296 Main Street, Norwell, Massachusetts
Presentation developed by Donald Maunch, owner resident
William and Gilbert Brooks-Pioneering Young Brothers
Examining the Nathaniel Brooks Homestead requires that we focus our concentration on one of two young brothers, William and Gilbert Brooks who in 1635 sailed from England to Boston.
William Brooks (20) b. abt. 1615, and Gilbert Brooks (14) b. abt. 1621, reportedly of London were passengers; on the "Blessing", as "bondservants" in the party of William Vassall, a wealthy merchant sailed in June 1635 arriving in Boston the following August.
Vassal, well educated and a man of some wealth in England, he and his brother came to Scituate, MA, where he built the "Belle House" on his plantation, "West Newland." He seems to have run afoul of his neighbors in manners of religion and became a follower of Rev. John Lathrop, a religions refugee from London. After some years of religious controversy, he returned to England in 1646, and later returned to his estates in Jamaica and Barbados where he lived until his death in the Parish of St. Michael in 1655. Some evidence exists that he dealt heavily in slaves.
Ironically, a number of Brooks family members would come to own slaves in later years according to John S. Harry's A Historical Sketch of the Town of Hanover, Massachusetts, Boston, 1853. Barry states "Cuba, a negro woman of Deacon Joseph Brooks, a descendant of William Brooks of Scituate, died March 25, 1795, aged 84."
From Boston, William and Gilbert went to Scituate. Both of the Brooks boys presumably discharged indentures for their passage and then set off on their own. Later they would both become freemen and property-owners.
Though Gilbert and his heirs were no less important to the early inhabitants of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, it was William, his brother who would become the first ancestral Brooks from whom all of the inhabitants of the Nathaniel Brooks Homestead would eventually be descended.
First however, a few notes on Gilbert. Gilbert married Elizabeth Winslow, daughter of Gov. Edward Winslow in 1646 and Sarah (Redway) Carpenter on 18 Jan 1687 [Re VR 59] having a total of nine children.
Historical records suggest that Gilbert was quite a character. Gilbert was brought to court in 1639 for "drinking inordinately at John Emerson's house" [PCR 1:118]," while in 1646 he was accused by Capt. Miles Standish on some legal matter? The court found for our wayward Gilbert. His contemporaries pejoratively knew Standish, a diminutive, quarrelsome man who swaggered about like a banty rooster, as "Captain Shrimpe." Today we'd probably describe him as "having a Napoleonic complex." [Jeffrey Lash Brooks-NE-L@rootsweb.com Mailing List, 2001/11/28]
Gilbert first moved to Scituate, then Marshfield in 1643, back to Scituate in 1646 and finally to Rehoboth in 1662. He served ILS a Marshfield constable, a surveyor of highways, farmer and even received £3 14S. expenditures relating to the King Phillip's War [Early Rehoboth] 2:42].
"Gilbert Brookes" was granted 12s. by Plymouth Court, apparently for assisting Humphrey Johnson in his role as "attorney in the behalf of the country about Joseph Tilden's business" [PCR 7:90]. There is plenty of additional recorded history on Gilbert, but we shall now turn our focus to William.
William Brooks became a househo1der in 1644 first in Marshfield and then by 1657 in Scituate locating his farm south of Till's Creek later called Dwelley's Creek. William, like his brother Gilbert was also a constable hut in Scituate and a highway surveyor m Marshfield. On 3 March 1645/6 William Brooks, of the town of Marshfield, was presented "for the breach of his oath, in disclosing of his fellows' counsel and his own, which he through weakness confesseth he did, and IS released" [PCR 2:96].
After a first marriage in 1644 and his first wife, perhaps a widow Dunham's death before 1665 he named Susanna (Hanford) Whiston in 1665. Susanna had six children from her previous marriage, thus William's first wife must have been the mother of his eight children of whom Nathaniel (I) was one born in 1646 and Thomas, another son born in 1657. William divided his farm between his two sons, Nathaniel (I) and Thomas in May 1695 [Deed recorded in Book 2, page 9 at Plymouth, MA].
Thomas Brooks married Hannah Bisbee in 1687 and had two children, Thomas, b. 1688 and Joanna, b. 1695. Joanna married John Rngg1es in 1720. The two moved into her father's farm (previously owned by William...in 1640) 1/2 mile east of her grandfather William's farm. The farm later became known as the Ruggles House (see Homestead), which would become part of a puzzling question relative to the Nathaniel Brooks Homestead.
