John Brooks was born about 20 years before the settlement of Woburn, and it is known that he was about 45 years of age in 1668. In 1690, at the age of about 67 years, he participated in the Phips Expedition to Quebec. The will of John Brooks, Sr. dated July 29, 1690, probated Nov. 16, 1691, he .. 'being bound for Canada in the Expedition against the French enemy"... mentions wife Mary; sons Jabez, John and Ebenezer; daughters Deborah, Eunice, Sarah and Joanna; and children, Eunice Buck, Eunice Carter, Eunice Roberts, and John Buck, John Carter, John Brooks, David Roberts; and Mary and Elizabeth, his son John's two children; Eunice Brooks, daughter of his son Ebenezer; and Mary, daughter of his daughter, Deborah Richardson. He also names son John Richardson [husband of Deborah]; and mentions John Dane [Dean], an apprentice, and Rev. Pastor Mr. Jabez Fox.
John Brooks, Sr. in Sept. 1691, was dismissed from ordinary trainings on account of his decrepitness and incapacity to serve. [Grandson Jonathan Brooks appears in a list of those] have a just claim to the Bounty of the General General, by being (either personally, or by their ancestor) in the Canada Expedition, Anno 1690 - Taken in Woburn, Feb 19th, 1738 ..."
John Brooks died Sept. 29, 1691.