Ruth Brooks

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Be ye followers of them who through faith & patience inherit the promises.

Here rests

the mortal part

of Mrs. RUTH BROOKS

Consort of

Mr. ASA BROOKS

who died Decr. 14th 1791

Aged 45 Years.

Bless'd are the dead, the happy dead

who die in Christ their living head;

They from their painfull labour cease,

And enter into perfect peace.

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The life story of the owner of this lovely gravestone has mostly me eluded so far. I have found very little record of her besides her gravestone.

If her gravestone is accurate, Ruth was born around 1746.

She married Asa Brooks...at some point. I've checked all of the neighboring towns for the marriage of Asa Brooks to a woman named Ruth. Nothing. Usually I can figure out a woman's family name by locating the marriage record(s) and checking those against birth and probate records. Ruth is not an uncommon name for the area and time period, so without a surname for her it's extremely difficult to get her story.

So what do I know about Asa?

Asa served during the Revolutionary War as a Lieutenant in the 3rd Middlesex County Regiment in August of 1775, as a Sergeant in one of the militia companies called to reinforce the Continental Army in early March of 1776 (probably part of the force surrounding Brtish-occupied Boston), and then again in 1777 in Rhode Island. In 1780 he was a 2nd Lieutenant in the 3rd Massachusetts Regiment. After the war he went back to his farm in Concord and his public service continued: he served as a town Selectman from 1785-1795.

According to the 1790 US Census in addition to Asa and Ruth there was one white male under the age of 16 and another white female of some age living in their household. This is possibly their children, though they could just as easily be other relatives. I haven't found any births in Concord or any of the neighboring towns relating to Asa and Ruth Brooks. They may not have recorded the births of their children, or they may not have had any children.

After Ruth's death Asa married Abigail "Nabby" Miles of Westminster, MA in July of 1792. Sadly she too died young, passing away of tuberculosis in 1795 aged only 33. His third marriage, in 1796 to Mary Lawrence of Lincoln, MA lasted until her death in 1812. Asa passed away in 1816.

Her gravestone is in the Old Hill Burying Ground in Concord, MA and was likely carved by a member of the Lamson family.