Nathaniel Brooks (I) married Elizabeth Curtis in 1678 and had three sons, William, Gilbert and Nathaniel (Jr.).
In 1717 Nathaniel (Jr.) married Mary Taylor and in 1723 purchased lands from Michael Wanton a Quaker a half-mile west of Hoop-pole hill Wanton was the son of Edward Wanton, a resident of Boston in 1658, but how much earlier we do not know. Tradition says he came from London accompanied by his mother but of his father there is no record.
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Please permit me to digress here for a moment because the following account provides us with an excellent sense of what was going on around and in the midst of the Nathaniel Brooks family.
Edward Wanton appears to have been a resident of Scltuate, MA in 1661 where he owned a farm of 80 acres at the well-known shipyard a little below Dwelly's Creek He also had extensive lands on Cordwood Hill and also at the southwest of Hoop Pole Hill, which latter were sold to Nathaniel Brooks in 1723. The house of Edward Wanton stood near a bank of the river on the land now used as a shipyard yard on the spot occupied by a smaller workhouse. Before he left Boston he became a convert to the faith of the Quakers. Mr. Deane in his history of Scituate says "severity of the MA government towards this new sect having been carried to the extent of executing three of them in 1659, 1660, and 1661. Edward Wanton was an officer of the guard on one or more of these occasions. He became deeply sensitive to the cruelty, injustice, and impolite of these measures, was greatly moved by the firmness with which they submitted to death and was won entirely by their addresses before their execution. He returned to his house saying "Alas, Mother! We have been murdering the Lord's people" and taking off his sword, put it by, with a solemn vow never to wear it again. From this time he took every opportunity to converse with the Friends, and soon resolved to become a teacher of their faith" It is said that he built the first Quaker meeting honse in Massachusetts.
Wanton carried on the business of shipbuilding with great success at Scituate, and held a distinguished place among the enterprising settlers of that town. We learn too by its ecclesiastical history that Mr. Wanton was a most successful as a religious teacher in the Society of Friends.
Mary Dyer was a follower of mid-wife and religions activist Anne Marbury Hutchinson, who taught that God could be communicated directly (without the assistance of a minister) and that salvation could be assured. This view was considered heresy by the Puritan religion, which taught that it was impossible to know whether one was "saved" or not (which resulted in the colonial Puritans being a rather anxious group). When Hutchinson was excommunicated by the Boston Puritan Church for her beliefs, Dyer sided with her.
Subsequently, Mary Dyer and her husband (William Dyer) were also excommunicated and banished from the colony. They eventually settled in Newport, Rhode Island, where Mary Dyer and her husband enjoyed a political atmosphere of greater religious tolerance.
Following a voyage to England in 1652, Mary Dyer became a follower of George Fox the founder of the Society of Friends (Quakers)-whose teachings were similar to those of Anne Hutchinson. When Mary Dyer returned to Boston in 1657, she was imprisoned due to her uncompromising expression of her Quaker beliefs. She was granted release when her husband promised that she would keep silent until she left the colony.
In 1658, religious intolerance in Boston reached a horrible height, when a law was passed banishing Quakers under "pain of death." When Mary Dyer learned that two Quakers of her acquaintance we" jailed in Boston, she went to visit them in 1659-and was herself imprisoned (probably by design-Dyer was very pro-active). That September, Mary Dyer and the two other Friends were released, after being assured that they world be executed if they returned Nevertheless-only a few weeks later-an undaunted Mary Dyer, in the company of other Friends, returned to Boston resolved to "look the bloody laws in the face."
Imprisoned once again, Mary Dyer saw her two fellow Quakers hung to the death at which Edward Wanton was present. While herself bound and with the rope around her neck she received a last minute reprieve (which was almost certainly prearranged). Against her wishes, Mary Dyer returned to Rhode Island; but soon came back to Boston knowing the inevitability of her fate, but determined to give up her life in order to gain the "repeal of that wicked law."
On June 1, 1660, she was led again in the presence of Edward Wanton once more to the scaffold and executed by hanging-refusing to repent, holding fast to her beliefs to the very end. Mary Dyer was happy to he martyred for her beliefs, as she hoped that her sacrifice would result in a change toward greater tolerance of religious faith.
