Notes for John Brookins: The Winter 2001 issue of The Brooking Line (pp. 18-19), the newsletter of The Brooking Society, American Chapter, contained an article about the Brief Sketch of the Brookins Family (924) by Homer DeWilton Brookins. Homer wrote about three Brookins immigrants -- William, Godfrey, and John. Specifically, the Winter 2001 issue contains this text:
'Homer Brookins' third New England pioneer is John Brookins, his own ancestor. John came to Boston sometime in the 1650s. In 1658, he married Elizabeth Hollard, whose family had been in Massachusetts since 1635. John prospered and with Elizabeth had ten children. At the time of his death in 1682 he left considerable property in Boston, including the "Salutation Inn," of which he was the owner. The "Salutation Inn" which got its name from a sign above the door showing a boy saluting his girl, played an interesting role in American history. At this inn in the 1770s, one Samuel Adams plotted an attack on English ships in the Boston Harbor, the famous Boston Tea Party that helped ignite the American Revolution.
Later research suggests that John Brookins was the son of John Brooking of Totnes and his wife Alice Prideaux, and the grandson of William Brooking, a wealthy merchant born in Totnes in 1544. Although the last names are spelled differently, this means John Brookins is a cousin of the late 1600s Brooking settlers of Virginia, who are directly descended from the same wealthy merchant. Although the tie between the various Brooking, Brookings, and Brookins is conjectural, it is based on hard evidence ...'
According to The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Volume II (1848, p. 39), "the name of John Brookin occurs in early conveyances, in Suffok Deeds, Boston, where he owned a house and land, 1672. John is listed among "The Names of Stewards and Servants sent by JOHN MASON, Esq., into this Province of New Hampshire." That is, John was part of a group that settled an area in New Hampshire. Also listed among the names of settlers is William Brookins.
According to A Standard History of The Hanging Rock Iron Region of Ohio, Volume II (1883, p. 1125), John Brookins came from Tottenes in Devonshire, England to Boston, Massachusetts in about 1631. According to this source, he died in Boston in about 1662.
According to Homer DeWilton Brookins writing in A Brief History of the Brookins Family (1924, p. 3), John Brookins was the owner of the Salutation Inn which got its name from a sign above the door showing a boy saluting his girl. However, Samuel Adams Drake, writing in Old Landmarks and Historic Personages of Boston (Boston: James R. Osgood and Company, 1873, pp. 175-176), indicates that the tavern got its name from "a grotesque sign, descriptive of the meeting of two gentlemen of the era of small clothes, cocked hats, etc., in the act of greeting each other, gave the hostelry its name" (pp. 175-176). He locates the tavern on Salutation Street at the corner with North Street. According to Drake, Samuel Green kept the tavern there in 1731, and William Campbell was the owner in 1773.
More About John Brookins: Died 2: Abt. 1682, Boston, Massachusetts.326 Probate: April 1683327 Will: October 27, 1682, Boston, Massachusetts.327
More About John Brookins and Elizabeth Hollard: Marriage: Abt. 1657, Boston or Weymouth, Massachusetts.328, 329, 330
Children of John Brookins and Elizabeth Hollard are:
John Brookins (b. 1637, d. April 25, 1683)
Notes for John Brookins: