John T. Brooks Fonds F628

A Q7

Date of the items: 1852 – c. 1960s

Physical description: 25 cm

Title: John T. Brooks Fonds

Creator: John T. Brooks

Repository: Trent Valley Archives

Reference number: TVA Fonds 628

Scope and contents: Fonds consists of the following series:

Series A: Postcard collection (253 postcards; all of which are scanned onto the t-drive and are accessible from in-house computers). TVA Postcard Collection Nos. 1968-2154.

Series B: Biography and background summary of John T. Brooks prepared by J. Wylie. Materials relating to career as mate, captain, wheelsman, plumber and steamfitter on various steamships and tugboats on the Trent Waterways (logbooks, reference materials, applications, letters of reference, photographs).

Access Conditions: No Restrictions

Finding aid: See separate file listing in Excel, as well as the Postcard Inventory Master List in Excel

Accruals: No further accruals are expected

Custodial history: Donated by John Thomas (Jack) Wylie, Sept. 28, 2016 from the Estate of John Thomas Brooks, Lindsay, Ontario. The postcards were organized and split up into files in the same way as they had been organized by Wylie, and were scanned and organized on the T-Drive in this same order, based on location, date of correspondence, and miscellaneous.

Biographical sketch: Brooks was born on October 22, 1880 in Lindsay, Ontario, and he died on December 23, 1955. His father was John Smart Brooks (1852-1913) and his mother was Martha Brooks, nee Farquhar (1856-1927). He married Janet Hunter Groat Thomson Winchester (1890-1964) on September 23, 1913. They had nine children (listed here with their spouses): Martha Ellen (James) Shaw; Jessie Rose (Robert Manley) Johnson; Henry William John Brooks (Adeline); Sadie Annabella (Robert) Buchanan; George Kenneth Brooks (Pauline); Betty Irene (Harry) Schroter; Mary Isabel (Walter) James; James Murray Brooks; Shirley Jeanette (John Thomas) Wylie. Brooks was a licensed plumber and steamfitter. He worked as captain, mate, wheelsman, plumber and steamfitter on several steamers and tugboats (including the Beaver, Greyhound, Kathleen, Esturion, Manita, Alexandria and Harwood) and at Dominion Arsenals.

Related Fonds at TVA: Many fonds at TVA contain postcards, but fonds with a significant number of postcards include F400 Matthew Griffis; F540 Andre Dorfman Postcard Collection; F543 Dianne Tedford; F544 Ken Brown Postcard Collection and F546 Hugh Jones.

There are a few fonds at TVA that have materials related to the Trent Waterways, including F132 Trent Canal Charts; F559 David Eason; F564 Trent Canal Plans and F692 Trent Canal Charts. F616 Log of the Dorothy might also be of interest.

Access Points: Trent Waterways

List of Files