Person:Eleazer Brooks (2)

"Hon. Eleazer Brooks, was the son of Mr. Job Brooks, and a descendant of the fourth generation from Capt. Thomas Brooks, one of the first settlers of Concord, was born 10th of September, 1727, and died 19th of November, 1806, aged 79. His grandfather was Daniel, and great-grandfather Joshua Brooks. His father was a respectable farmer, and intended his son for the same employment. The circumstances of the times, when he lived, were such, that his education did not equal that of many of his contemporary young farmers, which at best was very ordinary. Considering that he was" self-instructed, his future intellectual improvements were truly remarkable. He early discovered indications of talents; and, before the great work of the Revolution commenced, he was called into office. He was appointed, by Governor Barnard, a Lieutenant of a foot company in Lincoln, llth of May, 1768, and a Captain by Hutchinson, 13th of July, 1773; by the Council, a Colonel of the 3d regiment, 14th of February, 1776, and a Brigadier-General, 15th of October, 1778, and to the same office under the new constitution, 22d of August, 1781. He commanded a regiment of the Middlesex militia at the battle of White Plains, in 1776, and at several other times appeared in the camp, where he distinguished himself for his cool and determined bravery. The laborious duties, which his military office imposed during the revolutionary war, were performed with great ability and decision. He was often chosen a member of the town's committee of safety, and the state's committee of secrecy, was a member of the Provincial Congress in 1774, and was afterwards annually a member of the General Court or executive Council till 1800. He was appointed Justice of the Peace in 1777 ; and on the 27th of March, 1786, a special Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He was delegate to the convention at Cambridge in July, 1779, to form the constitution, and at Boston, in 1788, to ratify the Constitution of the United States; and in various other places, during his public life, his services were put in requisition. After being 27 years a public man, he declined, in 1800, being a candidate for the suffrages of his fellow-citizens, and retired to private life. As a military man, he was brave, patriotic, and considerate in designing, but expeditious in executing his plans. His habits of thought and action were systematic and correct; his industry untiring. By a judicious improvement of his faculties, by reading, conversation, and reflection, he compensated for the neglect of his early education. Possessing the confidence of his associates in public life, he acquired great influence, and his opinions were much respected. But for nothing was he more respected than for his strict probity, real goodness of heart, and exemplary piety. He united with the church early in life, and was chosen one of its deacons in 1794. In all his important trusts he set a noble example of what may be accomplished by a judicious application of one's own powers of mind, and left a character worthy of remembrance and imitation."^[3]

1. ↑ Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States. Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1635-1850. (Boston: Beacon Press, 1891)
   118.

   Eleazer Brooks ye son of Job Brooks and Elisabeth his wife was born September ye 10 : 1727.

2. ↑ Lincoln, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States. Vital records of Lincoln, Massachusetts, to the year 1850. (Boston, Massachusetts: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1908)
   155.

   Brooks, Eleazer Esq., Hon., Nov. 9, 1806, a. 79. [[h. Elizabeth] "He was for 27 years in one or the other of the Branches of the Government of the Commonwealth" "Deacon in the Church of Christ", GR1]

3. ↑ Shattuck, Lemuel. A history of the town of Concord: Middlesex County, Massachusetts, from its earliest settlement to 1832; and of the adjoining towns, Bedford, Acton, Lincoln, and Carlisle; containing various notices of county and state history not before published. (Boston, Massachusetts: Russell, Odiorne, and Company, 1835 (Cambridge [Mass.] : Charles Folsom, printer))
   pp. 318-9.

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