherd Brooks, is the subject of this memoir.
He was prepared for college by
Dr. Samuel Eliot of
Boston, entered Harvard, and received there the degree of
Bachelor of Arts in 1857 and that of Master of Arts in 1872.
Only two of his Harvard classmates of 1857 survived him.
After leaving college,
Mr. Brooks passed the winter in New Orleans, and in the autumn of 1858 went to
Europe, where he remained two years and travelled extensively.
His freedom from financial cares made it possible for him to spend a winter in the
South whenever he wished and to travel at will in this country and abroad.
In the spring of 1872 he joined a pleasure party that journeyed to the
Pacific coast, and thus met his future wife, who was also a member of the party.
Although he had made a special study of architecture, he did not follow up this subject as an active profession.
[p. 15] He had a house in
Boston and a beautiful estate in the western part of
Medford, where he indulged his tastes for rural life and raised extensive crops of the highest quality.
The
Brooks estate was one of the show places of
Medford, and was famed throughout the
East.
It possessed also much historic interest, and evidences of the old-time canal, the
Indian monument, and the slave wall could until recently be found there.
He was a leading citizen in the home town of his progenitors and one of its principal benefactors, and was identified with many of its institutions.
He married in
Boston, 10 December 1872,
Clara Gardner, daughter of George and Helen M. (Read)
Gardner of
Boston, who survives him, together with a son,
Gorham Brooks of
Boston, A. B. (Harvard, 1905), and two daughters, Helen, wife of
Robert Wales Emmons of
Boston, A. B. (Harvard, 1895), and
Rachel, wife of
James Jackson of
Westwood, Mass., A. B. (Harvard, 1904), who is at present Treasurer and Receiver-
General of the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Funeral services for
Mr. Brooks were held in
King's Chapel,
Boston, and his body was placed in the family tomb in Oak Grove Cemetery,
Medford.
