The subject is Francis Harvard Brooks, grandfather of Royal Harvard Brooks. His death certificate shown here is largely inaccurate in that his father provided the information and he was unaware of his past history. Our purpose here is to find a birth record. Since he was born in Europe specific location is needed. We hope that can be found on an immigration record. However, INS needs to have verification of his death Hopefully, the INS record will have a specific location for his birth place. In many of his records he always used Tyrol, Austria or Italy as the place, but since this is a large region in Austria and Northern Italy, more information is needed in an attempt to obtain a birth record. There is a small village in Northern Italy called Tyrol, which may hold some significance.
As noted in an earlier Blog, Geoff and Kylene Brooks will travel to the region during the Christmas and search some of the archives in the region to try and get information regarding the parents of Francis Brooks. The phpGed site has more research notes on the subject.
RHB

Family History, Our Challenge

Our Responsibility and Challenge

I’m sure that you know as well as I, the responsibility we all share in connection with Family History, but let me remind you of what the Lord has spoken regarding this subject.
President Wilford Woodruff said: “We want the Latter Day Saints from this time to trace their genealogies as far as they can and to be sealed to their fathers and mothers. Have children sealed to their parents and run this chain through as far as we can get it…. This is the will of the Lord to this people.”
“The exaltation of our Father’s children rests upon the completion of required ordinances, if all is to move forward on the road that leads to immortality and eternal life. The determination of accurate family history records and the work which follows in the temples are basic in this vast undertaking which the Lord has placed upon our shoulders” (President Gordon B. Hinkley).
As recorded in the 127th Section of the D&C, “For I am about to restore many things to the earth pertaining to the priesthood, saith the Lord of Hosts, and again, let all the records be had in order, that they may be put in the archives of my Holy Temple, to be held in remembrance from generation to generation, saith the Lord of Hosts.” The Prophet Joseph Smith wrote this at a time when his enemies were in pursuit of him, and yet the thing that was most pressing on his mind was ordinances for the dead.
“For we without them cannot be made perfect; nether can they without us be made perfect. Nether can they nor we be made perfect without those who have died in the gospel also; ….”

Shortly after the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, Brigham Young had a vision in which he saw and spoke with the Prophet who taught him about the order of the human family, saying: “Our Father in Heaven organized the human family, but they are all disorganized and in great confusion. Joseph then showed me the pattern, how they were in the beginning. This I cannot describe, but I saw it and saw where the Priesthood had been taken from the earth and how it must be joined together, so that there would be a perfect chain from father Adam to his latest posterity”

“Behold I will reveal unto you the Priesthood by the hand of Elijah, the Prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, and he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers, if it were not so the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming” (D&C 2)

Now, a comment about the Priesthood! We brethren often take a too narrow view of the Priesthood. We may restrict our thinking to service in social or temporal ways, blessings, visiting the sick, home teaching etc. Using the priesthood in that fashion is proper and necessary, but the great and grand use of the priesthood is to bring salvation and exaltation to the children of men.
Now regarding another point in the above reference: “to plant”, using an non agricultural definition, means “to fix in the mind”. Promises? What promises? “The promises made to the Fathers”

In the great order and scheme of things, before the world was, did you make a promise to those who would proceed you, “ if you come forth when the Gospel is not on the earth, I won’t forget you, I’ll make sure you have all the blessings that I will receive in the Gospel” Are your dead ancestors relying upon you to keep such a promise?

1 Ne:29: 1 “ But behold there shall be many – at that day when I shall proceed to do a marvelous work among them, that I may remember my covenants which I have made unto the children of men, that I may set my hand again the second time to recover my people, which are of the house of Israel;..”
A covenant is a two way agreement between us and the Lord. His arm is extended to us all the day long, but we must do our part in that covenant making process. Where do we make covenants? In our temples! How do we learn and understand what these covenants mean? By frequently attending the temple! And what is it that allows the temple doors to stay open so we can be recipients of that learning and understanding? It is family history.
How frequently do you believe the temple would be open, if we only preformed the work for the living? Once a month? Once a week? There are faithful saints in this temple district that are working at family history. It is because of them that our temple stays open with sessions every 30 minutes.

