There were no Davisons or Averys listed. (You will see how these names enter into our questions shortly).

A short paragraph followed this chart, giving brief facts about each family. These paragraphs said that the Pierce and Simmons families had moved there from Paris, New York. The Rockefeller family had moved there from Great Barrington, New York. The wife of Henry B. Pierce was a Tuscarora Indian and the wife of George Simmons was her sister. Of interest, it also stated that a small log schoolhouse was built on the corner of the Simmons' farm where the Pierce, Simmons, and Rockerfeller children went to school. I believe that Jane Simmons Brooks was one of those children. She died about 1920 at the age of 100 years. She might not have been the female child born in 1820, but was born soon thereafter. The part of the story about her being a direct descendent of Chief Rolling Bear is left in question, but I sincerely believe that she was at least one-half Tuscarora Indian.

In a biography of John D. Rockerfeller called "God's Gold" by J. T. Flynn, which was published in 1932, the forward says that Rockerfeller was born in Richford and has relatives still living there. Flynn was 60 years old at the time and says that he got his information first hand from old residents of the Richford area, some of them members of the Rockerfeller family. He states that there are 19 areas in which recognized Biographers disagree with him, and which the family disagrees; however, he says the Rockerfellers originally came from Germany with the French Huguenots and settled in New Jersey. Eventually, one Godfrey Rockerfeller decided to go to Michigan. He first stopped off at Great Barrington, New York. He fathered one child there, then went to Granger, New York, where three children, including William Avery Rockerfeller, were born. He then moved to Ancram, New York, where three more children were born. He returned to Great Barrington, where three more children were born. He then moved to Richford, New York. A son, William Avery, was born in 1810. His wife was Lucy Avery. The area where he, the Pierces and the Simmons lived was and still is, called Michigan Hill; apparently because Godfrey was on his way to Michigan. In doing this research, I have been able to find no relationship of the Simmons or Pierces to the Rockerfellers, Averys or Davisons.

Flynn states that William Avery Rockerfeller, born in 1810, did not come to Richford when his family moved there. He continues to tell of his marriage to Eliza Davison, against her fathers wishes; of his questionable activities, that he was a womanizer, etc., etc. They purchased plot number 561 from an Avery Thomas, who perhaps was relation to Lucy Avery Rockerfeller, his mother. Eliza Davison was born in 1913 in Niles, New York and that is where young Rockerfeller married her. One child, a girl named Lucy was born first and then John Davison Rockerfeller was born in 1839; however, Flynn writes that in 1840, almost all of the residence of Richford, including William Avery, his family and his friend Brooks attended a giant rally of the Whig Party in front of the Ah-wa-ga Hotel in Owego for William Henry Harrison and John Tyler who were the party candidates for president and vice-president. Flynn also says that young Rockerfeller and his friend Brooks was gone from home long periods of time and would come back with money and furs which he had purchased from the Indians for the John Jacob Astor Fur Company. He tells of Rockerfeller's magic elixer, which he sold to both whites and Indians, but mainly to the Indians. Elixer was a guaranteed cure for cancer. The biography states that in the early boyhood days of John D., the Rockerfellers moved to Dryden, New York. It was at that time that my grandparents lived in Dryden and Marion Brooks was born there in 1846. It is possible that there was some relationship there, but I have not found it, as I mentioned before.

In 1952, my wife and I took Winifred Brooks Royal to Owego to visit my mother. During this trip, we visited the Newtown Battlefield and there learned from Winnie the folklore about Rolling Bear. Upon our return to her home, Winnie showed me a book entitled "History of Duchess County" in New York State. In this book were listed all of the early settlers of that County, including our Grandfather, William Renselaer Brooks I, his three brothers and sister. The book also provides the fact that they had come from England in 1839 and that William went to the Finger Lakes region for the John Jacob Astor Fur Company. It also gave the names of the brothers and sister and where they went. Winnie also had a copy of the Brooks Coat of Arms. I am writing this from memory. I am unable to find a copy of this book. About a year before Winnie died when she was 95 years old and in a nursing home in Cameron Mills, New York, she told me she had given the book to a member of the family. I have failed to locate it. She said it was given to her by her father about 1920. If I find a copy and there is any change to this information, I will see that each of you get it.

