John Brooks <[email protected] wrote: >I would like to throw a name into the wind and see if we have >any hits. > > BRONSON W. BROOKS was born 18 September 1835 in Portland, >Cumberland, Maine, and died 28 April 1907 in Lawler, Chickasaw, >Iowa. He married (1) MARIA E. SMITH 11 January 1852 in Orshon, >New York1, daughter of ADVON SMITH and POLLY (SMITH). She was >born Abt. 1834 in New York, and died Unknown. He married (2) >MARY ORSILA GOODRICK 4 July 1871 in Cresco, Howard, Iowa, >daughter of ABRAHAM GOODRICK and MARY BOSWORTH. She was born 5 >June 1843 in Mooers, Clinton, New York, and died 1 October 1899 >in Jackson, Madison, Tennessee. > >I am looking for any information on his parents. All I know is >that he left home at an early age and by 1850 was living in >Nunda, NY. In the 1900 Census he claimed that his father was >born in Maine and his mother in New York. Any information would >be helpful. There was a branch of (probably) the Woburn line of Henry/1 Brooks in Portland in the right time period. One William C. Brooks, perhaps to probably the son of Jonas/5 Brooks and Joanna CUMMINGS, was born in 1777 at Malone, NY, but married, in 1801, in Maine, where he remained, Hannah POLAND. They had two sons at Portland, 1802 and 1806, but each of these settled in the country on a farm. I double-checked, and each had a child within nine months or so of your Bronson's DOB. Another Portland presence, at least for a generation, was the line of Cotton Brown/6 Brooks, descended in the Concord line of Capt. Thomas Brooks. A wealthy merchant, and the grandfather of Rev. Phillips Brooks, he died at Portland in 1834. Of his three sons, William Gray was in Boston, George (b. 1797, Haverhill, MA) disappears, and Charles (b. 1795, Haverhill, disappears as well.) More accurately, I haven't followed them beyond recording their births. There are other Brooks connections to Portland I haven't clarified. One John G. Brooks, a. 21, of Portland, died in Worcester, MA in 1839. Samuel Reeves/7 Brooks married at Portland in 1842 -- born in Medford, MA, he was probably in business with his cousin Cotton Brown Brooks in Portland. Even more exotically, two Brooks sisters, whose family originated in Exeter, NH, and who were born on a cotton plantation near Natchez, MS, returned to New England to marry INGRAHAM brothers of Portland, but the dates are likely after 1840, and, obviously, any offspring would carry the Ingraham surname. Finally, Larry Wert, whom I have lost contact with, sent me this several years back, which he attributed to Lloyd O. Poland, The Polands of Essex Co., MA (1981): "A Wm. Brooks was listed in 1823-1827 Portland directories; Truckman, York St.. 1841 directory, cooper, Sumner St. 1858-9 directory, William A., Clerk, Cumberland St." Sorry I couldn't find anything more tangible. Have you checked the Portland area census for BROOKS heads of household? BTW, I left the subject line typo in place so that all messages on this thread will sort together properly in the archive. :-) Chris