Help is needed and Available, No Excuses!

Never in the history of mankind has there been so many records organized, cataloged, microfilmed, photocopied, alphabetized as there are today in various archives. We are without excuse in helping to organize our families, the human families, as Brigham noted as being disorganized and in confusion. President Hinkley said: “The computer in its various ramifications is accelerating the work and the people are taking advantage of new techniques being offered to them. How can one escape the conclusion that the Lord is in all of this? As computer facilities improve, the number of temple grows to accommodate the accelerated family history work”. The computer has truly come forth by the hand of the Lord to fulfill the promises made to the fathers.

A number of years ago, I gave some of my blood to support a DNA study at BYU. Along with the blood sample was my 4 generation pedigree chart. My grandfather was born in Northern Italy, perhaps Austria. His father was English and his mother was Austrian. I share the DNA from these groups of people plus that from Scotland and Germany. To put some order to the human family is a great undertaking which is the purpose of that study.

Family history has a very special meaning to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Our genealogy is part of family history, Temple work is part of family history. Biographies and the written history of our lives is family history. Our prophesying and inspiring thoughts are family history. Family history defines who we are!
The importance of family history as defined here is illustrated in the scriptures in 1Nephi. “ And it came to pass that my Father, Lehi, also found upon the plates of brass a genealogy of his fathers; wherefore he knew that he was a descendant of Joseph, who was sold into Egypt. …. And thus my father, Lehi, did discover the genealogy of his fathers.
I may ask, what was the price that was paid for this information? We live in a different time and the Lord has made records available to us in other ways.

“And it came to pass that the Lord commanded me, wherefore I did make plates of ore that I might engraven upon them the record of my people. And upon the plates which I made I did engraven the record of my father, and also our journeyings in the wilderness, and the prophecies of my father, and also many of mine own prophecies have I engraven upon them”.

“ What could you do better for your children and your children’s children than to record the story of your life? ….. Get a notebook, my young people, a journal that will last through all time and maybe the angels will quote from it for eternity. Begin today and write in it your comings and goings, your deepest thoughts, your achievements and your failures, your associations and your triumphs, your impressions and your testimonies.” (Spencer W. Kimball)

How many have in your possession a copy of your genealogy as Nephi of old had? My I encourage each of you to have a copy. Not just parents, but each one within the sound of my voice, husbands, wives, children. No matter how young or how old, each person needs to have a copy of their genealogy. It is truly a priceless possession. If you don’t have it , get it. We will do what we can to help you.

I have made available to my family my genealogy as it has been published on the internet. Of Course it is not complete. But, I’m working on it. Those of my deceased ancestors are available to the public. My family may have access to all the living by a user name and a password. To obtain a copy all they need to do is go to the internet and print it out. If they don’t have internet access, they can go to any Family History Library and use the internet there. They can even contribute their own family information through the use of a user name and password.

My family also may observe my activity and progress of my research on various genealogical lines, funerals that have occurred, admonitions, serious thought and contemplations by going to the Brooks Genealogy Blog. They can even contribute information they have or make comments through their user name and password.
Take advantage, my brothers and sisters and children, of all the Lord has given us to do his work. The magnitude of it is incomprehensible, but we must go forward.

“If the assignment seems impossible, we must move ahead. If the process is tedious, we must move ahead anyway. If the records have been lost, if the obstacles and opposition seem overwhelming, we will move ahead anyway. When we determine to do as the Lord commands, we move ahead”. (Boyd K. Packer)

“Lets us think over these things, and pray to the Lord to open the way, and the way will be opened by which we will learn about our ancestors. And when the time comes that we have done all we can in a natural way, the veil will be drawn aside, and the Priesthood behind the veil will minister to the Priesthood in the flesh, and reveal many things that we could not ordinarily obtain knowledge of here; but we will get them by this kind of revelation” (Charles W. Penrose)

This is my prayer and hope, in the Holy Name of Jesus Christ.

