Archives Directory for the History of Collecting in America
Archives related to: Brooks, Francis A. (Francis Augustus), 1824-1902
| title | Brooks family papers, 1790-1991 1832-1960. | repository | Swarthmore College, Friends of the Historical Library |
| description | The collection contains extensive correspondence, diaries, and other papers from multiple generations of the Buck, Butler, and Brooks families of New England and the Mid-West. Prominently represented are Morgan Brooks, a professor of engineering, and his wife, Frona Marie (Brooks) Brooks, who married in 1888. One of their sons, Charles Franklin Brooks, was a professor of meteorology at Harvard from 1931 to 1958 and director of the Blue Hill Meteorology Observatory. He became a member of the Society of Friends shortly after marrying Eleanor M. Stabler in 1914. Also included in this collection are business, legal, genealogical, and professional papers of family members, especially Charles W. Buck and Francis Augustus Brooks. Background note: Morgan Brooks (1861-1947) and Frona Marie (Brooks) Brooks (1861-1947) are central figures in the Brooks Family collection. They descended from the Brooks, Butler, and Buck families of New England. Frona's grandfather, Charles Buck (1798-1863), married Sophronia Herrick (1803-1841) in 1825. The couple had three children, Charles W. Buck (1833-1933), a Unitarian minister; Robert Herrick Buck (birth name Jedidiah), who invested in Colorado gold mines; and Charlotte Frances Buck, (1828-1907). In 1852 Charlotte married Boston attorney Benjamin Franklin Brooks, and the couple had four children: Frona Marie Brooks, the only child to marry, Arthur, Esther Clara Herrick Brooks, M.D., and Franklin Herrick Brooks. Morgan's grandfather, Caleb Butler, married Clarissa Varnum, and they had a daughter, Frances Butler in 1822. Frances married Francis Augustus Brooks, a Boston, Mass., corporate attorney and railroad president, in 1847. This couple had three children: Charles B., Frederick, and Morgan Brooks. The collection includes correspondence among these family members and a great deal of professional correspondence and documents, mainly from Charles W. Buck, Benjamin Franklin Brooks, Franklin Herrick Brooks, and Francis Augustus Brooks. Morgan Brooks and Frona Marie Brooks were married in 1888. They moved to Urbana, Illinois, shortly after their wedding where Morgan became a nationally known professor of engineering. Morgan and Frona had eight children, all of whom survived into adulthood: Henry Morgan (1889-1948), married Ruth Hayford in 1911; Charles Franklin Brooks (1891-1958), married Eleanor M. Stabler, and they had seven children; Frances Brooks (1893-) married Lincoln Colcord in 1929; Frederick Augustus Brooks (1895-1967), married Harriet Kinley in 1921 (divorced) and, secondly, Margaret H. Ward in 1929; Roger Brooks (1896-1957) married Anne Goebel in 1921 (divorced) and, secondly, Janet in 1928; Edith Brooks (1889-1952); Frona Marguerite Brooks ("Margie") (1901- ), married George Hughes in 1924. The couple had two daughters, Ann and Octavia ("Taffy") before they divorced in 1927; she then married Richard Rice; Dorothy Prescott (1905-), married Joe Thomas in 1931. Arrangement Organized in six series: 1. Charles F. and Eleanor Stabler Brooks; 2. Morgan and Frona Marie Brooks; 3. Children and grandchildren of Morgan and Frona Marie Brooks; 4. Esther Brooks; 5. Buck and Butler families; 6. Franklin Herrick Brooks and Benjamin Franklin Brooks business and legal papers Note Cite as: Brooks Family Papers, RG5/252, Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College Separated material Photographs stored in PA 129: Organized in groups of loose photographs and albums. Arranged in series by family groups, residences, and albums Location: S FHL RecGrp Call Number: RG5/252 |
| extent | 26 linear ft |
| formats | Personal Papers Business Papers Legal Papers Correspondence Diaries |
| access | Collection is open for research. |
| record link | http://www.swarthmore.edu/library/friends/ead/5252brfa.xml |
| record source | http://www.swarthmore.edu/x25858.xml |
| finding aid | http://www.swarthmore.edu/library/friends/ead/5252brfa.xml |
| acquisition information | Gift of the Brooks family, 2003 |
| updated | 03/16/2023 10:30:02 |
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