Samuel Brooks (1789-1856), the lighthouse keeper and friend of Edward Lloyd Parry, migrated with his wife Emma Blinstone Brooks by handcart to Utah in 1856. Emma died in Nebraska, and Samuel died a few days after arriving to Utah, orphaning their three children, Mary, George, and Frank.
Edward Lloyd and Elizabeth Evans Parry subsequently adopted George. Edward and Elizabeth's son Edward Thomas Parry and his wife, Charlotte, had a daughter named Winnifred Parry. George and his wife, Emily, had a son named Samuel Brooks Sr. Samuel Sr. and Winnifred married in 1919.
This photo claims to be "Samuel Brooks, grandfather of Will Brooks." It can be found in the Juanita Brooks Photograph Collection.
Up until today, I had never seen nor even heard of the existence of a photograph of him.
Is this really him? If it is, it is an extraordinary find and priceless to our family!
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P.S. My older brother posted this video on the same day that I found the alleged picture of Samuel Brooks the lighthouse keeper. I cannot view this as a coincidence, but God moving in His mysterious ways.
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P.P.S.
Subsequent comments from relatives about the picture:
It's a wonderful picture. That man has such a kind and gentle face. I wish it is a photo of our great, great grandfather, lighthouse keeper, and handcart pioneer...but I don't believe it is.
His style of dress seems all wrong to me. His vertical tie (rather than a fluffy cravat or large bow), that's white not black, tied in a loose four-in-hand knot, tucked into a vest that's tailored with a high-on-the-chest V opening was more characteristic of the 1880s and 1890s than of the 1850s.
Also, compare photos of men's haircuts in 1850s vs haircuts toward the end of the19th and early 20th centuries - they tend to get progressively shorter and tidier as the 19th century ends.
Moreover -- though I admit my next observation is extremely thin evidence indeed -- he doesn't look like George or Frank Brooks at all. Perhaps they looked more like mom than dad? ...
Samuel Brooks or Brookes was not an uncommon name in Britain. If this man is named Samuel Brooks, is it possible that Juanita, or whoever found this photo, found the wrong guy with the right name? [My wife] has been vigorously digging into our genealogy lately -- she's at the genealogy library almost every day, ... We've been amazed at how many mistakes like this have turned up that [she] has had to correct -- similar names at similar times and places that are wrong turns and strange coincidences.
Again, it would be GREAT if this is him, and I hope it is him, but he seems to be about 30 or 40 years out of place to me.
...on the other hand (no pun intended) there is one tiny detail in this photo that is rather eerie and startling to me -- his hand!
The way he is holding his relaxed hand looks EXACTLY how my dad's relaxed hand looked - to a degree that's almost creepy.
Is that just my wishful imagination projecting something onto this photo that isn't there?
...okay, you've got me hooked!
There's one way to know for almost certain...go to the archive and examine the actual physical artifact.
A skilled archivist would be able to look at the original document, identify the type of paper it's printed on, the photographic process that was used, deduce the quality of camera lens that could render that degree of clarity, etc., which could predict the decade in which it was taken.
I think I'm going to walk over to the Marriott Library and ask an archivist to show it to me.
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We also uploaded the picture to Chat GPT for analysis, and this is what it said:
This black-and-white portrait features physical, stylistic, and photographic elements that pin down its likely origin, period, and unique details.
Estimated Era
Timeframe: 1890s to early 1910s (Circa 1895–1905).
Fashion Clues: The subject wears a standard late-Victorian or Edwardian dark three-piece suit (jacket, vest, and trousers) paired with a high standing collar and white cravat/ascot.
Grooming: His trimmed beard with an unclipped mustache was a classic look for mature gentlemen in the 1880–1900 period.
Photographic Format & Mount
Oval Mat opening: Oval cutout mounts set into textured paper or cardboard cardstock became immensely popular in home portraiture from the mid-1890s into the turn of the century.
Medium: Most likely a silver gelatin or collodion print mounted on a dark textured cabinet card or photo album matting.
Key Identifying Marks
Pocket Watch Chain (Albert Chain): Visible looped across his vest, indicating a pocket watch stored in the vest pocket—a hallmark of formal male attire of the era.
Walking Cane / Crutch Handle: He holds a T-bar or curved handle cane/walking stick directly in front of him. Given the distinct T-shape handle, it appears to be a customized mobility cane or a classic bone/horn T-handle cane.
Right Hand Pose: His resting, slightly clenched right hand rests prominently near the cane, a deliberate posing choice standard in studio studio portraiture to convey stability or status.
Location
Region: Highly typical of portrait studios in North America (United States / Canada) or Western Europe (especially Great Britain or Germany).
Setting: Studio portrait; the neutral, slightly painted dark background behind him is standard indoor photography backdrop for the late 19th century.
