My apologies as it will take a while to get to the topic: Family stories: Our first Brooks came to America in 1636 and settled in Watertown, the second son was the ancestor of Phillips Brooks. So, assuming this isn't the result of someone doing family gen. and only finding Thomas as a first immigrant and assuming then we must be related to him, it would seem we are of Capt. Thomas line. Through maiden names connected to my Brooks line, I am direct line relation of Henry Brooks and the Concord Emersons. There are other connections to maiden names found in Capt. Thomas line. My G. Uncle, now 94, remembers visiting an Adams family in Franklin Co. (Leyden?), MA (my known Brooks were in Leyden, Colrain, Bernardston) as a child who were relatives (they had a tomahawk buried in their front door from the early Indian aggressions). He also thought he remembers that some of our Brooks were Loyalists and had gone to Canada. Again, all these stories check out to parts of Capt. Thomas' line, there is also a connection to Windham Co., VT. Have been going through all the Brooks-NE archives to get info on Thomas' line, that proven, that that is supposed to be, or likely to be, that that fits in with my family stories, or has connections to other direct lines, and doing my best to build his line so I can figure out where to look for my Salmon's 1795 parents (I tend to think his stay in Shutesbury was short and he came from elsewhere, first Brooks found in Shutesbury is Joshua in 1820, he is the only one, Salmon is not on the census, as the family is shown to include 1 m. 45+; 1 f. 27-45; 1 f. 45+. Joshua would fit to be Salmon's father). My first Brooks known is Salmon Brooks b. abt 1795 supposedly Shutesbury, MA. His wife m. 1823 was Hannah Jones b. Shutesbury (proven), daughter of Josiah Jones of Middleboro, MA and probably Elizabeth Nye or maybe Elizabeth Vaughan (there is a Nye/Vaughan and Brooks/Vaughan connection already. Another Salmon Brooks b. around same time in MA is found to have fought in war of 1812 in NY and believed to be the one found in Genessee County census listed as Zalmon. (found mentions of Genesee Co. in archives) Finally to get to the point of Joseph Smith, I found several mentions of a branch of Thomas' line as being believed related to Joseph Smith, prophet. His Smith line is a direct line to me, making him a cousin, but through my maiden lines connected with Brooks, but still seemed interesting, especially when I did a descendancy report and found another connection to Thomas' line on it. However, my lines are heavily intermarried and I often find I have numerous relations to people, am already related to siblings and cousins spouses, so it is likely I connect to Smith in another way, including through my Brooks line. Don't know if this will just really confuse people, or if it helps to trigger a link for anyone, but my Smith line is as follows, some of the early line is taken from others work, and I can't entirely vouch for it since I don't know the person who did the research. 1. Robert Smith 1594 ; 2. Robt Smith 1626 and Mary French; 3. Thos. Smith 1657 and Martha Knowlton; 4. Ebenezer Smith 1690 and Mary Perkins; 5 Mary Smith 1712 and Thomas Hunt; 6. Lydia Hunt 1750 and Hezekiah Newcomb; 7. Jemima Harriet Newcomb 1780 and David Carpenter; 8. Jotham Orlander Carpenter 1806 and Eliza A. Potter (she is related to Dorothy Potter 1662 who m. (3.) Noah Brooks (2. Josh Brooks; 1 Capt Thomas) but their common relative is Thomas Potter 1535, Dorothy descends from son Jeffrey, I descend from son Robert); 9. Mary Adeline Carpenter 1834 and Jonathan M. Brooks (Jonathan is son of Salmon Brooks 1795. Jonathan, his twin Josiah and their sister Harriet all married Carpenter siblings, children of Jotham Orlander Carpenter and Eliza Potter); 10. Duane Adelbert Brooks 1852 and Rhoda Elizabeth Kinney (Jonathan was b. Colrain, MA son Duane in Leyden, MA, Duane's son Walter is my GGF, he was b. in Gloucester and then settled in Needham. Rhoda, Walter's mother, was from Gloucester, she left Duane and apparently was quite serious about not being found as she went to Boston, but Walter as a young boy for a time lived on a farm in Vermont where he went by the last name of Raymond). Joseph Smith's line is supposed to be (again, this has not been fully researched by me): 1. Robert Smith 1594; 2. Robert 1626 (our common relative); 3. Samuel Smith 1666 and Rebecca Curtis (Samuel is brother of my Thomas 1657); 4. Samuel Smith 1714 Topsf. and Priscilla Gould; 5. Asahel Smith 1744 Topsfield and Mary Duty; 6. Joseph Smith 1771 Topsf. and Lucy