Roots and Branches

Charles Wayne Brooks m Kathy Lorena Cochran in 1972 His parents were James Edgar Brooks Jr and Mary Ella Thornton His grandparents were James E Brooks Sr and Susie Mae Cooper/ and Bessie Mae Hood and Milton Elijah Thornton.

Her parents were Anne Alice Carter and Frankie Lavern Cochran. Her grandparents were Alice Emma McClain and Cecil Earl Fenn Carter/ and Luella Ellen Coonfield and Frank Delbert Cochran.

Alice McClain Carter had three children and died at the age of 19 while her husband Cecil died only four years later; their children were raised by her McClain parents. Their Uncle Emmitt Fenn stayed in touch with the children and his estate was divided amongst them, which was not much at all, but he loved them. A sister of Alice was Katy Bell and she adored those babies and helped her parents raise them and sewed their clothing. Katy never had any children of her own. They had another sister named Jimmie Lee, who got pregnant by a neighbor named Hays, so she named the baby Jimmy Lee Hayes. Suffering from Toxicemia during the pregnancy, she died giving birth. Alice had another sister named Mary who had crippling arthritis in her feet but also a bad leg where she fell off a truck as a child and it ran over her.

Alice McClain's parents were Lorena Emma Bozeman and Charles Allen McClain and many internet genealogists are researching these two surnames.

 One of the best websites I've seen is www.bozemanfamilies.com

Not much is known about grandpa Cecil Carter except his military records show us that he served about 20 years in the army but we have no clue if the children received any benefits after his death. The papers also indicate he had a very dark ruddy complexion, which we know he was Indian. He drank too much alcohol and claimed his grandfather was an indian chief but that could be in his Carter family. Cecil fell dead on Columbus Street.

Still researching the Brooks lineage, learning that Milton Elijah Thornton's mother was an indian - Mary Angeline Partridge married George Thornton. These families were found in 1800 Georgia, long before the Trail of Tears of 1835. The Brooks married into the Carter/ Cooper/ Lee families which were found in 1850 Chambers County AL census records that indicate they all came from South Carolina. We find that Mrs Andrew Cooper was named Alsey and had no last name so shall we suspect that she was an indian born about 1800 in South Carolina...and she was a great great granny to Susie Mae Cooper Brooks ( Mamaw )

John Brooks of PA was found in 1860 census of Giles, TN and he married Roxanna Permilia Smith that year. Her mother was Caroline Bond, daughter of a John Baptist Bond of North Carolina. The father of John Brooks came from Holland.

Permilia named her first son John Brooks, and he married Annie Clark Ballard in TN and they moved to Alabama .

Our Scottish Cochran family is found in Pennsylvania, then Ohio. Coonfield from Holland was in PA and then Kentucky by 1800. The Little family of Scotland settled in SC first, then Kentucky - all three families are later found in Arkansas. One piece of the puzzle in Union South Carolina 1790 census, there are several Little families living close together and we may never ever know if they are related to each other, but the names are repeated over and over in our line.

Granny Clora Jane Miller  ancestors came from Ireland and we found her GGGgreat grandfather Reverend Alexander Miller settled in Rockingham VA. Clora's mother was a Parker with ancestors from England settled in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York Indian Country, then Ohio. The Wright and Weatherford families came out of Charlotte VA 1700s into Kentucky.

Ancestors of Anne Carter Cochran are English and Dutch in Virginia and the Carolinas, before migrating through Georgia and Alabama. I find that she had many great great grannies with no last name and suspect that several took indian brides and gave them a Christian name.

As I research these ancestors and learn new information or find photos or documents, they are all added to my webpages on the net to share with others. plus if I do not write it down it might be lost or forgotten.

http://www.hometown.aol.com/grandpatrcarter/photoList.html my visit to the Carter and Bozeman cemetery in Hope Hull

I am uploading tons of photos and documents to improve my research on the main page at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~kc90853

/>This page belongs to Kathy.