Copyright Brooking Society 2021

01 October 2024

Update on :

Brookings of America and The American Brooking Society

The American Brooking Society no longer exists as a separate Society and its members have been merged into the The Brooking Society, which is a global group for all Brooking Family members. Tony Quinn was the chairman of the American Brooking Society for many years and still remains a regular contributor and active researcher for the society and, along with the committee, The Historian has regular features relating to Brookings in the USA.
Tony remains a main point of contact for Society members in USA. We will retain and maintain the records on Brooking immigrants to the United States and includes research and family trees for people named. We have a regular item in the Historian relating to Brookings in the USA.

Anyone wishing to learn more about the history of Brookings in the USA can contact Tony Quinn directly at: usa@brookingsociety.org.uk

Brooking, Brookings, Brookins, Brookens and Brookin.  

DNA research has shown that many Brooking and variant name American families have ancestry in Devon and the west of England.

Here are the major Brooking Society Branches found in the United States.

Branch NNE
These are descendants of Edwin Elliott Brooking who was born in 1843 in Kingsbridge, Devon, and emigrated to Canada and eventually to the United States, settling in South Dakota.

Branch R                      
This branch includes descendants of Thomas Brookens who was born in Ireland in 1782 and died in Ohio in 1865.

Branch V
This branch holds American families with names Brookin, Brookins, Brooking & Brookings.

sub-Branch VA.           
This sub-branch begins with Philip Brookins of Massachusetts and Vermont, and may have originated in Boston. DNA does not show a connection to the Devon Brooking families.

sub-Branch VB             
This family begins with Henry Brooking(s) found in Isle of Shoals, Maine, in 1646. He may be the Henry Brooking born in Yealmpton, Devon, in 1613.

sub-Branch VI           
This sub-branch holds the descendants of Charles Brookings of Maryland, born around 1750. This branch includes Robert Somers Brookings who founded the Brookings Institution.

sub-Branch VLI             
This sub-branch holds the descendants of Henry Brookins of Ohio, who died in 1791.

sub-Branch VN            
This sub-branch holds the descendants of William Brookins of Alabama, born around 1800.

sub-Branch VPB           
This sub-branch holds the descendants of Benjamin Brookins of Georgia, born around 1790.

Branches X & Y             
These branches contain the names of the many thousands of people who are descended from William Brooking Sr. of King & Queen and Gloucester Counties, Virginia, who died in 1703, and his sons, Robert Brooking and William Brooking. Robert Brooking forms Branch Y; William Brooking Jr. forms Branch X.  Unfortunately, it has still not been possible to prove a definite link between William Brooking Sr. and the other branches, but he may be the William Brooking born in 1645 in St Clements Danes parish, Middlesex (London). The American Brooking Society maintains a database of descendants that now has around 15,000 names.

Branch W (USA Only)    
This branch was formed to hold descendants of Sarah Brooking, born to William Brooking Sr. of Virginia about 1682 and married to James Rennolds in Essex County, Virginia.