Shauna Lee Brooks Hull

Fifty years ago, this young lady was born to Royal and Anita Brooks. She is a descendant of Hazel Vanessa Gibson Brooks (Grandmother) and is in the remarkable image of her. She is of the same kind thoughtful disposition. A birthday celebration is planned for this eventful anniversary. RHB 

FAMILY HISTORIES

Some years ago I published a history of one of my great grandfathers, Michael Bennett, he immigrated to the United States about 1850. He was born in Poland and since he was married by a Jewish Rabbi, I assumed he was a Polish Jew. As discussed in his history, he no doubt changed his name to an English name. His wife, Bertha Ettinger, was of the same religious background and may have come from the same general European area which was called Prussia. How they met or became acquainted is unknown. They had a large family, fifteen children, many of which died at an early age. Nevertheless, Michael has hundreds of descendants. As many of those as could be identified are given in my historical account.
The Bennett history was published as a CD and I sent it to a few of his descendants. With the exception of one or two few have expressed an interest in this history or have the time to contribute to it. I have sufficient information to publish histories of other grandfathers, James Potter Armstrong, Henry Elliott Gibson, Francis Harvard Brooks, and others, but I hesitate to go to the same degree of effort due to the lack of interest. I have established a Genealogy Blog where at various times I have published some of my on-going research, or bits of information that may be of interest. My present thinking is that I will from time to time publish in my Blog historical information regarding my fathers for those persons who have an interest in going to my Blog and reading what is there. RHB

Raymond Webb's Funeral

Raymond Alma Webb' Children and his first wife Carol

We attended the funeral of Ray Webb who passed away on Setember 5th 2005. The service was held in the Santa Clara Stake center in Santa Clara Utah on September 9th. The following are a few excerpts from his obituary:
Raymond Alma Webb, age 77, died Monday, Sept 5, 2005 in St. George, Utah following a lengthy illness. Ray was born in San Francisco, California on July 8, 1928, the first born child of Alma Ivor Webb and Ethel Louise Gibson.
Ray married Carol Clayton in the Logan Temple. They are the parents of three children, Mark, Christy and ReNee. They were later divorced. He later married Jean Franklin. They had a daughter, Lisa, and they were later divorced.
On march 29, 1977, Ray married Sharon Crider in Riverside, California. They were later sealed in the St. George temple on September 28, 1984.
He will be greatly missed by his wife, Sharon of Santa Clara, Mark and Kathy Peip Webb of Peoria, Arizona; Christy and John Pulsipher of Clifton, Virginia; Renee and Kevin Bergeson of Bountiful, Utah; and Lisa (Marie) of Graham, Illionis; as well as his brother Ronald and Vivian Webb of Aiken, South Carolina. Ray had 14 grandchildren, and 8 great grandchildren.
Ray and I enlisted in the U.S. Army in September, 1946 and we were assigned to the same army units for basic and technical training at Fort Belvoir, Virginia; sent to Manilla, P.I. and Toyko, Japan. I have fond memories of our association then and when I moved to Oregon with my Mother and Siblings when the Webbs invited us to live on their farm near Junction City Oregon before I enlisted in the army.
My brother, Loren and his wife Julie attended the funeral with me and my wife, Anita.
RHB

This is Isaac Hall, Father-in-Law of John Armstrong. He was born in Blooming Grove, Ohio in 1817/18. He was a Civil War Veteran. He died in 1907.