Mack; 7. Joseph Smith 1805 Sharon, Windsor, Vt, one wife was Emma Hale (not sure if she is part of the Bernardston Hale line, does not appear to be part of my Hale direct line, my Eliza Potter, wife of #8 on my Smith line, was a granddaughter of Elizabeth Hale-through her I have several Mayflower ancestors). John Quincy Adams also shows on my Smith descendancy, another cousin (remember earlier memory of my great uncle that they used to visit an Adams family in Franklin Co. who were relatives), his line is supposed to be: 1. Robert Smith 1594 (our common ancestor); 2. Thomas Smith 1634 (brother to my Robert 1626) and Abigail Boylston; 3. William Smith 1707 and Elizabeth Quincy; 4. Abigail Smith 1744 and John Adams; 5. John Quincy Adams 1767 (John Q's son Charles Francis Adams married Abigail Brown Brooks, a descendant of Capt. Thomas, her line should go back to Capt. Thomas as: Peter Chardon, Edward, Samuel, Samuel (who married a Bolyston, see # 2 above); Caleb; Capt. Thomas). Other spouse names associated with Capt. Thomas extended line found on my Smith descendancy report are: Wright, Perkins, Peabody, Newton. Now here is the other connection to Capt. Thomas line, also found on my Smith descendancy report: our common ancestor is 5. Mary Smith (refer to my Smith line for 1-4); 6. John Hunt (brother of my 6. Lydia Hunt); 7. Phoebe Hunt; 8. Isaac Burrows and Rebecca Louise Connable (she is dau. of Jonathan Connable and Asenath Wright-yet another Wright connection); 9. Melissa Minerva Burrows b. 1829 (her sister Henrietta married a Hale) and Silas Newton Brooks b. 1825 Bernardston (he is buried in Central Cemetery Bernardston near some of my known Brooks, and with my Carpenters and other lines, he would seem to be the most likely link to my Salmon, his f. Dr. John Brooks b. Worcester 1783 would seem so perfect to be a brother or first cousin to my Salmon 1795, but no link found yet, and they have Windham Co. connections where my Carpenters were plenty (Carpenters had a big farm in Guilford, and the Carpenter Cemetery, where they seemed to go back and forth to-the farm and town, not the cemetery). Silas Brooks line back to Thomas is John 1783; Nathaniel 1740; John 1701; Daniel 1663; Joshua 1630; Capt. Thomas Brooks. Well, this is pretty much everything I have, except Salmon had one more child Elizabeth who died young, Jonathan (my descendant) I don't find through maiden lines who he is named after, so would assume it is a Brooks name, Harriet is common in Carpenter line, Josiah was named for his grandfather Josiah Jones, so would think a Jonathan Brooks may be good choice for a father of Salmon, and also of course the Joshua found in Shutesbury census. And finally as a bit of fun, another cousin on my Smith descendancy report, and therefore cousin to Silas N. Brooks children, Joseph Smith and John Quiny Adams IS, the line (again, this is from someone else and has not been fully researched by me, but I've had very good results with this person's work in the past): our common ancestor 6. Lydia Hunt (see my Smith line for 1-5); 7. Lydia Newcomb (sister of my Jemima Harriet Newcomb); 8. Warren Matton Graves; 9. Albert Mattoon Graves; 10. Eva Bronson Graves; 11. Living Price; 12. Actor JOHN LITHGOW (3rd Rock from the Sun; Harry and the Hendersons; Footloose; The World according to Garp...) If anything clicks with anyone, and you have any thoughts to share, please do. And if you'd like to see my extended Thomas line, or my known Brooks line, I would be most happy to share it. And if anyone has any Capt. Thomas lines they wish to share, I'd be most happy to receive them, my goal is to get all the men and where they lived who could be candidates for Salmon's father, and then see what seems to connect best with my known lines and begin looking into the possibilities. It is so frustrating to have most of the maiden lines associated with my Brooks line traced comfortably back to England, and have my mother's "Bloodline" Brookses be such a mystery. And yes, I really am posting this at the time it shows, which shows how long and confusing this post is because I started quite a while ago. Sorry if I've confused you....please help if you can, and if anything interests you that you've seen (even with other names), feel free to ask for info, with 8 to 12 G GPs on the Mayflower and 95% of my known Brooks maiden lines here by 1640, I appear to be related to everyone (esp. those Rehoboth folks!), the town history might as well be my personal family history. Thanks for any help you can give me. Maura Amrich, Tyngsborough, MA genam1620@comcast.net