My father and Winifred Brooks Royal told me that William Rensselaer Brooks and Jane Simons were married in Richford. Shortly thereafter, they went to Owego, New York and lived in a house, still standing, at No. 4 Talcott Street. There, a daughter, Jerusha, was born in 1842. She died in 1844 and is buried in the Indian section of the Evergreen Cemetery, near "The Indian Girl's Monument". In the early 1930's, I went with my father and located the grave which was marked by a small stone. I have never been able to locate it since.

Thereafter, they moved to Dryden, New York, where my uncle Marion was born. We do not know where they went from there. We do know that Aunt Mary was born in 1850, but do not know where. Nor do we know where Aunt Ella was born. Our next location was Hornellsville, New York (now Hornell) where my father William Rensselaer Brooks II was born on December 22, 1861. The letter from my Grandmother Jane Simmons Brooks, aforementioned, states that William R. I enlisted in the Union Army in the War Between the States at Hornellsville, New York, in September, 1862. I have approximately 25 letters which he wrote from the "Red River Valley Expedition" to my grandmother during the next two years. There are also two letters from my Uncle Marion, which he wrote to his mother since he had enlisted in the army at the age of sixteen. There is a letter which my Grandfather wrote to my Aunt Mary also. A card on file in the office of the National Cemetery at Baton Rouge, Louisiana says that he was a member of Company E, 161st Regiment, New York State Volunteers, that he died of typhoid fever in the U. S. General Hospital in Baton Rouge on May 22, 1864, that he is buried in Section #9, Grave 503 and finally that he fought in the Battles of Port Hudson and Vicksburg. Records indicate that Marion Brooks fought in the Battle of Antietam, among others.

We do not know exactly when Jane Simmon Brooks moved to Woodhull, New York; whether it was before or after her husband enlisted. Her letters to him are dated and sent from East Woodhull, New York. We do know that she owned a small farm at the top of what was known as Breakneck Hill and located just East of the Woodhull Cemetery just off old New York Route 17. The house, while modified, is still standing. The old Breakneck road is closed, but at the bottom of the hill on what was in my boyhood days, the Tom Woods Farm, a small wood frame building which Winifred Brooks Royal told me was the schoolhouse to which my father, his sisters, she and Della Calhoun went to school. About 1/2 mile down the road from this was another schoolhouse called Tuscarora Creek School. It stood on the banks of the Tuscarora Creek. My brothers Edward, Donald, Robert and I went to school there. I started in 1927.

Jane Simmons Brooks eventually sold the farm and bought a house on Jasper Street in Woodhull. My mother and father lived with her and I believe my sisters Wilda Clare and Florence Bell, and my brothers Leonard Fred and Edward Walter were born in that house. Grandmother Jane Simmons lived there until she died in 1920. My brothers, Donald Rexford and Robert Marion were born down by the creek in Woodhull. I was born on Gobbler's Nob in the Dewitt Stryker house. We moved from there to the Heckman Farm, the Tubbs Farm, back to Woodhull in Stove Pipe City and, finally in 1922, to Owego, New York.

William R. Brooks II had several jobs during his life: stage driver, painter and paperhanger, Constable, turnkey at the County Jail, Deputy Sheriff, and farmer. He played the Tuba in the Woodhull Community Band. While he only finished the second grade in school, he read law in the office of attorney John Hollis in Corning, New York. He took the New York State Bar examination and was admitted to the bar as an attorney. Unfortunately, in trying a case in the County Court in Bath, New York in front of Judge John Hollis (the same as above), he called the Judge a damn fool and was disbarred. He practiced thereafter as a Petitfogger in Courts of Justices of the Peace, but could not sit with the other attorneys in the court. I had the privilege of sitting with him and attorney Hugh Varnes in the Town Hall at Woodhull in a lawsuit brought by John Allen against another man over a water well. It was heard by Justice of the Peace Carl Carpenter. Father won the case. Many of the Woodhull people came to him for legal advise and he freely gave it. I don't think he had an enemy. One of my greatest delights in my boyhood days was with my brother Bob, Pete Grant and maybe another boy or two, to sit with him in his old rocking chair on the porch or by the fire and listen to the many stories he would tell of his experiences in all of his many activities. I do not want to bore you, but here is one story which I can prove is true. I have a newspaper clipping dated in 1919. It begins "Perhaps, the most releaved man in all of Steuben County tonight is William R. Brooks". A man by the name of J.D. Kelly, charged with the murder of a woman in Corning, New York was being tried for the murder in Hornell. The public sentiment in Corning and in Bath, the County Seat, was so incensed that authorities were not only afraid of Kelly's escape, but also for his life. My father, then Deputy Sheriff, was literally handcuffed to Kelly for six weeks. He was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment in Auburn State Prison. My mother and father told of taking baby Donald (my brother) and meeting in Kelly's cell, with Donald sitting on Kelly's lap. My father always contended that Kelly was not guilty of the murder. In 1934, a man on his deathbed from Rochester, New York, confessed to the murder. I am glad Dad was still alive to hear it. Kelly spent 16 years in prison. Dad often said that the hardest job he had in law enforcement was to take that man to Auburn. The article was written the day he delivered Kelly to the prison. I could tell you dozens more stories which Dad told of his experiences as stage coach driver, as a prison guard, the Woodhull band, where he went and what he did, and life in general, but we will skip over all this and talk about my mother, Jennie Mable Ensign Brooks.

