Most of our readers "lurk" -- meaning to read other folks' messages without joining in. Those of us who don't lurk have no way of knowing who the rest of you are, genealogically speaking, even though you might be the missing link in other researcher's puzzle, or they in yours. I think it's time for a listreaders' census. This will be painless for each of you -- all you have to do is to send me a blank email with an appropriate subject line. I will collate and broadcast the results. This will be nearly painless for me if everyone will follow these directions. We'll do this OFF the list. I really am hoping for 100% participation here. :-) *** Fire up a blank email, and address it to [email protected] *** Now enter one subject line per #2, #3, or #4, whichever fits. Leave the body of the message blank. 2. IF YOU HAVE CONNECTED TO A FOUNDER: In the SUBJECT LINE, type "I'm researching _____", replacing the underscores with one or more of the following as appropriate: Capt. Thomas Brooks Henry Brooks of Woburn William Brooks of Scituate Gilbert Brooks of Scituate William Brooks of Springfield Thomas Brooks of Haddam John Brooks of Cheshire Henry Brooks of Cheshire The Kittery, ME line 3. IF YOU HAVEN'T CONNECTED TO A FOUNDER: In the SUBJECT LINE, type "My research locus is ______" replacing the underscores with a location in the format, TOWN, COUNTY, STATE. For Steuben County, NY, type, "Steuben County, NY." Or Hornellsville, Steuben, NY. Or NY State. I need to be able to distinguish between town, county and state names. Enter the earliest known location for your ancestor. Only ONE place per email, please. 4. IF YOU'RE NEW TO BROOKS RESEARCH: Type NEW in the SUBJECT LINE. *** Now send the sucker. You're done! If you meet both qualifications #2 and #3 -- you know you descend from Thomas of Haddam, but are also researching Haddam as well as Thomas -- then you can send me two emails, one person and one location. Same if you're researching a county in NY and one in OH -- send an email for each. I'm sure I haven't covered every possibility, but we need to keep this simple. If you're researching only Famous Brooks Podiatrists, and don't have a name or location focus, then I don't really know where to put you. :-) It's now Friday evening. The polls will be open for one week, until next Friday night, when I'll compile the results into name/address lists to share. If this works I'll do another census in the near future focused on unusual given names. ("I'm looking for Solon Brooks of Ohio.") Thanks for your assistance, Chris Christopher Brooks, List Administrator: ==================================== BROOKS-NE (Brooks Families of New England), HAPGOOD, and MERRIAM lists at RootsWeb. ==================================== [email protected]

This just arrived in my mailbox, and I'm forwarding it to the list -- which is where I think Bryce meant it to go. :-) Chris ================================== From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected] Sent: Friday, October 19, 2001 1: 24 PM Subject: Re: [B-NE] Asa/Asahel Brooks b 1800 Mass Here is a bit more about Asa/Asahel Brooks he married Betsey Mears whose father was Isaac Mears of MA and died in Bennington, Sandgate TWP, VT was in 1820 census in VT Betsey and Asa/Asahel moved to Convis TWP, Calhoun Co. , Mi and appear in 1870 census there. Father of Asa/Asahel was Asa Brooks b 1761 Westminster, MA. d 1826 in Halifax, VT sibblings of Asa/Asahel are as follows Ezra; Arnos; John; Alva; Joseph; Edward Flint (Found in Gill, MA was Clergy); Rebecca; Tamar; Polly; Rhoda; and Eunice Hope this helps Bryce looking for parents of Isaac Brooks of Steuben TWP, Oneida Co. NY his son Charles L married Jeanette Powers and moved to Marshall, MI abt 1834 . . . appear in 1850 census in MI

Several times in the past, when we had multiple researchers interested in a common line or area, I've set up a "working group." I sent out a "bulk mail" message to each of the researchers, with names and email addresses, suggesting they contact each other and explore some sort of collaboration. In each case I created an email list which I could use to share whatever new material I might come across. It seemed a great idea in theory. But I never got any feedback at all, and so I stopped trying to cheerlead the process. I'd be happy to resume the practice if there was interest. The Steuben County researchers, for example, could do this. Chris

I omitted an address for Jack Brooks: [email protected] Chris

A week or two ago there were several messages about Steuben County, NY. I'm looking through a GEDCOM sent to me by Jack Brooks, who descends from Silas Brooks, a Revolutionary soldier of Lyme, CT. Jack has people at TROUPSBURG, Steuben, NY. Chris

