In Search of the Parents of Francis Harvard Brooks

Figure 1 Crossing the border from Austria to Italy in the Alps

Figure 2 One of many beautiful castles on the road from Innsbruck to Bolzano

Figure 3 Geoff & Kylene Brooks in Austria
Figure 4 A view from the road of the city of Bolzano where we searched for records

Figure 5 Typical Architecture and Vinyards

Figure 6 One of many trams used for transportation from villages atop mountains to the city of Bolzano

Figure 7 A view from our balcony to adjacent buildings in the city of Bolzano

In Search of the Parents
of
Francis Harvard Brooks
By
Kylene and Gerffery Brooks[1]

Recently Geoff and I took a trip to Austria and Italy during Christmas time. The purpose of our trip was two-fold: we were returning for the first time to visit our missions together as well as searching for a record of our great-great-grandfather, Francis Harvard Brooks. Our Grandpa Brooks has done an extensive genealogy research on Francis Brooks however nothing has ever shed light on his parents, Michael and Anna Brooks, to take this line any further back in history. Geoff and I both feel strongly that we can play an important part in the research for Francis Harvard due to the fact that between the two of us, we served our missions in the area that was in 1862 Tirol, Austria (where we believe that he was born) and speak the languages (German and Italian) of that area and the records kept there.

Before going on our trip, we dug into the research already done by Grandpa Brooks to learn as much as we could about Francis Brooks. Francis Brooks came to America in 1882 when he was twenty years old. According to the two census records that he filled out (in 1900 and 1920) he was born in 1862. In the 1900 record he indicated that he was born in Tirol, Austria. In the 1920 record, he indicated that he was born in Tirol, Italy. In 1862 Tirol was a region that today covers South Tirol, Austria, Bolzano, Italy and Trento, Italy. Before our trip to Austria and Italy at Christmas time we were not aware that what is now the region of Trento, Italy was part of the region of Tirol, Austria in 1862.

Figure 1 Crossing the border from Austria to Italy in the Alps

There is a small “village” in the present-day region of Bolzano, Italy that is also called Tirol. We were very hopefully that Francis Brooks was born in this small village, however before we went to Italy we emailed the Archives of the Bolzano region in Italy explaining to them when we were coming and what we were looking for. They checked for us in the small village of Tirol and there were no records of a “Brooks” being born anywhere near 1862. They informed us that without knowing a specific city, only the region we would be searching for a needle in a haystack. For months before going to Austria and Italy, Geoff and I prayed and fasted for a help to find something while we would be in Italy. Several weeks before our trip we decided to go to the temple together. As we were leaving, Geoff did something I have never seen him do before. He stopped at the prayer roll box and wrote down a name and put it in the box. On the way out I asked him who he had written down and he said he didn’t want to tell me. I gave him a kind of confused look and then he said “Well I don’t know if I am allowed to write his name because he is dead but I did anyways.” Of course then, I knew exactly who he had been thinking of and wrote down.

Figure 2 One of many beautiful castles on the road from Innsbruck to Bolzano

On Christmas morning we departed from Salt Lake City at 8:30 in the morning only to arrive in Munich, Germany the next morning on December 26th at 8 am. After several days in Innsbruck, Austria we crossed the Austria/Italy border and headed for Bolzano. Bolzano is the “capitol” city of the Bolzano region. Although Bolzano is in Italy it has a stronger Austrian “influence” than Italian “influence”. The people in Bolzano speak both Italian and German. Their signs are written in both languages. The menus of their restaurants are not only written in both languages but include both Italian and Austrian dishes. The city is nestled into the side of the Alps and surrounded by vineyards built into the side of the mountain like staircases. It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been in my life. Geoff and I loved every minute we spent in Bolzano which seemed like a city perfect fit for the two of us because of the Austrian/Italian blend in every part of it. On the first day that we arrived in Bolzano we went to the Archive which was on the 3rd floor of the public library. When we entered the room there was a long desk with four men sitting at it. I explained who we were, where we are from, and what we were looking for by saying that we were two American, I spoke Italian and Geoff spoke German and we had come to look for a man. Before I could continue, the old man sitting closest to where we were standing interrupted me and said pointing the men next to him “One, two three, four! Here are four men!” We all laughed and I explained about the specific man, Francis Brooks, who we were looking for.