Very soon after marriage, she started raising a family of seven kids. It was not always easy in those days, especially during the depression, to provide for them. Jennie took in washings and ironings, pitched hay, milked cows, made clothes and found time to become a practical nurse and a midwife. She was often gone for several weeks and probably delivered dozens of babies in the Woodhull area. I met a man about 1965 in Rockford, Illinois, by the name of Benson who my mother delivered in Troupsburg, New York, when I was five years old.

I want to give you just a little bit about each of the children:

·Wilda Clarie Brooks, shortly after graduating from Woodhull High School, married Perry D. Sayre. For a number of years, Perry was a trucker, owning and operating his own vehicles. About 1950, they went to Florida and for a number of years owned and operated a Motel in Hollyhill and an apartment complex in Daytona Beach.

· Leonard Fred Brooks quit school before graduating, worked until he could join the army at the age of 18. He spent almost 30 years in the army, and was stationed in numerous places all over the world. After retiring, he worked for a trucking company as office manager until his death.

·Florence Bell Brooks quit school and at the age of 17 went to Owego, New York, where she worked in the Endicott-Johnson shoe factory for many years. She quit work to raise her family. I must pause here to pay special tribute to a beautiful lady. My father and mother were 62 and 42 respectively when I came into this world. Florence moved the family to Owego in 1933 and she provided a home for us until my father's death in 1937. You will note that I have dedicated this work to William Wallace and Florence Bell Brooks Hughes. My father died when I was 14 and my mother went to live with my brother Edward. For the next four years, Wally and Florence were my mom and dad. While I got some odd jobs for spending money, I would never have completed High School if they hadn't stood by me.

My clothes, shoes, glasses, dental work, wristwatch, yearbook, even my white flannel trousers for graduation came from them unselfishly. Even in my days in seminary often there would be five or ten dollars in the mail. Truly a sweetheart of a lady.

·Edward Walter Brooks, I am sorry to say, lied about his age and went into the army at the age of fifteen. Leaving the army at Niagara Falls, he worked in chemical factories there, was Chief of Police in Lewiston, New York, Border Guard for the International Railway System and finally Steward to the teamsters union.

· Donald Rexford Brooks joined the army in 1936, was wounded in the African Campaign and discharged at El Paso, Texas. He spent the rest of his working years in radio in Pecos, El Paso, Lubbock, Sweetwater and Big Springs, Texas. His radio name was 'Daddy Don', and is well known all over northern Texas.

· Robert Marion Brooks quit school and went to work as a short order cook. At one time, he was a full cook at the world famous O'Briens Diner, Waverly, New York. He went into the army, becoming and officer after completing Officer's Training at Fort Benning, Georgia. After leaving active duty, he remained in the reserves, reaching the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He owned and operated two restaurants in New York City.

· William Malcolm Brooks (your's truly) graduated from the Owego Free Academy in 1940, attended Emmanuel Bible College and graduated from Zion Bible Institute, East Providence, Rhode Island. He was ordained in 1944. He served as Pastor of several churches in New York and Western Pennsylvania. He also taught school during the war years. He also worked in industrial engineering for a number of years. He was a Voluntary Protestant Chaplain at a Minnesota State Hospital, and full time resident Chaplain of The Masonic Retirement Home, Bloomington, Minnesota.