Bennington

BROOKS, John & Reuben

Vermont Historical Magazine, No XI, October 1867, pp 246-247

Mr. [J.] ALLEN furnishes the following account of one of the early settlers 
[of Winhall, Bennington County, Vermont], as he heard it from her lips. "I 
came here from Massachusetts in 1829, and have lived there thirty-two years. 
One of my first acquaintances was Mrs. BROOKS, widow of Esq. John BROOKS, who 
was the first settler, except a Mr. BROWN, who made a beginning just in the 
bounds of this town [Winhall], near Londonderry, a short time before Mr. 
BROOKS, who located near the centre of the town." Mrs. BROOKS says, "We came 
here from Montague [Franklin County], Massachusetts, in 1778. Mr. BROOKS 
came a year before I came, and made a small beginning. He returned the next 
fall to Montague, and the next May again to Winhall. It was then a 
wilderness from the middle of Jamaica to Winhall (nine miles). I rode on 
horseback through the wilderness, guided by marked trees; and carried a child 
in my lap, and was caught in a heavy thunder shower. We lived in a small log 
cabin that summer, and I did not see a woman for six months. We returned to 
Montague to remain through the first winter. We raised a plenty of apples 
from the seed in fourteen years. - J. ALLEN."

[Before proceeding to the BROOKS biographies supplied to the author by Dr. 
Silas O. (C.?) GLEASON, the submitter includes the following from page 247 
about Dr. GLEASON, also excerpted from the section on the history of 
Winhall:] Among the absent sons and daughters that Winhall would count at 
home once more, and write their name and labors down on her history page, are 
S. O. GLEASON, M. D., and Mrs. R. B. GLEASON, of the Elmira Water Cure 
[Chemung County], New York. To their charming 'Hill Side Home,' where the 
'city and country are one view represented,' the chronic sufferer flies for 
healing and is healed. The cure has been open nearly eight years, and they 
have prescribed more than ten thousand cases." Dr. Silas O. [Silas C.?] 
GLEASON, son-in-law of Reuben BROOKS, Esq., furnished the following biography 
of John BROOKS, and a brief account of Reuben BROOKS.

John BROOKS, who was born in Ashford [Windham County], Connecticut, in 1753, 
and died in 1820. He was about twenty-eight years old when the Declaration 
of Independence was signed. He was in several campaigns during the war of 
the Revolution, and participated in the battle of Bunker's Hill. He married 
[Miss?] Rachel TAYLOR, of Montague [Franklin County], Massachusetts, and 
moved into Winhall in 1780. The town, on his arrival, was almost one 
unbroken wilderness, there being but one family in the entire township. He 
had to cut his way the last eleven miles through the forest. He and his 
family camped out during this tedious journey. One camp for a long time was 
called, in honor of his wife, Camp Rachel. He settled near the centre of the 
town, on one of the finest tracts of land in the vicinity. Perhaps we may 
say that unusual success attended his labors as a business man. He kept a 
public house for many years, and did much of the public business of the town. 
He was a man of great energy and perseverance, was highly esteemed as a 
citizen and a man.

Reuben BROOKS, Esq., was born in Winhall in 1786, and lived on the farm that 
his father settled on until 1853; he then went to Elmira [Chemung County], 
New York, his present residence. He [Reuben BROOKS] was married to [Miss?] 
Lucy MUSEY, of Jamaica [Windham County], Vermont, in 1818. He lived on his 
birthplace sixty-seven years. He was a member of the State Legislature for 
six years; also a member of three different conventions for altering the 
Constitution of the State. He held the office of Town Clerk and Treasurer 
for twenty years. - S. C. GLEASON

It might also be added of Reuben BROOKS, that he was the wealthiest man in 
Winhall, a much respected citizen, and has been a member of the 
Congregational church twenty-five years. Mr. BROWN, the first inhabitant [of 
Winhall, Bennington County, Vermont], was from Massachusetts; he had been a 
broken merchant. He soon located near Mr. [John] BROOKS, where he lived many 
years, and soon there came from Montague [Franklin County, Massachusetts], 
Moses TAYLOR, Seth TAYLOR, Ephraim WHITNEY, Jonathan TAYLOR, and their wives; 
Joseph and Nathaniel, Rose and Gershom TAYLOR. Also, from Connecticut, Asa 
BEEBE, Asa BEEBE Jr., Ephraim DAY, Ephraim DAY Jr., Oliver DAY, Russell DAY, 
Isaac WILLIAMS, Nathan WILLIAMS, James WILLIAMS, John SPRAGUE, Jonathan 
SPRAGUE, Wyman SPRAGUE, Isaac SPRAGUE, and David BRAINARD. The above were 
farmers, and labored under many difficulties subject to a new settlement. 
[See individual surnames for other biographical excerpts.]

Submitted by Cathy Kubly