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Below is a family biography included in The History of Webster County, Missouri published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1889.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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Christopher W. Brooks, a leading and prosperous merchant of Marshfield, was born in Caswell County, N. C., February 5, 1844, and is the eldest of six children born to the marriage of Robert H. and Letha (Boswell) Brooks, both natives of North Carolina. Christopher Brooks, grandfather of our subject, was a native of North Carolina, and died in his native State when Christopher W. Brooks was about nine years of age. Robert H. Brooks was reared and married in Caswell County, of his native State, to Miss Letha Boswell, of the same locality. After his marriage he farmed there a few years, and in the fall of 1854 moved to Missouri, settling where his son William now resides. He was mustering officer while in North Carolina, and held a major’s commission. Mr. Brooks died January 19, 1862, and his wife, July 25, 1888. Young Brooks removed with his parents from North Carolina to Western Tennessee, and after a residence in that State of three years he came to what was then Greene County, now Webster County, Mo., and here his parents died. He was reared to manhood engaged in agricultural pursuits, and received a good practical education in the common schools. He continued farming until 1876, when he removed to Marshfield and engaged in the mercantile business, to which, in 1879, he added a stock of agricultural implements. In 1866 he was married to Miss Joe Stella Dameron, a native of North Carolina, born in 1845, and who came with her parents to Missouri about 1851. Mr. and Mrs. Brooks became the parents of six children: McNey, Robert H., Stella, Nellie, Edna and Shirley. Mr. Brooks is a Democrat in politics, and was county assessor for three years. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, Mount Olive Lodge No. 439, and also the I. O. O. F., to which he has belonged for several years. He has been a resident of Webster County for thirty-four years, and is a highly respected citizen. He and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

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This family biography is one of 110 biographies included in The History of Webster County, Missouri published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Webster County, Missouri History, Genealogy, and Maps

To view additional Webster County, Missouri family biographies, click here

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