ALVA PRESTON BROOKS

The following bio was taken from page 124 of the book entitled "Rusk County History" compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

Transcribed by Shirley Koym

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX Coordinator

Alva Preston Brooks (1860-1916), son of John Reese King & Celia (Lewis) Brooks, was born in Rusk County, Texas. His mother died soon after his birth & he remained in the care of her parents, Freeman & Acantha (Connell) Lewis, until his father returned from the Civil War in 1865. Preston married Elizabeth Conway, daughter of Thomas & Sarah (Hoyle) Conway, December 1882. Children of this marriage were: John Freeman Lewis (1883-1965), named for his grandfather; Alva Thomas, who married Mary Elizabeth Ross; and a daughter, Willie, who died shortly after her mother in 1887.

Mollie Alford married Preston Brooks in 1889. Bonnie, who was Mollie’s only child, as she died soon after Bonne’s birth, married Edward Thomas Garrison.

In 1891 Preston married Francis Josephine (Hoyle) Chapman, a young widow. She brought two sons, Henry and Arthur Chapman, and her widowed mother, Martha (Thompson) Hoyle, to the Brooks’ household. Children of this marriage were: Eddie Preston, who married Annie Faulkner; and Verna, who married Russell Smith.

John Lewis married Benner Dean Ross, daughter of Benjamin Franklin and Julia Ellen (Williams) Ross. The farm of her grandfather, John Williams, was next door. Lewis continued the family occupation of farming, carpentering, and blacksmithing. Children born to this marriage were: Jesse, named for Dr. Jesse Ross (great uncle), who married Mary Belle Bridges, daughter of John Wesley and Fannie (Lowrie) Bridges; Velma, who married Morgan Faulkner; Arda King, who married Vernie (Henry); served in W.W.II and was killed in an accident while working in Lufkin; Arzelle, who married Robert Strong and has been employed for many years at Harris Cleaners; and Audie Houston (Buster), who married Stella Garrison.

Jesse Brooks was a rig-builder as well as a farmer and a carpenter. He worked the oil fields for many years before retiring to carpentering and farming again. Arda and Audie both joined him in the oil field after W.W.II.

Children born to Jesse and Mary Belle Brooks were Curtis Dene and Doris Gene. Both graduated from Henderson High School and Stephen F. Austin University. Curtis married Robert Morris, Jr., son of Robert and Nell (Williams) Morris. They have one son, Robert III (Bob). Robert is a senior loan officer at Citizens National Bank. Curtis is a librarian at the high school. Bob graduated from Texas Christian University’s Ranch Management Program and is currently doing graduate work in agriculture at Stephen F. Austin University. Father and son are both interested in raising registered Hereford cattle.

Doris Gene Brooks married Charles Kimmey, son of Frank and Dora Kimmey. Doris teaches in the Lufkin schools and Charles is with General Motors Acceptance Corporation. Their children are: Karen, who married Steve Steed, and is teaching in the Lufkin schools; Charles Ford Jr., who married Kathy Brooks and is employed by Ford Motors accounting division in Lubbock, where Kathy is attending medical school; and Mary Karol, a student at Texas A & M University.

(For children of Velma and Morgan Faulkner see Faulkner story)

Children of Audie and Stella Brooks are: Don, who married Deana Butler, the couple’s children being Angelia, Greg, and Kevin; Judy, who married Joe Lake and whose daughters, Lisa and Laurie, are living in Dallas; and Jerry, who married Kathy Aderhold. Audie bought the Brooks’ farm and lives on the same land that his grandfather, Preston Brooks, and his great-grandfather, John Williams, farmed over one hundred years ago. Don and Jerry have built homes on either side of their parents.

Submitted by Curtis (Brooks) Morris