Are there clues at Ancestry to who the parents of Mary Marthena Brooks Williams might be?

Question

In researching Mary Marthena Brooks Williams at Family Search, I have hit a dead end into who her parents might be. All I have is her mother's maiden name was Williams and both parents are from Missouri.

I have found the couple Charles Brooks and Mary Williams who are about the right age. 

They are living in Texas in 1900 and Mary has 6 living children. So far at Family Search only 4 have been identified. 

There are a couple problems which are not serious. First Charles is listed as born in Indiana. Second, at the time Mary was born, the family seems to have been living in Missouri, not Texas.  Mary Marthena is show as being born in Texas. 

Anyway, if you have an account at Ancestry, can you see if there are any hints as to who Mary Marthena Brooks Williams parents might be?

Thank you

Comments

Lance all the links are to family trees, not actual sources. This makes it hard to follow. I found no record on FMP of a marriage of Mary and James Williams or anything else.

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I am not just looking for sources, I am looking for hints to find sources. Sometimes Ancestry trees will show who they think the parents are. That can sometimes lead to other things like the mothers family. Perhaps with that I can find a publication somewhere of her family which might mention in passing her children. As it is now, I have no other leads. Perhaps it gives a town where they lived which can then be followed up. Anything is good and can be researched. As it is now, I have nothing other than what I have outlined.

Answer 1

1900 US Census

Name:	Mary Brooks
Age:	18
Birth Date:	Dec 1881
Birthplace:	Texas
Home in 1900:	Attoyac, Nacogdoches, Texas
Sheet Number:	10
Number of Dwelling in Order of Visitation:	164
Family Number:	164
Race:	White
Gender:	Female
Relation to Head of House:	Daughter
Marital status:	Single
Father's name:	Marriano Brooks
Father's Birthplace:	Texas

Comments

The name Marriano appears to be a transcription error and has been changed to Marion L. Brooks.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/66002482

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this looks like a good person to research!! Thanks

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Lance - I was unable to post the complete 1900 census because of the size.  It shows that Marion and Emma have been married for only 8 years so Emma is not the bio mother of Mary.  This must be second marriage for both Marion and Emma.

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After researching this record I think you have found at least her 1900 Census and father. All of the members of this family on the 1900 Census have the birth year off by one year in the same direction as Mary.

The only problem with this record right now is that Marion is shown as being born in Texas and there does not seem to be a Missouri connection anywhere.

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Here are some clues as to the wives of Marion L. Brooks.

• 1853

  (AGE)

• Marriage

  abt 1870 • Texas

  Sallie Ann Vaughn-Williams-Brooks

  (1850–1917)

  1870

  17

• View

  Marriage

  22 Nov 1894 • Talihina, Le Flore, Oklahoma, USA

  Emma Brister - Brown - Brooks

  (1860–1929)

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Lance, thanks for the star, good luck with your research!

Answer 2

Hi Lance!

I found this, which may or may not be helpful:

Mary Marthena Williams

 in the California, Death Index, 1940-1997

Name:	Mary Marthena Williams [Mary Marthena Brooks]
Gender:	Female
Birth Date:	2 Dec 1882
Birth Place:	Texas
Death Date:	31 Aug 1951
Death Place:	Sacramento
Mother's Maiden Name:	Williams
Father's Surname:	Brooks

Comments

nope, not helpful at all. nothing to do with the question I asked. Did you know you can click on the names and be taken to the profile of the person the question is about? All this 'new' information is both stated in the question and on her profile page.

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Yep, read your question and looked at the profile page.  Saw you didn't have the death record listed as a source on the profile, so I offered it, since it did support your info of the mother's maiden name being Williams.  Perhaps someone else will be able to find something more helpful for you.

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Thank you for trying to be helpful!  It is really hard to help without any sources posted on the profile.

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It would be helpful if you copied and pasted the citations for the research you have done. As it stands the profile is unsourced.

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Actually, my frustration is that no matter how precisely or how much time I spend defining my question, there are those that just want to be first to answer, moving the question from the unanswered bin to the answered bin.

Being specific about what is helpful and what is not helpful is important.

And btw, the record is sourced .. the link to the source is under "Sources"

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The link to sources is a link to a tree on Family Search, from which the user must find the sources. It is easy for you to link to the actual sources.

I can tell you from experience that rural Texas and Missouri from the 1880s and 1890s are difficult to find. One thing is that the many families went back and forth. I also think that there may not have been a requirement to record birth data. When my grandmother (over age 30), born in Texas in 1890s, registered for Social Security, the record of her birth was only a note written by her mother at the time of the application.  For my Iowa ancestors of the same era I have found only "late registration of birth" registrations - and that took some digging.

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Actually the link is to an individual record which has many sources attached. If you click on the record you will see a tab that says SOURCES at familysearch where you can see sources added by me and others.  I am not that interested in duplicating all of the work I do at Family Search over here at Wikitree. Each time I add a source at Family Search it is not neccessary to add it here. Perhaps someday someone that is very interested in the individual will take the time to do that, for now, the source I have provided gives enough evidence to show the person existed and provides a foundation for further research. If you would like to copy each source over, please feel free it is a collaboration after all.

Answer 3

I found this at Ancestry

 in the 1910 United States Federal Census

Name:	Mary Brookes [Mary Brooks]
Age in 1910:	28
Birth Year:	abt 1882
Birthplace:	Texas
Home in 1910:	Fort Worth Ward 2, Tarrant, Texas
Street:	West Seventh Street
House Number:	1414
Race:	White
Gender:	Female
Relation to Head of House:	Daughter
Marital status:	Single
Parent's Name:	Margaret Brookes
Father's Birthplace:	England
Mother's Birthplace:	Illinois
Native Tongue:	English
Occupation:	Editor
Industry:	Newspaper
Employer, Employee or Other:	Wage Earner
Able to Read:	Yes
Able to Write:	Yes

Comments

Thanks.  Doesn’t look like her. Neither of these parents we born in Missouri