Susanna (—?—) (Richardson-Brooks)1

d. 15 September 1681

7th great-grandmother of Louise Underwood.
9th great-grandmother of Laura Jane Munson.
Family Background:
Underwood and Allied Families
Appears on charts:
Pedigree for Louise Underwood
     Susanna married Ezekiel Richardson, son of Thomas Richardson and Katherine Duxford, circa 1630, probably just before leaving England or very soon after arriving in Massachusetts Bay.2 She married second Henry Brooks before 27 March 1651.3 She died on 15 September 1681 in Woburn, Middlesex County, Massachusetts.1
     
     At Charlestown Susanna and her husband Ezekiel became members of the First Church on 27 August 1630.4 When Winthrop moved, and the church with him, to the neighboring peninsula that became Boston, The Richardsons remained in Charlestown and "Ezechiell Richardson and Susan his wife" were dismissed with others, 35 in all, to form a new Charlestown church on 14 October 1632.4,5,6 In his will dated 20 July 1647, Ezekiel Richardson named "my wife Susanna and my eldest son Theophilus joint executors." After specific bequests were made, the executors were to share in the residue of the estate, "provided that my wife may peacably enjoy her habitation in the house so long as she shall live."7,8,9 On 27 March 1651 Samuel Richeson of Woburn "having formerly sold unto Ezekill Richeson my brother (who is since deceased) forty acres of arable & meadow land" in Woburn, confirms the same to "my sister Susanna Brookes (who was the wife of my deceased brother Ezekill Richeson."10 On 23 March 1654/55 "Susanna Richeson now Brookes formerly the wife of Ezek: Richeson" confirmed a sale made eight years earlier by "Ezekill Richardson & Sussanna Richardson my wife" to Thomas Moulton and John Greenland of thirty-five acres of land in Woburn.11 On 13 December 1659 "Henry Brookes & Susanna Brookes of Woburn," in accordance with an award of the court, deeded to Theophilus Richardson the right and title they had in "the moiety or half part of the housing & land of Ezekiell Richardson of Woburn aforesaid, by executorship or otherwise."12 In 1670, Susanna (—?—) (Richardson-Brooks) was described by an authority of that time as "an ancient and skilful woman, living at Woburn," famous for her attainments in medical science.3

Children of Susanna (—?—) (Richardson-Brooks) and Ezekiel Richardson

Citations

  1. [S165] Walter Goodwin Davis, "Richardson, of Chelmsford," Massachusetts and Maine Families in the Ancestry of Walter Goodwin Davis (1885-1966): A Reprinting in Alphabetical Order by Surname, of the Sixteen Multi-Ancestor Compendia, (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1996), Vol. III, 3: 221, originally published in The Ancestry of Sarah Hildreth (1958).
  2. [S165] Walter Goodwin Davis, "Richardson, of Chelmsford," Massachusetts and Maine Families, Vol. III, 3: 219, 221, originally published in The Ancestry of Sarah Hildreth (1958).
  3. [S178] William R. Cutter, "The Brooks Family of Woburn, Mass.", New England Historic and Genealogical Register (NEHGR) 58 (January 1904): 48.
  4. [S165] Walter Goodwin Davis, "Richardson, of Chelmsford," Massachusetts and Maine Families, Vol. III, 3: 219, originally published in The Ancestry of Sarah Hildreth (1958).
  5. [S175] James P. Hunnewell, "The First Record-Book of the First Church in Charlestown, Massachusetts", New England Historic and Genealogical Register (NEHGR) 23 (April 1869): 189, 190.
  6. [S170] Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-16?? (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1996-200?). The Great Migration Study Project is ongoing. Several volumes have been published in hardcopy, and new sketches appear frequently in the "Great Migration Newsletter" (online subscription or hardcopy). The database is online and may be viewed at New England Ancestors.org or Ancestry.com, both of which are subscription sites. It is also available in hardcover and CD-ROM from NEHGS, citing Records of the First Church in Charlestown, Massachusetts, 1632-1789, James Frothingham Hunnewell, ed. (Boston 1880), 16.
  7. [S179] W.B. Trask, "Abstracts of Wills of the Early Settlers of New England", New England Historic and Genealogical Register (NEHGR) 7 (April 1853): 172, 173.
  8. [S170] Robert Charles Anderson, Great Migration Begins, citing Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Probate Records, Case #72.
  9. [S165] Walter Goodwin Davis, "Richardson, of Chelmsford," Massachusetts and Maine Families, Vol. III, 3: 220, originally published in The Ancestry of Sarah Hildreth (1958).
  10. [S170] Robert Charles Anderson, Great Migration Begins, citing Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Deeds, 2: 72.
  11. [S170] Robert Charles Anderson, Great Migration Begins, citing Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Deeds, 2: 36.
  12. [S170] Robert Charles Anderson, Great Migration Begins, citing Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Deeds, 2: 154.
  13. [S165] Walter Goodwin Davis, "Richardson, of Chelmsford," Massachusetts and Maine Families, Vol. III, 3: 222, originally published in The Ancestry of Sarah Hildreth (1958).