Morgan Brooks (1861-1947) and Frona Marie (Brooks) Brooks (1861-1947) were descended from the Brooks, Butler, and Buck families of New England. Morgan and Frona had eight children, all of whom survived into adulthood: Henry M., Charles F., Frances, Frederick A., Roger, Edith, Frona Marguerite ("Margie"), and Dorothy.

The second son, Charles Franklin Brooks (born 1891) married Eleanor M. Stabler, and they had seven children: Edward M., Margaret, Sylvia, Barbara, Edith, Norman, and Frona. Charles was a graduate of Harvard University (A.B. 1911, A.M. 1912, Ph.D. 1914) and a professor of meteorology at Harvard from 1931 to 1958 and director of the Blue Hill Meteorology Observatory. Also a founder of the American Meteorology Society and methodical in most matters, Charles took it upon himself to keep the family in communication; he created family circulars that compiled letters of his brothers and sisters. Eleanor Stabler (born 1892) was a 1914 graduate of Radcliffe College, summa cum laude in biology, and a descendant of long-time Quaker family of Brooklyn, NY. She and Charles married under the care of New York Monthly Meeting in 1914. Charles became a member of the Society of Friends, though his religious sensibilities were somewhat amorphous. The collection includes a survey he took about his religious beliefs, along with other autobiographical writings and professional work. The family lived in Milton, Conn., and summered at Silver Lake, N.H. Charles died unexpectedly in 1958. After his death, Eleanor lived with her sister, Anna Bunker Stabler. Eleanor died in 1986. Charles and Eleanor are also represented in the Stabler Family Papers, RG5/234.

Morgan Brooks (1861-1947) and Frona Marie (Buck) Brooks (1861-1947) are central figures in the Brooks Family collection. They descended from the Brooks, Butler, and Buck families from Massachusetts. Morgan and Frona had eight children, all of whom survived into adulthood: Henry M., Charles F., Frances, Frederick A., Roger, Edith, Frona Marguerite ("Margie"), and Dorothy.

Frona Marie Brooks was born 4/9/1861 in Tours, France. She graduated from Smith College in 1883 and also attended Radcliffe. Her grandfather, Charles Buck (1798-1863), married Sophronia Herrick (1803-1841) in 1839. The couple had two children, Charles W. Buck (CWB), a Boston lawyer, and Charlotte Frances Buck, b. 1828. In 1852, Charlotte married attorney Benjamin Franklin Brooks (BFB), and the couple had four children: Frona Marie, Charles, Esther (ECH), and Franklin Herrick Brooks. Extensive business papers of Benjamin Franklin Brooks and Franklin Herrick Brooks are included in Series 6 of the collection.

Morgan Brooks was born 3/12/1861 and graduated from Brown University and the Stevens Institute. Morgan's grandfather, Caleb Butler, married Clarissa Varnum, and they had a daughter, Frances Butler, in 1822. Frances married Francis Augustus Brooks (FAB), a corporate attorney and railroad president, in 1847. This couple had three children: Charles B., Frederick, and Morgan. Both Morgan and Frona corresponded frequently with their extended families.

Morgan and Frona met in 1885, became engaged in 1887, and sent each other almost daily-letters during Morgan's travels from 1887 until their marriage on 4/24/1888. They moved to Urbana, Illinois, shortly after their wedding, where Morgan became a nationally respected professor of electrical engineering at University of Illinois - Urbana and businessman. The collection includes their correspondence with their families, each other, and their children. Also included are Morgan's professional writings and voluminous correspondence with his father, Francis Augustus Brooks (1824-1902) in which they frequently discussed science and religion. Frona Marie ran their busy household with eight children, wrote, was an activist in women's leagues, and entertained a variety of guests. Frona was also a prolific writer who actively sought to publish her writings with only a small degree of success. The collection includes several of her short stories, plays, and poems, including drafts and correspondence with publishers. Her nickname to her grandchildren was "Dada."

One of the couple's friends was Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes, a former classmate of Morgan at Brown University. Other notable guests were Rabindranath Tagore (Nobel Laureate for literature from India), Alfred Noyes (English poet), and Anoclito Bugayon (Filipino exchange student). The collection contains some correspondence, articles, and other materials from these individuals.

Morgan and Frona enjoyed a deeply devoted marriage, evident from the constant affectionate correspondence between one another when separated. This included Morgan's years of sabbatical leave when he taught at the University of Nebraska and several summers when Frona took some of their children to Lake Minnesota. Morgan died 4/23/1947, and Frona followed him on 8/31/1947.

Note: See also Series 1 for correspondence with Charles F. and Eleanor Stabler Brooks and Series 4 for correspondence with Esther Brooks.

Morgan and Frona Brooks had eight children, all of whom survived into adulthood. Correspondence and other papers from these children are included in this collection.

Henry Morgan, b. 9/2/1889, married Ruth Hayford in 1911. They had a daughter, Elizabeth. He was a speculator during the turbulent 1920s and 1930s and was plagued by constant money trouble from a young age. The bulk of his correspondence to the family concerns his financial problems. In August 1948, Henry killed a business partner to whom he was deeply in debt and committed suicide several days later. The collection contains several newspaper clippings and family letters about the tragedy.

Charles Franklin Brooks (CFB), b. 1891, married Eleanor M. Stabler, and they had seven children; Edward M. who married Sarah; Margaret, who married Philip Weber Morse; Sylvia; Barbara, nicknamed "Bootie," who married Edward Kerner; Edith, married Donald Allison; Norman, married Fredericka Nelson; and Frona, married Ross Vicksall. Charles died unexpectedly in 1958, and Eleanor died in 1986. See Series 1 for their Papers. Charles and Eleanor are also well represented in the Stabler Family Papers.