RHB

Research on connected families

Side Line Research
The research on the Armstrong families and the Brooks family is at a stand still at the present time. It seems reasonable to give consideration to other families that are connected to our lines, but not directly connected. An example of a family that I am currently giving consideration to is the Hall Family. A great Uncle, John Armstrong, married a woman by the name of Malinda Hall. John was last son to be born to Catharine and James Potter Armstrong. If one will go to the PHP Gedcom site, the relationship between ourselves and the Hall family can be easily seen.
Isaac Hall was the father of Malinda and after his wife passed away he lived with his so-in-law, John Armstrong. Isaac was one of seven children of the William Hall and Mary Cook Family. Mary’s father was Captain John Cook, a Revolutionary war veteran, from New Jersey where he entertained General George Washington while General Washington was in New Jersey. My research will probably end with the William Hall and Mary Cook Family and with as many of their grandchildren as I can find.
Isaac Hall was married several times, but I will probably conclude my research with his first wife, Hannah Crawford. Coincidently, William Irwin Armstrong, John Armstrong’s oldest brother, married an Ella Crawford after he moved to California in 1862. However, Ella Crawford was born in California.
The PHP Gedcom site will expand this family as I the research unfolds and the identity of various family members are confirmed. So, I hope you will visit often.

RHB

Francis Harvard Brooks

I have written a brief history of my grandfather, Francis H. Brooks, but I have not published it at this time. Several years ago while studing the census records in California for Francis Brooks, I realized that he may have been born in Italy and not in Austria. (More on that discovery later). My grandson, Geoff Brooks, filled a mission in Austria and he has had a interest in the Brooks line of ancestors. He wants to return to Austria and Italy this year with his wife that also served a mission in Italy. We have agreed to buy his airfare to Germany if he will try to find the birth record of Francis Brooks whom we believe was born in Dorf Tyrol, Italy. He is doing some extensive internet research in preparation for this trip. I will include a copy of his email to me regarding his progress as noted below.

Hi grandpa.
I have been very busy with various aspects of this research. I have been spending a lot of time on the web trying to pinpoint which landes archives will have the best chance of having the record. Because of what i have found i highly doubt that the record we are seeking will be in the church in dorf tirol.
The more i have been looking it seems that almost all records have been collected and put together in several locations, i.e. Land archives. I have found 2-3 that i think will have the record. The first is in Bozen. I have the contact information for that archive and i have been working with my friend ENGIN (a friend i made in
innsbruck) to contact them and ask if they have the records from the Dorf tirol. Engo tried last week to call but he didnt realize the number was in italy and not austria, Different country codes, so he thought the number was disconnected. He is going to try again this week. If he is unable to get a hold of them i also have thier email address and i will send them an email towards the end of this month start of next month and see if i can find anything out. I also have been able to make some contacts over there with some church geneology people (ward members). I have one in austria and Ky, my wife, has been trying to get a hold of someone in one of her wards in italy that does genelogy. The second location is the tiroler landes archive. They have mircofilm there from several cities that has to be ordered before hand. (that is in innsbruck) I am trying to find out whhich cities are available. A lot of this is very hard to work through from over here. And i dont think there is enough time to to it all while we are over there. So i am trying as hard as i can to set some things up before hand.. The biggest problem is my german is a bit out of practise so i am taking longer to understand how it works there.
there also might be a land archive in Milan. Both Bozen and Milan are close to Dorf Tirol. I have recently found something that says it wasent until 1939 that it was austrias job to gather records of birth, deaths, marriages ect. Before that time it was the job of the state recognized religous orginizations - on assignment from the government. i.e the catholic church. the article went on to say that many foriegn guests come to tirol to look for thier ancesters hoping to find and complete there family tree. Unfortunatly geneology is only possible if you know the exact village where the baptism, marriage,or death took place. Once you know the place then you need to order the microfilm and look through it. it says that most common on the mircofilms is name registers. It also says that tirol is the first autrian state to have all of the church materials on mircofilm. Ok if that stuff didnt make much sense its because it was translated from german from the tiroler landes archiv webpage it had a whole bunch of tips and information to other sites. So i have not been working on this and i have not forgotten about you, its just been that i have been working on a different aspect of the research. It is so interesting. I am really just trying to insure that our time in austria and italy is best used and that the records that we need are available and that we know where we need to go.
Love
geoff
Anyone reading thsi blog that can assist us in our search in Austria and Italy should contact geoff atgbrooks@gmail.com
RHB

