Family Documents Presentation

Brooks Family Document Collection

The Papers of Rev. Edgar Marcellus Brooks

[E.M. Brooks] Rev. Edgar Marcelus Brooks (pictured to left), son of Culpeper P. Brooks and great-grandson of the Ensign William Brooks above, existed at a time when most of the family's NC history had just occured. He was born in 1861 and had known family who were sons and daughters of these pioneers. Therefore, it is his knowledge and his meticulous attention to detail seen in his writing and his work that lead us to take his version of our family's history with an air of definity. Following is the INTRODUCTION to History of the Brooks Family of Union County. North Carolina which had been published by this learned man in 1925:

Our great grandfather William Brooks the 1st moved from Culpepper Court House to a farm in Stanly county bordering the Rocky River recently owned by the late Henry Hill. This farm is about one and a half miles below the Drewry Morgan Mill, once famous as a great flouring mill that furnished flour for many of the upper counties of South Carolina. His brothers, Joshua and John moved to Miss. and Tenn. respectively. Whether these raised families and have kept up the Brooks name we are unaware.

Great -grandfather William Brooks had three sons viz: Alexander, William and

David. The Alexander branch of the family so far as known has become extinct. There are some distant relatives but they are through the daughters and do not bear our name. He was twice married. First to a Miss Boggan and second to Mrs. Eliza Morris Allen There were two sets of children. The last surviving grandson Alex Brooks of Ansonville died several years ago. Mesdames Clarence Ratliffe and Baker E. Staton were sisters. The first named is living; the latter died some years since.

The David Brooks branch is still with us and are numerous. They reside mostly in Stanly county. This branch of the family are of a different build; they are tall and slender while the most of us are of heavier build. Though no more honest than we, they do give better measure - they are longer. We try to give better weight.

Grandfather had the following children:

William (III) who married a Miss Clontz and moved to Georgia early in his married life and is remembered by none of us here today. He left a large family but we have lost sight of them. He raised his family and spent his days at Villa Rica, Carroll Co, Ga. Later information received and facts added to the history.

John was given land on the Stanly side, a part of the original estate. Uncle John had several daughters but only one son - Joshua who only had one son - Watt to bear his name.

Mrs. Luther Efird, Killis Aldmon and M. L. James, Mrs. Hill the daughters are living.

Uncle John married a Miss Cuthberton whom the writer never had the pleasure of seeing.

Davidson settled and spent his entire life near Watson Primitive Baptist Church in Union Co, the very spot on which we stand today. He was thrice married as said above and each marriage was blessed with children.

His son Alex J. Brooks was for a number of years a County Commissioner. Cullen owned the largest wineyard in this part of the State.

Cullen Brooks Sr. (Rev. Brooks called his father “Sr.” to distinguish him from Davidson’s son that owned the vineyard. E.M. Brooks was the only one of four sons to survive birth. This notation practice is of important note when studying genealogical records), married Louisa Allen of Anson county and remained with his father and mother at the old home place till their death, then moved to Stanly county near Norwood where he remained till after the War. In 1873 he moved to Anson where he raised his family departing this life in 1893.

His children consisted of four sons and two daughters. Eliza Teal (m. Thomas Teal) and Mary Frances High, three sons dying while young. One grand-daughter, Mrs. Sam D. Helms lives at Baker's Crossing. A grandson Cecil A. Teal lives in Baltimore.

The son is the writer of this sketch.

Calvin Brooks, the youngest, married Miss Malissa Smith, a sister of Dr. D. M. Smith, late of Polkton. To the union there were several daughters and two sons. Wade Hampton and Dr. H.M. Brooks. Dr. Brooks practiced his profession near Olive Branch during life. While attending a medical college in Baltimore he met Miss Ida Guy whom he later married and to this union only one son and one daughter are with us. The son Julian C. Brooks chose law

and is county Solicitor for Union county.

As to our Aunts I may not be so accurate in my statements. The following I

remember. There may have been others:

Sallie married Thos. Polk of Union co. There were several children, whose names I can not recall.

Lydia married Edmond Aldmon and left no children.

Lucy married William Snuggs and moved to Carroll Co, Ga. The sons were Thomas and Elbert. The daughters Willie and Cora. From Ga., they finally moved to Culliman.Ala.

Whence I last heard from them.

With some minor exceptions, this was an accurate record of the family at the time Edgar Marcelus Brooks lived. As to the brothers of William Brooks I that survived long enough to be recorded, only Ephraim and James remained in this area of North Carolina, their sons having scattered throughout the country and hard to locate. The John Brooks that moved to Tennessee was probably the son of William Brooks I and grandson of John Brooks I "of Va." William Brooks I's son named Joshua moved his family to Attala Co, Mississippi about 1837, just one generation's difference to the way E. M. Brooks believed it to have been. This Joshua Brooks did rather well for himself in Mississippi. Another son of William Brooks I (James) would die young in 1829. After James Brooks died then, two of his sons would pioneer the western territories in Pope Co, Arkansas.

William Brooks III was responsible for the establishment of many churches in Carroll, Haralson and Douglas counties of Georgia, while his son Dr. James F. Brooks was one of three men who founded the city of Temple, Ga. in Carroll Co. Ashbury Cemetery in Temple holds almost every member of that family. Another son of William Brooks III, John Wesley Brooks, built a beautiful home on Cown Rd. in Temple that is still occupied by his descendants.

After the ensuing emigrations of the Brooks family, only William Brooks I's descendants remained prominent in the old Anson region. There are still a few families in modern day Anson County, NC that descend from the other branches. Asa Brooks is probably one of them.

The links below are to pages of my own publication, Family Documents of the Brooks Family of Anson, Stanly and Union Co’s, NC. It’s been long time to see them here and so, I present them to you all. These documents were the personal collection of my grandfather, Rev. Edgar Marcellus Brooks. They are obviously the source material for much of his 1925 publication on the family. These documents primarily focus on his own branch (William I, William II, Culpeper P. Brooks). His father Culpeper “Cullen” Brooks stayed with his parents until the death of his mom, Mary Burleson Brooks. They lived in the home of William Brooks II there in Union Co, NC. Therefore, my grandfather quite likely knew the early family pretty well.