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Nathaniel (Jr.'s) land purchase from the Wanton family begins the story of The Nathaniel Brooks Homestead.
Over the next 195 years, 5 additional Nathaniel Brooks (III, IV, V, VI, and VII) and William Penn Brooks born in 1851, son of Nathaniel (5th) and brother of Nathaniel (VI) along with their families would occupy the house.
Nathaniel (I) b. 1646, m. Elizabeth1 Curtis 1678, d. 1682/83 Nathaniel (Jr.) b.1693, m. Mary Taylor 1717, d. 1764 Nathaniel (III) b. 1723, m. Elizabeth Benson 1744, m. Sarah Collamore 1753, d.1804 Nathaniel (IV) b. 1755, m. Deborah Brooks 1783 (cousin), d. 1826 (Pvt. mustered in Plymouth County for Revolutionary service in Col. Gate's regt.) Nathaniel (V) b. 1796, m. Charlotte Lapham 1821, m. Rebecca P. Cushing 1841 d. 1872 Nathaniel (VI) Milton Brooks, b. 1826, m. Emma Augusta (Gardener), d. 1891 Nathaniel (VII) Nelson Brooks, b. 1863, m, Augusta M. Brooks??, d. 1932
Interestingly, all of the above Nathaniels with the exception of Nathaniel (I) are buried in Lot 320 in the First Parish Cemetery in Norwell, MA. No primary source records seem to exist for the death of William or his son Nathaniel (I). [CNIDR 1search-cgi L20.06 (Fik98)]
Nathaniel (V) and his second wife Rebecca P. Cushing, had a family of five children, of whom Martha Washington Brooks, b. 1842. and Rebecca Cushing Brooks, b. 1844 were educated at Bridgewater State Normal School, and taught for many years in the schools of South Scituate and Stoughton. In 1885, Miss Martha W. Brooks served on Norwell's School Committee. [Merritt, History of South Scituate, p.87] Their school autograph books are still in the old Brooks Homestead.
Nathaniel (V) was quite involved in the Spiritualist movement. In fact at his funeral on "April 29, 1872, the pastor, W. H. Fish assisted (Mr. Storer, "spiritualist," Boston, taking a lead part.") Mr. Herman B. Storer was a renowned 'inspirational lecturer" and "spiritualist physician." The spiritualist movement was based upon the notion that communication with mortals left behind was possible through mediums that would enter a trance-like slate.
William Penn Brooks born in the homestead. 1851, m. Eva Bancroft Hall, Revere, 1883; m. Nurse, Falmouth, d. 1938 William had a son Sumner Brooks b. in Japan, taught physiology at the University of California, married a physiologist and died in his late thirties. William also had a daughter who lived on Boston Post Road, Belmont. William Penn Brooks entered the Massachusetts Agricultural College in 1871, graduating with highest honors in 1875, and was one of the original six founders of Phi Sigma Kappa one of the cornerstones of the fraternity and sorority system on college and university campuses today. Soon after he became a graduate student, he accepted an invitation of the Japanese Government to go to Sapporo. Brooks was an instructor at the Sapporo Agricultural School, delivering lectures and supervising the fieldwork of students in agricultural sciences.In October of 1888, Brooks' contract with the Japanese government expired and he returned to America. On June 24,1918, William Penn and his wife Eva B. Brooks relinquished their ownership by selling the homestead to Emily (Delano) Osborne, second wife and cousin of John F Osborne (daughter of Herman and Helen (Osborne) Delano of Duxbury. As the years went by and after World War II, farming here and other places became less and less, although father kept his cows for many years. Presently, the fields are used for vegetables and hay." On August 20, 1999 the Osborne Farm Trust sold the property to Donald A. and Irene P. Mauch, only the third surname family to own the homestead in 276 years!
Some have and still question several aspects of Nathaniel's (Jr.'s) land purchase from Michael Wanton. Did the land contain a structure at the time of purchase? (The deed does not citation a structure). Did the land once contain a structure that might have been completely or partially destroyed by the Indians? Historical records indicate...