Frances Brooks, b. 11/7/1893, married Lincoln Colcord in 1929, and they had a son, Brooks. The couple lived in Searsport, Maine, where Frances maintained an active communication with her parents. Her correspondence ranges in topic and includes her involvement in government work during the World Wars. A good friend and classmate at Radcliffe of Eleanor Stabler, Frances introduced Eleanor to her brother Charles. Lincoln, who had been married before and had a daughter, grew up in Asia and was an author. He held strong political opinions, which are expressed in his letters to Frances's parents. Frances did extensive genealogical research which is stored in Series 5, Buck/Butler-Brooks Papers

Frederick Augustus Brooks, b. 5/1/1895, married Harriet Kinley in 1921 (divorced) and, secondly, Margaret H. Wood in 1929. He had four daughters by the second marriage. He was a professor at the University of California- Davis.

Roger Brooks, b. 12/22/1896, married Anne in 1921 (divorced) and, secondly, Janet in 1928. He had a daughter by his first marriage, and a son and an adopted daughter by his second. Roger spent much of his life in the Navy.

Edith Brooks, b. 1/11/1889, was the only child of Morgan and Frona who did not marry. She worked a series of government jobs. As her parents' health started to fail, they moved in with her in Washington, D.C. in 1941, where they lived until her death in 1953.

Frona Marguerite Brooks ("Margie"), b. 1/18/1901, married George Hughes in 1924. The couple had two daughters, Ann and Octavia ("Taffy") before they divorced in 1927; she later married Richard Rice. The collection includes her correspondence and academic papers. Frona Rice collected most of the papers in this collection which then were passed to her daughter Octavia Hughes who in turn sent them to her cousin, Barbara Brooks Kerner).

Dorothy Prescott, b. 12/11/1905 married Joe Thomas in 1931, and they had a son and four daughters. There is only a small amount of her correspondence represented in the collection.

Frona Marie Brooks's grandfather, Charles Buck (1798-1863) was a Maine lumber merchant. He married Sophronia Herrick (1803-1841) in 1839. The couple had three children, Charles Wentworth Buck (CWB, 1833-1933), a Unitarian minister; Robert Herrick Buck (birth name Jedediah) who pursued gold mining in Colorado, and Charlotte Frances Buck (1828-1907). Charles Wentworth Buck (CWB) married Mary Stearns, and they had six children, but he was survived only by his two daughters, Charlotte Frances and Frona Mary Buck, and no grandchildren. Charles attended Harvard and Amherst and then Meadville Theological Seminary. He served in the pastorate in Massachusetts and Maine, and left the ministry in 1880 to join his brother Robert in Colorado. Late in life, he returned to Massachusetts where he lived with his two daughters.

Robert H. Buck married Julia Fletcher, and they had four children: Robert, Arthur, Sally, and Alice Buck. His sister, Charlotte Frances, married attorney Benjamin Franklin Brooks (BFB) in 1852, and the couple had four children: Frona Marie, Charles, Esther (ECH), and Franklin Herrick Brooks. Extensive business papers of Benjamin Franklin Brooks (1816-1887) and Franklin Herrick Brooks (1866-1922) are included in Series 6 of the collection. The papers of Frona's sisters, Esther Clara Herrick Brooks, are stored in Series 4.

Morgan's grandfather, Caleb Butler, married Clarissa Harriet Littlefield and had a daughter, Frances Butler in 1822. Frances married Francis Augustus Brooks (FAB), a corporate attorney and railroad president, in 1847. This couple had three children: Charles Butler Brooks, Frederick Brooks, and Morgan Brooks.

Benjamin Franklin Brooks (1816-1887) was a Boston attorney. He married Charlotte Frances Buck (1828-1907) and they had four children: Charles (1853-1868), Esther Clara Herrick (1859-1942), Frona Marie (1861-1947), and Franklin Herrick (1866-1922). Only Frona Marie married - to Morgan Brooks, in 1888. Franklin Herrick Brooks graduated from Harvard University and Harvard Law School, and, like his father, was a Boston attorney.

Note: This series is not processed. See also Series 5 for non-business correspondence and papers of Benjamin Franklin Brooks and Franklin Herrick Brooks.

Barbara Brooks Kerner, the Brooks descendant who consolidated the Brooks family papers in her home in Newark, Delaware, was the middle child of Eleanor Stabler Brooks and Charles F. Brooks. She was born September 22, 1922, and grew up in Milton, Massachusetts, graduating from Milton High School in 1941. She graduated from Radcliffe College in 1944, and earned an M.A. at Cornell University; during the summer of 1945 she worked at C.P.S. Camp #46, Big Flats, N.Y., for two months. She was in the graduate program in Public Health in Education the University of Michigan, 1946-1947 and then worked as a community public health educator in Syracuse for a year. In 1948 she married Edward Kerner under the care of Brooklyn Preparative Meeting. Edward H. Kerner (1924-2002) was a physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project in Dayton, Ohio, and long-time physics professor at the University of Delaware.

Barbara Kerner was active in peace activities, including draft counseling during the Vietnam War and its aftermath. She and her husband had three children: Benjamin, born 1949; Jeffrey (1951-1973); and Winifred, born 1955. A lifelong Quaker, she was a member of Newark Monthly Meeting at the time of her death on October 28, 2007.