Martha Heinrichs wrote: | Since we have new members, I am submitting an update on my |Asa/Asahel Brooks in hopes that someone will recognize who his |parents could have been. Asa left New England by the mid 1820's |and he did not stay in one place very long. Perhaps someone has |an Asa/Asahel/Asel Brooks in their family that they know little |about that would fit my Asa. Since he left New England early, it |is possible that he wasn't heard from again. By 1820, Asa Brooks |would be about 20 years old and I have not been able to place him |with any Brooks family in the 1820 census in New England. [snip] I still can't place him, but I definitely feel the noose is tightening around him. (Perhaps not the best turn of phrase.) He had a son Harvey. That's an unusual given name for a Brooks of this period -- I only know of four examples to date. Three of the four Harveys were born in Worcester County, MA, the fourth in New Ipswich, NH, just over the state line from Townsend and Groton, MA. All of these men were in the line of Capt. Thomas Brooks or Henry Brooks. In fact, three of them share dual descent from both progenitors. Both lines had descendants in and around Bennington, VT, which you mention. The naming of another son Henry hints that this could be the Woburn line of Henry/1 Brooks, but without a birth record that's just guesswork. I'm going to be working this weekend on trying to finish extraction of all the Brooks vitals from the westernmost 4 counties of Massachusetts. I'll also take a look at my data by community -- that is, I'll look at the Brooks groupings by town for the New England locations you mention. If I don't find the "smoking gun" -- Asa's birth record -- perhaps I can come up with a connection with a given locality. I'll let you know. There *is* one Asa right now up for grabs -- born at Westminster, MA, in the "right" family line, and said to have "Went West and disappeared." Unfortunately, the only documentation for him consists of a third-hand family mention in a town history which says that his father did not marry Sally Bulow until 1814. No birth dates are given for the children, nor have I found their birth records in Massachusetts vitals. If Sally Bulow were to be Asa's mother, he would be born too late to meet your requirements. And if the father's birthdate of 1784 is accurate, that would also be quite late to be fathering a son c. 1800 by a first, unknown wife. Don't give up! I heard from Debbye Lansing, another listreader, last night that after half a dozen queries to this list, she has identified "her" William Brooks -- given how common that name is, not an easy task. :-) Chris