Was the original part of the present day structure moved up from the North River reassembled or joined with an existing structure? According to William Penn Brooks, son of Nathaniel (VI) and the homestead's final Brooks generational inhabitant, either all or some portion of the structure was moved from the North River to its present site "in 1775 by a team of four oxen." On several occasions, William Brooks conveyed this to Wesley Osborne, Sr., and to other members of his family. Wesley was very close to William in that he hayed his fields and performed other farm tasks for him. The Osborne family eventually purchased the Brooks Homestead in 1918 and had always believed that the house or a portion thereof was moved to its Main Street site from the North River. But, was this a matter of "folklore" passed from one generation of Brooks to the next? Was it logistically feasible or practical to move an entire structure from the North River through very tough terrain and marsh to "White Oak Plain?"
If one accepts this account as factual, then it becomes quite interesting as to the house's original date of construction, its original site and owner. And what structure, if any, was on this land from 1723 to 1775, a period of 52 years. It is highly unlikely that the land would have remained without a structure on it for this length of time. Certainly portions of the original structure and other hardware and markings can be dated back to the early 18th century regardless of where they originated.
Attempts to establish the original date of construction based on certain assertions from some of the prior research become quite confusing.
For instance, the Anne Bonney Henderson Map of 1967 dates the Nathaniel Brooks Homestead as 1717, though the supporting research could not be ascertained by a review of Ms. Henderson's notes. To make it further perplexing could there have been two separate purchases of land from Michael Wanton by Nathaniel (2d) one in 1717 and another in 1723 as claimed by descendant Steve Ivas of Norwell. Me. I vas does not provide a citation. The 1717 date is citationd by Briggs, History and Genealogy, 3:102 and by Deane, History of Scituate, Massachusetts, p. 224. though no deed describing such a purchase has been located or does either of these sources cite a citation.
It may well be that researchers and authors have misinterpreted Deane's 1831 mention of Nathaniel's (2d) marriage date to Mary Taylor as his date of land purchase given the grammatical juxtaposition. Consider Deane's p. 224 statement:
"Nath'l 2d, married Mary Taylor 1717, and purchased lands of Michael Wanton a half mile west of Hoop-pole hill where the fifth Nathaniel Brooks now resides."
In 1936, Briggs, History and Genealogy would rely on much of Deane's work.
Perhaps the most definitive and convincing explanation surrounding all of this was put forth by William G. Vinal in 1960 in his Biography From the Windows Of Norwell High or The Life and Times of William Penn Brooks 1851-1938. Mr. Vinal tackled what he considered "the greatest puzzle... in regard to the Wes Osborne place." Vinal indicates that there were 3 Brooks houses along the North River. I.) The original Brooks home, 2.) The Joanna Ruggle's house, the ancestral home of the Brooks and 3. The one where Abial Turner lived, and later occupied by Mildred Hastings. He then accounts for each one:
1.) The original Brooks home was "spared by the Indians in King Phillips War at Dwelley's Creek but it is believed that they intended to apply the torch when they returned. The house finally fell apart from age or was taken down."
2.) 'The Joanna Ruggle's house was moved to River Street, Norwell and resembled the Brooks homestead on Main Street, and it must be the reason for the confusing story that the house was moved to Main Street in 1775. Joanna Brooks, granddaughter of the first William, married (1695) John Ruggles. They succeeded to the farm of Thomas 1/2 mile down stream from the first homestead, and built a new honse. The Ruggle's house was moved to River Street in about 1720. It is a large two-storied house, which resembles the William Penn Brooks birthplace in size and structure. It is believed that there was confusion about the Brooks house being moved from the river and that the Brooks Homestead on Main Street near the Junior High has been there since Nathaniel (2d) moved to White Oak Plain in 1723."
3.) The Abial Turner, and later the Mildred Hastings Honse was built by Captain William Brooks, great grandson of Nathaniel (I).
This author believes that a combination of factors strongly suggests that the Brooks Homestead was indeed built on its present site and that it was not moved from the North River. This belief is based on the impractical logistics of such a move, the likelihood that researchers after Deane relied upon a misinterpretation of the 1717 date and Mr. Vinal's research that accounts for the disposition of each of the three Brooks houses that were originally located along the North River. Finally, no citations were provided or deeds located to validate Deane, Briggs or Henderson. What does exist is a 1723 Deed from Michael Wanton to Nathaniel (2d) for the land on which the Brooks Homestead presently sits.