Figure 3 Geoff & Kylene Brooks in Austria

It took me a short while to explain that although the man we were looking for did not have an Austrian or an Italian name we were pretty sure he was born in this region because of the census records he filled out stating in 1900 that he was from Tirol, Austria and then in 1920 that he was from Tirol, Italy. Also from the census records we believed that his father was from England and his mother from Austria (hence the English name.) It then took the archivists another short while to explain to us what we were really asking to do by searching all of the records of the region of Tirol in 1862 for one name. Bolzano is really just ½ of the region of Tirol at the time of Francis Brooks’ birth. In the region of Tirol there are hundreds almost thousands of small cities. At that time, the births were recorded by baptisms in the church of the town. There is another region next to Bolzano called Trento that was also a part of the Tirol region in 1862. They have just as many cities in their region. South Tirol in Austria was also part of Tirol in 1862. Again, there are hundreds or thousands of cities in that region. We told them that we understood it would be a miracle to find the record we were looking for. We had come to look through their records. We had planned to stay in Bolzano for three days.

Figure 4 A view from the road of the city of Bolzano where we searched for records

Before we could begin working, we were required to fill out several papers about ourselves. Both Geoff and I did this as required. The papers asked for our names, birthdates, where we were from, and our passport numbers among other things. They first let us look through the book of registries for the 8 or 9 large cities of the region of Bolzano. We always checked a year or two before 1862 and a year or two after 1862 when we were checking. It struck me as strange that in some of the largest cities in the region there would be listed only one or two names for an entire year. Sonear the city of Bolzano, Italy me years had many but there were many that had only one or two.

Figure 5 Typical Architecture and Vinyards

When we left the archive that evening, Geoff asked me what I wrote on the forms they had us fill out under where I was from. I told him that I wrote Utah, USA. He said he had written the same but as soon as he wrote it he realized what it might have felt like to be Francis Brooks filling out a census form. Neither one of us felt it was important to the archive there in Bolzano to write down a specific city. In my form, I wrote down the place I currently lived which just so happens to be 2,000 miles away from where I was born. It was an important lesson for us on perspective. We did not consider those questions to be of great importance to the archive. I was not about to explain in the space given for the purpose of searching through records that I was actually born in Columbia, Missouri but moved when I was only a year old and then grew up mainly in Washington DC only to go to school in Utah where I met and married Geoff. Why would they care?? It surely would not be important to them to know all of those details. This new perspective has opened our minds to looking at any and all possibilities of where the record of birth for Francis Brooks may be found.

Figure 6 One of many trams used for transportation from villages atop mountains to the city of Bolzano

The next two mornings we returned to the archive to look through 413 microfilms. Thanks to the help of one archivist in particular who searched with us, we managed in two days to look through all of them. Some were written in German, some were written in Italian, some where not legible. There was not a consistent format used. On one microfilm were sometimes several cities. Sometimes for some of the cities they did not have the records for the date range we were searching. Some cities had no records for that entire century. It was incredible tiring and taxing on our eyes and minds to concentrate like that for such a long period of time not to mention a hint of motion sickness from watching the film roll by. We did not unfortunately find any record of Francis Brooks in the microfilms. We did find out one important thing however. When we started looking through the microfilms we noticed at the beginning of each new roll of film was a stamp stating that the microfilm had been filmed by the Genealogy Society of Utah located on West Temple in Salt Lake City and had a reference number. We would be able to look through the other regions of Italy and Austria that made up the region of Tirol back at home in Utah.

We will keep searching back in the United States to see what records we might find to help us locate the city of Francis Brooks’ birth. Since we have gotten back we have heard from the U.S. government immigration Agency who could not find any record of Francis Brook’s application for citizen ship or declaration of intention. We want to look for a record of entry at one of the ports as well as look in the microfilms for the Trento, Italy region. We will continue to search and pray for guidance and help from heaven.

The Trip was very enjoyable and was nice for me and Geoff. We saw old friends which was nice. We ate great food that we had not had in such a long time. We grew closer to each other and had fun looking for the records. Italy and Austria are truly beautiful countries. The people are so nice and wonderful. It was truly a blessing for us to get to go and search for the parents for Francis Harvard Brooks.

Figure 7 A view from our balcony to adjacent buildings in the city of Bolzano

Note: Since the blog does not allow pictures to be inserted into the text, the reader must match up the caption with the picture. There is an extra picture taken on the steep road to Bolzano showing the vinyards below on the landscape
[1] Geoff and Kylene live in Provo, Utah. Geoff works in International Graphic Design/Web for “Stampin-Up” and Kylene holds the position of Constituent Liaison for Senator Robert F. Bennett of Utah.
They are the grandchildren of Royal and Anita Brooks of Wilsonville, Oregon.