I have no relationship to these Brooks or Spencer families. I am entering them in order to show the relationships between Dora Brooks who mothered Catherine Reed by Jack Reed, Mattie Lee Brooks who married Jack’s son Joe Reed, Malissa Spencer who was Leander’s wife, and John Ponder Spencer and his wife Amanda T. Brooks with whom Mattie Lee Brooks was living in the 1900 census.

My only connection to the family is that Joe Reed’s full sister Almeda Reed married my third cousin twice removed Floyd Hall. But many people find families on my web sites by googling on the name of a relative. So when the relationships are complex, I like to show them all in order to help out.

Although Leander and Martha were not married, both of their daughters were raised by Leander and his legitimate wife Malissa Spencer, and given the surname Brooks. (Mattie also spent part of her early years with Leander’s sister Amanda and Malissa’s brother John.)