Jack: My name is Ron Hughes, and I am researching my G-GF, who lived in Steuben County, NY. I recently jointed the NE Brooks Newsgroup, and someone posted comments to the fact that you may have information regarding that area. My G-GF name was William Rensselaer Brooks, born about 1821. At the time of his enlistment during the civil war, he was living in Hornellsville. While he was away, his family moved to Woodhull, where they stayed for many years (two generations). William married Jane Simmons, and together they had the following children: Jerusha - born and died in 1842 in Owego, NY Marion, born Oct 19, 1846. Married Eugenia Colvin Mary Brooks. born Aug 17, 1850. Married Delancy Colvin (brother of Eugenia) Ellen Brooks, born Jan 27, 1853. Married Charles Cherry William R. Brooks II, born Dec 22, 1861. Married Jenny Ensign, from Dansville. Civil war records and pension records indicate that William was born in Sullivan County, NY. How and why he wound up in Hornellsville is a mystery. I would appreciate any light you may be able to shine onto the mystery. I have lots of information pertaining to the descendants of William and Jane, and would be happy to share what I have. Thanks for any help you may be able to render. Ron Hughes

My Roswell Brooks born 15 Feb 1804 in Western NY married Lydia Salisbury 24 May 1829 died 25 Feb 1885 His parents were Noah Brooks (b. 4 Nov 1782 d. 9 Jan 1830) and Maracha Russell Roswell's brothers and sister were: Allira, Elizabeth, Abiram, Belinda, Addelia, Cemantha, Chester, Electa Sylvia, Julia, Alonzo I would like to find information on Noah's parents. Thank you, Diane __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make a great connection at Yahoo! Personals. http://personals.yahoo.com

Cousins, Please forgive my clumsy attempts to pass along this URL. It would seem that the MissingLinks article from 10/17 has not been archived as yet and can't be searched. This URL should take you directly to Roswell R. Brooks' page. I hope this isn't old news. http://www.buffalonet.org/army/0493.htm EdP _______________________________________________________ Send a cool gift with your E-Card http://www.bluemountain.com/giftcenter/

Cousins, Please see Oct 17 issue of MissingLinks www.petuniapress.com/cgi-bin/s.cgi www.buffalonet.org/army EdP _______________________________________________________ Send a cool gift with your E-Card http://www.bluemountain.com/giftcenter/

Please see Missing Links from Oct. 17th for a reference to Roswell R. Brooks. Sorry, I already deleted it from my PC. SUBSCRIBE in the subject line to: [email protected] EdP _______________________________________________________ Send a cool gift with your E-Card http://www.bluemountain.com/giftcenter/

Anne & Chris, John Brooks married 1) Eunice Mousall (daughter of John) on 1 Nov.1649 and 2) Mary Richardson 25 July 1684. Source: Parkhurst Manuscript "Early Families of New London CT", 1938. Jack ----- Original Message ----- From: Christopher Brooks <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, October 15, 2001 7:42 PM Subject: [B-NE] John/2 Brooks, son of Henry Brooks of Woburn > Anne Willis wrote: > > > John Brooks (2), son of Henry Brooks (1), married Eunice Mousall, > > daughter of John Mousall. John Mousall was a member of the Ancient and > > Honorable Artillery Company. > > I didn't know that. Where did you find this, Anne? (i.e., what's your source?) > > I think emails are just a bit more personal and friendly when they're > signed. :-) Wouldn't you agree? > > Thanks, > > Chris > > > ==== BROOKS-NE Mailing List ==== > Archives of previous posts are located at: > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/BROOKS-NE-L/ > The address is case-sensitive. >

Martha Heinrichs wrote: > I am updating my Asa/Asahel Brooks query and hope that someone will >be able to give me a lead as to who his parents were. Asa left New >England by the mid 1820's and one will see that he didn't stay in one >place too long. Perhaps someone has an Asa/Asahel Brooks in their >family that they know little about that would fit my Asa. Since he left >New England early, it is possible he wasn't heard from again. > > Asa/Asahel Brooks > b circa 1800 Mass (his age and birthplace are consistent in the >1850, 1860, and 1870 census) [snip] Martha, I looked for any Asa Brooks >1795 and <1806. I got seven hits -- this seems to be the peak timespan of this name's popularity in the Brooks families. Your target has adopted a particularly effective disguise to blend into his peers. :-) Of my seven, five are matrimonially accounted for. Only two are not: 1. Asa/6, of the Glastonbury, CT line, b. 31 May 1798, prob. Gill, MA, s/o Pvt. Levi/5 Brooks and Lydia BUCK. Asa had a son James Norman Brooks. I have nothing further. Others on the list are researching this line. 2. Asa/6, of the Haddam, CT line, b. say 1802. s/o Daniel Jr. Nothing further. Of course, it's likely there quite a few other Asas roaming the landscape back then. Individually, we each only hold a few pieces of a gigantic puzzle. You mentioned Tewksbury, which abuts Burlington, I believe, which was set off from Woburn. You also mentioned a son named Henry, the true "power name" in the line of Henry/1 Brooks. These are both pointers, however faint, towards the Woburn line. I've found the name Asa to be about evenly distributed between the lines of Henry and Capt. Thomas Brooks. It's infrequent in CT and rare to nonexistent in the Springfield and Scituate lines. I have the published Tewksbury VR to 1850 here, if you can think of any MEARS angles that might shed new light on Asa's identity, or his wife's. I'm pretty certain without looking, though, that any Brookses up there were Woburnites. Thanks for a nicely written query, BTW. It's a lot easier for others to follow up and do some looking when the relevant facts are clearly and concisely stated -- and no more. We've picking up new subscribers each week, so please feel welcome to lurk for a while and then try your query again. Chris