One last word on this matter and a hit of indulgence here. The fact that several of the large wooden structural members on the "newer" rear part of the house as well as in the barn had been previous1y notched (used previously elsewhere) strongly suggests that they came from elsewhere. There are a number of indications that suggest the homestead underwent a major rebuilding during the early to mid-1800's and perhaps, just perhaps, these structural pieces came up "by four oxen" from the old ancestral home of William Brooks at the North River in 1775. Is this what the folklore was based on? Wow!
Clearly the historical records suggest that between Nathaniel (Jr.'s) purchase in 1723 until the end of the Revolutionary War, the Brooks family primarily farmed, and served in varying capacities as farmers, constables, highway and land surveyors and soldiers.
From August 1999 through November 2001, the original Nathaniel Brooks Homestead together with the hem and cattle shed underwent a complete restoration.
Presenting the odyssey of the Nathaniel Brooks Homestead restoration however will be reserved for a future opportunity.
Structural indications suggest that the honse went through a progression of enlargements from its original post and girt, "linear" design comprising two front chambers over two second story chambers. Taking a close look at this slide reveals a distinct, angular seam along the northerly side of the Brook's house. From this we can conclude that the house was transformed into a saltbox or "transitional" house as was common between 1700 and 1750. Between 1800 and 1850 the house took on its present shape called a "massed" house. How can we tell? There is a date marked l853 in chalk along one of the end girts or crossbeams. Its evolution reflects both the growths in size of families, as the proliferation of farms required "more hands," and an accumulation of wealth making such expansions possible. "There is little doubt as to the stages through which the Brooks Homestead has evolved, i.e., linear, to saltbox to a full two story structure.
In the summer of 2000 during au extensive restoration project, three significant discoveries were made. First, the removal of some attic floor boards adjacent to the cast "de of the chimney revealed an open chamber from the attic elevation to the ground floor. Upon examination, the framework for a stairway was found still attached to the side of the chamber and was located such that it would have coincided with an outside entry on the rear or west side of the single chamber, linear planned house. The stairway became obsolete when the house was expanded into a saltbox and the present rear stairway was installed. A portion of the stairway chamber was partitioned at \he ground floor and second story levels to form small closets in the kitchen and upstairs hallway. Interestingly, the cellar hole runs north to south and is perpendicular to the present structure contrary to conventional practice and is made of random fieldstone, laid up dry. Its dimensions are significantly smaller than those of the structure are.
On the other hand, the structure, which runs from east to west, sits atop dirt and semi flat rock with a cut granite sill cap. A single, granite "slab" is actually situated across the ceiling of the cellar hole running perpendicular to and supported on either side by pieces of the random fieldstone. The location of this slab coincides with the rear of where the "first stage" linear planned structure existed. However, it still seems to post date the fieldstone cellar hole raising the question as to whether or not an even earlier structure had existed and was perhaps moved, destroyed, or incorporated into a "turned around" structure. It is at this earliest stage of the Brooks Homestead that as much uncertainty exists. In fact there are unsubstantiated claims from prior owners that the house was moved to its present site in 1775.
Secondly, the chamber also clearly revealed that the chimney had been added on to and that its original rise was probably straight ending at the ridge pole of the single chamber and later, saltbox configuration. The chimney's shape was later reconfigured and curved to maintain a center location on the enlarged house. Two different styles of brick are evident.
Thirdly, the removal of shingles on the north side of the house clearly revealed the roofline of a saltbox confirming the structural evolutionary stages of the Nathaniel Brooks Homestead. It is worth noting that the chamber had been used as a storage space that contained a variety of dress hoops and assorted bustles with mid-l800 dates listed on their metal buckles. In addition two early eighteenth century slat back chairs were discovered beneath the hoops and bustles and have since been documented as such by Robert Mussey Associates, Inc., furniture conservators in Boston, MA. While these articles cannot be used to establish the dates of the house's structural changes, they are of significant historic value.
A number of other artifacts have also been discovered though again, it is unclear as to whether or not they evolved on site of the homestead or were brought there from another location. These include....
An inspection report prior to the sale of the homestead in 1999 read in part: "The foundation will need repairs and tuck pointing. The chimney needs extensive repairs or replacing. The roof shingles should be stripped and replaced. All 33 windows need to be replaced..." The list tumbled on for a full page listing everything from a problem with wood boring insects to electro-mechanical problems." Portion of the barn and cattle shed were nearing collapse.
