METALWORKER,GUNSMITH AND INVENTOR. "Oscar Brooks was born in Amherst, NH, the son of Thomas Jefferson Brooks and his wife, Abigail Tenney; his childhood was spent on the family farm in Amherst, NH.
A blacksmith (apprentice) as his father and grandfather, and many earlier generations of the Brooks family, young Oscar chose to retrain as a toolmaker and gunsmith at age 18. He worked in the growing metal and toolmaking trades in Amherst, NH and New Boston, NH. He was soon drawn to the growing industrial center of Manchester, NH. He worked there for several years in metallurgy mills, designing toolmaking equipment. He met and married his wife, (Nancy)Ann Reynolds there."
"As many ambitious New England families of that era, this young family soon headed West 'to improve their circumstances.' In 1859 Oscar moved the family first to Ohio, then to the booming pre-Civil War manufacturing center of Janesville, WI. There he opened his own tooling business and was also as a locksmith and Master Gunsmith. His artful gunsmithing can be seen today in collections of the Wisconsin Historical Society and the Rock County Historical Society."
"Oscar was also an inventor, with at least three registered patents. Best known for his early percussion burglary alarms (see U.S. Patent #66457 July 9, 1867 "Improved Burglar Alarm") and for a range of mechanical and triggering devices.
He and Nancy Ann had four children, all lived to adulthood: Oscar W., Frank C., Abigail ("Abbie") and William ("Will").
Oscar died in Janesville, WI at the age of 60 and is buried there with his brothers, Thomas Jefferson ("T.J.") and Clark, and his youngest son, Will."
from "Biographies of the Early Brooks Family of Massachusetts" by Wright W. Brooks (1973).
A blacksmith (apprentice) as his father and grandfather, and many earlier generations of the Brooks family, young Oscar chose to retrain as a toolmaker and gunsmith at age 18. He worked in the growing metal and toolmaking trades in Amherst, NH and New Boston, NH. He was soon drawn to the growing industrial center of Manchester, NH. He worked there for several years in metallurgy mills, designing toolmaking equipment. He met and married his wife, (Nancy)Ann Reynolds there."
"As many ambitious New England families of that era, this young family soon headed West 'to improve their circumstances.' In 1859 Oscar moved the family first to Ohio, then to the booming pre-Civil War manufacturing center of Janesville, WI. There he opened his own tooling business and was also as a locksmith and Master Gunsmith. His artful gunsmithing can be seen today in collections of the Wisconsin Historical Society and the Rock County Historical Society."
"Oscar was also an inventor, with at least three registered patents. Best known for his early percussion burglary alarms (see U.S. Patent #66457 July 9, 1867 "Improved Burglar Alarm") and for a range of mechanical and triggering devices.
He and Nancy Ann had four children, all lived to adulthood: Oscar W., Frank C., Abigail ("Abbie") and William ("Will").
Oscar died in Janesville, WI at the age of 60 and is buried there with his brothers, Thomas Jefferson ("T.J.") and Clark, and his youngest son, Will."
from "Biographies of the Early Brooks Family of Massachusetts" by Wright W. Brooks (1973).
METALWORKER,GUNSMITH AND INVENTOR. "Oscar Brooks was born in Amherst, NH, the son of Thomas Jefferson Brooks and his wife, Abigail Tenney; his childhood was spent on the family farm in Amherst, NH.
A blacksmith (apprentice) as his father and grandfather, and many earlier generations of the Brooks family, young Oscar chose to retrain as a toolmaker and gunsmith at age 18. He worked in the growing metal and toolmaking trades in Amherst, NH and New Boston, NH. He was soon drawn to the growing industrial center of Manchester, NH. He worked there for several years in metallurgy mills, designing toolmaking equipment. He met and married his wife, (Nancy)Ann Reynolds there."
"As many ambitious New England families of that era, this young family soon headed West 'to improve their circumstances.' In 1859 Oscar moved the family first to Ohio, then to the booming pre-Civil War manufacturing center of Janesville, WI. There he opened his own tooling business and was also as a locksmith and Master Gunsmith. His artful gunsmithing can be seen today in collections of the Wisconsin Historical Society and the Rock County Historical Society."
"Oscar was also an inventor, with at least three registered patents. Best known for his early percussion burglary alarms (see U.S. Patent #66457 July 9, 1867 "Improved Burglar Alarm") and for a range of mechanical and triggering devices.
He and Nancy Ann had four children, all lived to adulthood: Oscar W., Frank C., Abigail ("Abbie") and William ("Will").
Oscar died in Janesville, WI at the age of 60 and is buried there with his brothers, Thomas Jefferson ("T.J.") and Clark, and his youngest son, Will."
from "Biographies of the Early Brooks Family of Massachusetts" by Wright W. Brooks (1973).
A blacksmith (apprentice) as his father and grandfather, and many earlier generations of the Brooks family, young Oscar chose to retrain as a toolmaker and gunsmith at age 18. He worked in the growing metal and toolmaking trades in Amherst, NH and New Boston, NH. He was soon drawn to the growing industrial center of Manchester, NH. He worked there for several years in metallurgy mills, designing toolmaking equipment. He met and married his wife, (Nancy)Ann Reynolds there."
"As many ambitious New England families of that era, this young family soon headed West 'to improve their circumstances.' In 1859 Oscar moved the family first to Ohio, then to the booming pre-Civil War manufacturing center of Janesville, WI. There he opened his own tooling business and was also as a locksmith and Master Gunsmith. His artful gunsmithing can be seen today in collections of the Wisconsin Historical Society and the Rock County Historical Society."
"Oscar was also an inventor, with at least three registered patents. Best known for his early percussion burglary alarms (see U.S. Patent #66457 July 9, 1867 "Improved Burglar Alarm") and for a range of mechanical and triggering devices.
He and Nancy Ann had four children, all lived to adulthood: Oscar W., Frank C., Abigail ("Abbie") and William ("Will").
Oscar died in Janesville, WI at the age of 60 and is buried there with his brothers, Thomas Jefferson ("T.J.") and Clark, and his youngest son, Will."
from "Biographies of the Early Brooks Family of Massachusetts" by Wright W. Brooks (1973).
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