Baby Boy Brooks

Baby Boy Brooks, son of William Henry Brooks and Florence Lee Lankford, was born about April 1911 in Oglethorpe County, Georgia. He was the 8th child of 13—Ollie Von Brooks, Leila Mae Brooks, Waver Brooks, Benjamin Franklin Brooks, Weldon J. Brooks, Calvin Brooks, Jessie “James” Brooks, Baby Boy Brooks, Nancy Annie Elizabeth “Lizzie” Brooks, Evie L. Brooks, Ruby Iona Brooks, Alvin Thomas Brooks, and Nettie Lou Brooks. Baby Boy Brooks would be my 2nd cousin 3x removed with our nearest common relatives being Charles L. Lankford and Miss Moore, my 4th great grandparents.

On April 22, 1910, the Brooks family lived on Lexington Road in Woodstock, Oglethorpe County, Georgia. Was this where they lived when Baby Boy Brooks was born? According to his youngest sister Nettie, this baby was born a boy between James and Lizzie and never named. Nettie said the baby never cried so her parents did not name it, probably expecting it to die. He lived three months and four days with his death taking place in Oglethorpe County between July 5 and 7, 1911, probably at home. The Oglethorpe Echo published a death notice on July 14, 1911:

The grim reaper visited the Salem neighborhood twice toward the close of last week and left sorrowing friends and grief-stricken relatives. Taken were infants, one a child of Mr. and Mrs. Jim Adkins and the other of Mr. and Mrs. William Brooks.

Unfortunately, I don’t know where Baby Boy Brooks was buried. I checked the book Cemeteries of Oglethorpe County, Georgia (Second Edition) published in 2002 by Historic Oglethorpe County, Inc. but he’s not listed. Several family members are buried at the Salem Baptist Church Cemetery in Lexington, Oglethorpe County, Georgia, including his brother Ollie who died in 1918. If the baby was buried there, he might be in an unmarked grave, but I really don’t know.

Nettie and Ruby were the last of the 13 children to pass away—Ruby in 2018 and Nettie in 2020. Baby Boy Brooks was not included as a predeceased sibling in either obituary. 

References

• Death notice, Oglethorpe Echo, July 14, 1911. 
• Obituary for Nettie (Brooks) McKinley, McCommons Funeral Home; https://www.mccommonsfuneralhome.com/obituary/Nettie-McKinley.
• Obituary for Ruby Iona (Brooks) Dent, McCommons Funeral Home; https://www.mccommonsfuneralhome.com/obituary/Ruby-Dent.
• Personal memories of Nettie Brooks McKinley via P. Moon.
• U.S. Federal Census, Bairdstown, Oglethorpe County, Georgia, 1900.
• U.S. Federal Census, Woodstock, Oglethorpe County, Georgia, 1910, 1920, 1930.