Over the past two years through extensive restoration efforts, great care was taken to preserve as much of the original elements as practically possible while infusing many of today's modem amenities. The Homestead's decor reflects historically consistent colors while the restored chimney; fireplaces and hearths are equipped with authentic, period cooking tools. Period, antique furniture now occupies many of the Homestead's rooms. Original window casing has been incorporated into the "true-divide" 12 over 12 restoration windows. Horsehair and lathe plastered walls and wide pine floors have been meticulously restored. New plumbing, electrical, heating and insulation systems have been placed so as to minimize their presence along with newly installed architectural roofing, clapboard and cedar shingle siding.
Additional tracts of land, meadows and woodlands, would be purchased, parceled, sold and conveyed to Brook's family members throughout these many years. Consolidation of these many family parcels, which had previously been part of the original Nathaniel Brooks farm, occurred when Nathaniel M. Brooks purchased them over several years from the l870s until his death in 1892. In fact a total of seven family conveyances alone occurred in February 22, 1875. On May 7, 1892, William Penn Brooks was the highest bidder at auction of all lands belonging to Nathaniel M. Brooks (VI).
Land conveyances continued in the early 1900's with Nathaniel M. Brooks (VII) buying property from his sister, Martha and brother William Penn Brooks.
The Osbornes also continued to buy additional parcels of land from William Penn Brooks in 1920 and again in 1922. William Penn Brooks died at age 87 in 1938. On December 16, 1949 the property was then sold to Wesley H. Osborne, Sr.
In 1939 and again in 1954 easements on the property were given to Brockton Edison for the establishment of high-tension power lines. During the 1950s through the 1970s the property was further divided up between the Osborne's four children, three of who built upon and presently reside. Each received between 12 and 13 acres while Wes and Esther retained approximately 13 acres immediately surrounding the original Brooks homestead for themselves. On February 27, 1974, Wes Osborne, Sr. conveyed the property to himself and his wife Esther Osborne as Tenants by the Entirety.
On March 26, 1990 Wes, Sr. and Esther conveyed the property to Wesley H. Osborne, Jr. and Miriam I). Allen as Trustees of The Osborne Farm Trust, two of their four children.
Much deliberation by the Osborne children as to the sale of their parent's remaining property and homestead occurred between 1996 and 1998. Consideration was given to selling the property to housing developer, Skip Joseph who developed plans for the restoration or possible demolition of the homestead, barn and cattle shed along with as many as six new houses.
In early 1999 the Town of Norwell voted to purchase from the Osborne Farm Trust a little more than 11 acres surrounding all four sides of the property, and selling the remaining 1.25 acres in the middle with the original Brooks Homestead thereon to the Mauch family. In 2000, the town on the southeast side of the homestead built a soccer field and plans for additional athletic fields are planned for the south and southwest portions of the land. On November 14, 2000 the Mauch's and the Town of Norwell mutually agreed to swap approximately 5,200 square feet from the rear of the Mauch's property for a northwesterly side of town property thereby restoring a piece of lawn that had been inadvertently excluded when the property was initially divided up prior to its sale. The Tree Department is considering property located directly across the street from the homestead for a town nursery. On December 9, 2001, the house was host to the Norwell Historical Society's annual Christmas party.
Ironically, history has indeed repeated itself for the Brooks Homestead and its surrounding lands. In 1620 the colonists left England to escape the Crown's oppression and taxation. They searched for a land in which they could own and work their own parcels of land while supporting themselves from their fruits of labor. Over a period of nearly 300 years, generations like the Brooks and Osbornes have enjoyed the ability to own, farm and deed large tracts of land amongst their respective families. Today, most of the land to which these families once owned has now been given or sold to the Town of Norwell. While kindness no doubt is an important factor in one's decision to give something, the ability to minimize one's property tax most likely is another and sometimes a necessity. If we reexamine history, we will find that many of the same reasons that the colonists left England have become today's reality right here in our own community and indeed our country!
The hundreds of acres of land that once comprised the Brooks Homestead has now dwindled to a single acre and a quarter. This compares quite favorably with the brand new homes being built today in Norwell They are called a "builder's acre." While most of the large tracts of family-owned land have all but disappeared, their memories will be with us forever!
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