Thoughts of a Genealogist

The hobby of genealogy occupies the spare time of countless numbers of persons who are seeking their roots, i.e., their ancestors. I understand why this is so as I read and study the Second Section of the Doctrine and Covenants, “Behold I will reveal to you the Priesthood by the hand of Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, and he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the Fathers and the children shall turn their hearts to their Fathers, if it were not so the earth would be utterly wasted at His coming”. We know that Elijah has come and he has indeed planted in the hearts of the children the promises made to the Fathers. The Lord has not forgotten His promises made to the House of Israel, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and He did that by sending Elijah the prophet. He truly is planting in the hearts of the children the promise to Israel by Elijah. Many in the world do not understand why they have such a strong interest in their Fathers, but I do. Once Elijah has planted this thought in our hearts, the result is that we turn our hearts to our Fathers and we remember them. The best way to remember them is to find out who they were and receive unto ourselves the joy of our heritage. I suspect that if we could recall our preexistence, and knowing how many of our fathers would come forth onto this earth when there would be no Gospel because of the wickedness of men, we promised them, that when we came to earth when the Gospel is present, that we would remember them and the sacrifices that they made so we could have what we have today. But, many of us who have the most, are caught up in our worldly pursuits and we ignore what Elijah is trying to do. The consequence of planting in our hearts the promises made to our fathers is Genealogy.
I have gone to some effort and expense in making my genealogy available to my kindred, but I see that few have an interest. My PGV web site has been visited by few, but it is probably because few know about it. I plan to broadcast the news of this site to my kindred and invite them to it. Hopefully, it will spark an interest in their Fathers. RHB

Armstrong/Clark Connection

As posted on April 8, 2005, and after a more careful study of the 1850 U.S. Population census, Mahoning County, Goshen Twp; wherein James Potter Armstrong is found living with his wife and six children and others, a John Armstrong also is noted on Pg 562 of the same Census record as shown below:
John Armstrong age 45 farmer Ohio
Pheby A. age 39 New York
Louisa age 17 Ohio
William age 8 Ohio
Clark age 6 Ohio
Sarah A. age 4 Ohio
Mary I. age 2 Ohio
All are born in Ohio except wife, Pheby.

The most interesting person in this family is Clark Armstrong. He has been given the name “Clark” which is a little unusual for an Armstrong given name. As noted in the Blog of April 4, 2005, William Armstrong, the first born son of James Potter Armstrong, files a marriage application to marry Elizabeth M. Clark in 1854, about 10 years after Clark Armstrong is born. Furthermore, Clark Armstrong is found living with William Clark (father of Elizabeth M. Clark) family in the 1860 Census, Mahoning County, Smith Twp. Ohio.
A search of the 1860 Ohio Census for a John Armstrong with a wife Pheby results in nil. He is not to be found. On the other hand, Clark Armstrong, age 24, is found in the 1870 Ohio Census, Mahoning County, Smith Twp. He is apparently married to a Julia M., age 27; no children. In the 1880 Ohio census, Mahoning County, Clark Armstrong is found, age 36, with his wife Julia, age 39, and a son, William, age 9. William is probably their first born son and therefore, their marriage probably occurred about 1869.

Questions:
1. Is John Armstrong, noted above, the brother of James Potter Armstrong?
2. Is the wife of William Clark, Mary A. (born abt 1811), an Armstrong? Perhaps a sister of James and John? (If this is true,, Clark Armstrong left home at an early age to live with his Aunt and Uncle, William and Mary Clark)
3. What are the circumstances in the John Armstrong home that would cause Clark Armstrong to leave and live with the Clark family?

Research Needed:
1.Guardianship records in Mahoning County, 1850 – 1860
2.Wills and Probate records for Mahoning County, 1850 – 1870
3. Track William Armstrong, son of John Armstrong, and search for his records. RHB

Ancestry View

The view of my ancestry as noted in the first post of this blog is incorrectly noted. It should be the following: http://royalbrooksfamily.pgvhosting.com/This link will take you to the correct site. Sorry for the confusion. RHB