Anne Willis wrote: > John Brooks (2), son of Henry Brooks (1), married Eunice Mousall, > daughter of John Mousall. John Mousall was a member of the Ancient and > Honorable Artillery Company. I didn't know that. Where did you find this, Anne? (i.e., what's your source?) I think emails are just a bit more personal and friendly when they're signed. :-) Wouldn't you agree? Thanks, Chris

In working on the early family members of the Woburn line of Henry Brooks, I have deleted my information -- date, location and source(s) -- for the marriage of HANNAH BROOKS and ANDREW LESTER, probably at New London ca 1661. I know I've sent annotated files to a dozen or more listreaders who are descendants of Henry. My files always include his children, and Hannah is the one with the boilerplate paragraph to the effect that, "While sometimes said to be the daughter of Capt. Thomas Brooks, she is probably the daughter of Henry Brooks." Would be grateful for Hannah's marriage event data, if someone out there may have saved such a file I sent. Please cut and paste the relevant sentences, if you would, and send them to me privately. Thanks, Chris

Obituary: William Azel BROOKS ====== Killed by Train Yesterday. Aged Hampton Man was Killed Yesterday Noon on M. & St.L in South Part of City. Was Deaf. Did Not Hear Signal. Skull was Fractured and Both Feet Crushed. Well to Do. Ninety Years Old. Hampton, Iowa Dec 10. -- (Special) -- William A. Brooks, pioneer of Hampton and of Franklin county, Iowa, a man aged 88 years, was struck and almost instantly killed by a passenger train on the M. & St.L road this noon. Mr. Brooks was deaf and failed to hear the approach of the train or the frantic signal of the engineer, who endeavored to check his engine in vain. The body was badly cut up. The right foot was severed as was the left leg. A concussion of the brain rendered him unconscious the moment he was struck. -- Sheffield Press, Dec. 11, 1913. ======= Peace and Gentle Sunsets, ~~~ Pam http://www.geocities.com/orcawind

Obituary from newspaper, DeRuyter, New York, dated 26 April 1894 ==== Asahel Seabury Brooks, born in New Haven, Connecticut, 19 April 1794, to Azel and Eunice Peck-Brooks, celebrating his 100th birthday. (Azel died in 1817, aged 62 years; Eunice died in 1849, aged 85). Family moved to Butternuts, Otsego County, New York when he was 8 years old. Married in 1838 to Hannah Cole of Albany, New York. Lived on a farm in Taylor, Cortland Country, New York. Eight children: Elizabeth, Walter, Robert, Henry, Louisa, Willard, Lucia, and George. Also mentioned was a nephew, William A. Brooks of Hampton, Iowa; Cornelia Brooks, niece, of Syracuse, New York; and the three daughters of Rev. J.G. Brooks of Knoxboro. ======= ~~~ Pam

