Jean McKee wrote: > While at the NEHGS some time last spring or winter, I > perused a book on Cheshire, England, and the English Civil War. > In his masterful Tributaries piece on Henry, Chris questions > his participation in that War as Cheshire is counted as a > Cromwell stronghold. I hope I didn't ruffle any feathers. :-) I'm trying to research the New England Brooks origins in a manner that will stand up to research scrutiny in decades to come. So when a question of chronology pops out, I will address it to the best of my ability rather than simply pass it by for the next researcher to puzzle over. Actually, Cheshire seems to have been by and large a Royalist stronghold, but I think that's what you meant to say. Lady Antonia Fraser wrote an excellent biography of Oliver Cromwell which I read, as well as several other works on Cromwell and the Civil War(s) (there were actually two of them) to try and acquire some historical background in which to place young Henry. After reading in depth about the careful recruiting of Cromwell's New Model Army � he wanted only devout soldiers who would accept tight discipline � it seemed unlikely to me that a boy of 13 or so would be a soldier in this army. And If you've ever watched a modern-day blacksmith (farrier) shoe a large horse, it's hard to imagine an undersized boy doing this brawny task. But then Cromwell's mounts were really ponies (when compared with the size today's horses), and the idea of a youth assisting his father in their care would seem quite plausible. Chris