Armstrong/Clark Marriage

In my last post(4-8-05), the record indicated therein, shows William Armstrong's intention to marry Elizabeth Mary Clark in 1854 in the Smith Township of Mahoning County. The marriage actually took place the following year, 1855, according to the pension records for William Irwin Armstron. Elizabeth Mary Clarks' family was found still living in Canfield, Ohio in 1860. Her father was William Clark, age 60, a physician, living with his wife,Mary A, (50 years) and three persons; Minerva (30 years), Catharine H (11 years) and Clark Armstrong (15 years). All of these persons in this census record were born in Ohio except for the head of the house, William Clark who was born in Ireland. This fact leads me to believe that Armstrong's and Clark's were closely related before the marriage of William Armstrong to Elizabeth Mary Clark.
Conclusion: Perhaps by tracing the Clark line back in time, it will lead to a connection with the Robert  Armstrong family? RHB

Marriage Applications for early Armstrong families in Ohio 

Armstrong Research, James Potter Armstrong

In the search for the parents of my 2nd great grandfather, James Potter Armstrong, I have taken the tact of looking at Armstrong families that lived in close proximity to where James Potter Armstrong lived believing that some of these Armstrong’s may be related to my Great Grandfather, James Potter Armstrong. A record was found wherein were recorded the Marriage Applications abstracted by the DAR, vol. 2. for Mahoning County. The writer has noted that there are 4 marriage applications issued for Armstrongs living in the Goshen and Smith townships of the county of Mahoning from 1853 to 1856. From previous research, it is known that the William Armstrong application on March 20, 1854 to marry Elizabeth M. Clark is the first son of James Potter Armstrong. The marriage took place on August 29, 1855.
In as much as the townships of Smith and Goshen are adjacent to each other, it seems likely that these four Armstrong’s may be related to each other. Furthermore, James Potter Armstrong, age 46, lived with his family of six children in the Goshen Township in 1850, according to the 1850 U.S. Population Census. However, William the oldest son, age 15, is not listed as a child in this 1850 census. But, we find him at age 19 applying for marriage. Interestingly, Elizabeth Mary Clark died in 1856, about a year after she was married to William. In addition, according to the DAR Abstracts of these Marriage Applications, a Jas Armstrong, signs for a marriage application for Julia Ann Armstrong to be married to Joshua W. Bradway on July 30, 1856. Another fact is that, there is an Ann Armstrong living with the James Potter Armstrong family in 1850 according to the Goshen Township, Mahoning County, U.S. Population Census. Is this the Jas Potter Armstrong’s sister, age 36? and what is the connection among the mentioned parties? All of these facts seem to strengthen the premise that the Armstrong’s living in these above mentioned townships are related and that, perhaps, by researching the records they left behind, they may lead to finding the parents of James Potter Armstrong. A Julia Bradway, age 21, appears in the 1860 U.S. Population Cesus for Marion Township of Marion County, Ohio with a 3 year old son, Archibold, but no Husband. Is she the Julia Ann Armstrong that married Joshua Bradway? More research is needed. More later RHB

The Younger Royal H. Brooks
It has been four years since my wife, Anita Loe passed away and I have had considerable peace and comfort living in the close vicinity of my brother, Loren Brooks, age 84.  Almost without exception, we arrange to meet each and every day.  I miss very much my married life with my wife Anita, but the loneliness that would have followed after her passing has been swallowed up in my association with my brother and his family, visitation and helpfulness of my children, my being consumed with my hobby of working with wood (pen and segmented vessels) and family history and temple work. The Lord has greatly blessed me in that regard and in having two homes , each of which provide me with a wonderful climate in which to live.  My home in Overton, Nevada is a winter home   where the climate is very mild from November to May and a home in Bountiful, Utah where the climate is Spring and Summer. I have a wonderful wood shop in both Overton and Bountiful.  In Bountiful , I have a small space where I can do some vegetable gardening.
Since I have a daughter and her husband that have moved to Saint George and a son that has a winter home in Saint George, I get to see them quite often.   In fact my daughter, Shauna, mentioned above usually comes to see me each Wednesday  when we study antique clock repair. I have two grandchildren that live in Las Vegas.  Overton is about midway between Las Vegas and Saint George, an Hour and 10 minutes from Overton.