I am updating my Asa/Asahel Brooks query and hope that someone will be able to give me a lead as to who his parents were. Asa left New England by the mid 1820's and one will see that he didn't stay in one place too long. Perhaps someone has an Asa/Asahel Brooks in their family that they know little about that would fit my Asa. Since he left New England early, it is possible he wasn't heard from again. Asa/Asahel Brooks b circa 1800 Mass (his age and birthplace are consistent in the 1850, 1860, and 1870 census) d sometime in the 1870's probably in Iowa; m circa mid 1820's probably in Vermont to Betsy Mears. Betsy b circa 1804 in Mass daughter of Isaac and Polly (Longgon) Mears of Mass. (The Mears line is in Middlesex Co, Tewksbury, Mass for many years). Isaac Mears moved his family to Vermont circa 1810. Known children of Asa/Asahel and Betsy Brooks: (1) Harvey Brooks b circa 1827, NY (2) Polly Brooks b 1828 NY, *** my ancestor (3) Henry Brooks b circa 1833 Penn By 1820 Asa Brooks would be approximately 20 years old. I have not been able to place him with any Brooks family in the 1820 census in New England. Census reports show: 1820: Vermont, Bennington Co., Sandgate Twp Isaac Mears family is here. Asa Brooks marries Betsy Mears by mid 1820's. Before 1827, the Isaac Mears family and Asa and Betsy Brooks travel west across the country together. 1830: New York, Saratoga Co., Concord Twp Asa Brooks and Isaac Mears on same page. Asa is listed as Azekiel Brooks in census index. 1840: Illinois, Rock Island Co. Asa Brooks and Isaac Mears families on same page. 1850: Wisconsin, Iowa Co., Pulaski Twp Asa and Betsy Brooks and their two sons, Harvey and Henry 1860: Iowa, Mitchell Co., Richfield Twp Asahel and Betsy Brooks; son Henry is on same page; son Harvey is nearby in Bremer County. 1870: Iowa, Mitchell Co., Lincoln Twp Asahel and Betsy Brooks and son Henry and his family; son Harvey back in Illinois, Rock Island County. 1880: Illinois, Rock Island Co., Hampton Twp Widow Betsy Brooks Asa Brooks sons, Harvey and Henry were in the Civil War. I am awaiting their pension files. Any clues or suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thank you. Martha Heinrichs

Was this the Roswell of a couple days ago? Found in the IGI, in a batch of Barbour Collection records, at the LDS website: 593. Roswell Bidwell BROOKS - International Genealogical Index Gender: M Birth: 26 Jan 1848 Portland Twp, Middlesex, Connecticut If you're online, I think the hyperlink should take you to his index record. Chris

Thanks. I'll cc the list. -----Original Message----- From: Christopher Brooks [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Saturday, October 13, 2001 7:49 AM To: Ron Hughes Subject: RE: [B-NE] Brooks from Steuben County, NY Hi Ron, I realize you may have intended your reply to reach me offlist -- but there's a bunch of useful clues in there which none of our 195 other subscribers is seeing. Please note that the Reply To function is set up to reply to the individual message, not to the list as a whole -- so when you want to reach all of us, you'll have to overtype <[email protected]> into the Send To line. >Thanks ever so much for such a quick and detailed reply. It's certainly >more than I expected, and it's greatly appreciated. > >Great-Grandpa William R. Brooks has been a mystery for several years. My uncle, who is 70+ >years old, says that his (much older, now deceased) relatives said that >William was born in England. That, of course, is what has been passed down >through the years. > >I do have his Civil War Records, including pension files, which state that >he was born in Sullivan County, NY. I found him listed on the 1860 census >(Hornellsville), and that indicates he was born in NY State. Unless he had >reason to lie about where he was born, I do believe that he was born in >Sullivan County. > >My brother is still living in Owego, NY, which is where I am from >originally. My wife and I are going back there on the 24th -- a couple >weeks away - for a class reunion (1961). We plan on going to Woodhull, >Dansville, and Hornellsville, looking for documentation. In addition, my >brother plans on going to Bath and conducting records searches. > >At one time, I exchanged a few emails with a gentleman from Sullivan County, >who did some library research for me. He also thought it odd that someone >from England would be named Rensselaer. He did mention, however, that some >immigrants adopted, as a middle name, the names of cities, towns and >countys. So, who knows. > >William married Jane Simmons, who was born in Tioga County, NY, about 1827. >She died at the age of 78 in 1906,and is buried in the Woodhull Village >Cemetery. She remarried twice after the death of William, first to Abraham >Freeland in April of 1868, and then James Baldwin in 1874. Among other >children, they had a daughter named Jerusha born abt. 1842, in Owego, NY, >and a son named Marion, born in 1846 in Dryden. Marion was in the civil war >at the same time his father was. > >- - - - - - - >Thanks again for your reply. I'll keep your email and try to come up with a >link to the names you provided.

Jane Devlin, list mom of CTMIDDLE-L, sends along the following: ====================== Thanks to Coralynn Brown, I will be adding the Barbour records for Haddam to my website. She has already finished the names beginning with A & B and I just uploaded them. There are a lot of BROOKS records included. I hope this will be of help to everyone researching in the Middlesex Co., CT, area. Jane Devlin Lake Orion, MI [email protected] http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~jdevlin/ ====================== I think we may have posted the Barbour/Haddam BROOKS records to the list a year or two back -- in which case they could be found in the list archive. Even so, it will be faster to access them via Jane's well-organized site than to dig them out of our archive. :-) Chris Christopher Brooks, List Administrator: ==================================== BROOKS-NE (Brooks Families of New England), HAPGOOD, and MERRIAM lists at RootsWeb. ==================================== [email protected]