Person:Hannah Unknown (854)

Notes on the Identity of Mrs. Hannah Brooks

Are Mrs. Hannah Brooks, second wife of Caleb Brooks, and Hannah Atkinson, sister of the first wife of Caleb Brooks, the same individual?

• YES: Traditional researchers (Shattuck, Savage, Crane, Cutter, etc.) have claimed that Mrs. Susanna (Atkinson) Brooks and Mrs. Hannah (?) Brooks were both daughters of Thomas Atkinson and therefore sisters. No evidence was provided.

• NO: User:jrich believes that they are not the same individual. The following evidence is provided:
  • Marrying the sister of your deceased wife would have been unusual and frowned upon in New England at the time (see wikipedia:Deceased Wife's Sister's Marriage Act 1907).
  • No marriage record has been found for Caleb's second marriage.
  • A death record ² exists for Mrs. Hannah Brooks, who d. 10 Mar 1706 and her gravestone gives her age at abt 70 - this calculates to a birth year of about 1638.
  • A birth record exists for Hannah Atkinson, b. 5 Mar 1643 in Concord, Middlesex, MA - which is 5 years later than Mrs. Brooks' calculated birth year.

1. ↑ Threlfall, John Brooks. Thomas Brooks of Watertown and Concord. American Genealogist (D.L. Jacobus). (Apr 1977)
   53:96.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3} Medford, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States. Vital Records of Medford, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850. (Boston, Massachusetts: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1907)
   347.

   Brooks, Hannah, w. Caleb, [died] Mar. 10, 1709. [a. abt. 70, gravestone record, Salem Street Cemetery].

3. ↑ Hannah Atkinson Brooks, in Find A Grave.