children and grandchildren of Garland and Belva Brooks

The first picture is Grandmother Sarah Catherine Brooks holding Billy Burl Brooks, oldest child of Belva and Garland Brooks - must be around 1928. The second picture is Katherine, youngest child of Belva and Garland when she was around 7 years old I think. Can you spot Delores Brooks Manning, Mark Bright,Melissa Ebright, Katherine's daughter, Kenny and Fern Tilman's son, Joey Brooks, Ronnie Brooks' son? Please leave a comment so I know you have been here!! I want to know if this blog is meaningful to the family!

Hi To The Family!

This beautiful welcome picture is of Ruth Shepherd Gurkin and her mother, Maggie Terrell Shepherd. I am Denise Diffee Hall, of Burlington, Alamance County, NC.  My mother is Jeanne Brooks Diffee, a descendant of James M Terrell and Lula Morgan Terrell of Alamance County and John R Shepherd and Susan Kinney Shepherd of Alamance as well, maternal side.  She is descended on her paternal side from Joseph Samuel Brooks' and Sarah Catherine Sharp Brooks (this is the grandparents of Jeanne instead of Great Grandparents because I have not found the Great Grandparents yet), William G. Sharp, Jr.and Emily Isely Sharp. Hello to all the Brooks', Shepherds, Terrell's, Sharpes, Iseley's, from Denise. I'm working on Ancestry.com almost daily to find out more about our heritage. If you have pictures, personal stories to share on the blog, contacts, please drop me a line or post in comments section here. I could use some help! I'll post a few new pictures that I scanned from my Aunt Katherine's collection of the Brooks family. She continues to stay active with our search. New pictures will be found on the tab at the top, named Picture Gallery.

Merry Christmas to All

The Umbrella Tree and The South

Hello and hope you are cooling it inside during the hottest summer on record for North Carolina.  Do you ever wonder how in the world our ancestors stood this kind of heat without air conditioning, only a fan (after the invention of electricity that is!) and a shady tree for cooling off?

How many of you remember going outside in the heat of the day to sit under a shade tree with a "palette" or a quilt and some lemonade, cookies a pillow and the hopes of a cool breeze?

Leave a message if you do!  I remember those days well.  The umbrella tree as my Grandmother Brooks called it.  She didn't have one - but we had them in our neighborhoods everywhere.  Where have all the umbrella trees gone?

Jeanne and Bill Diffee (my parents) on their wedding day.  Jeanne is the daughter of Garland and Belva Brooks

A picture of Fern Shepherd Tillman

Fern Shepherd Tillman

Please leave a comment when you visit so that I know who has visited!  You are important!!

Belva Brooks and her father Lonnie E. Shepherd

Belva Shepherd Brooks and her Dad, Lonnie Shepherd Sr. when she was about 16 years old

Welcome to Everyone!!

Welcome all my relatives!!

This beautiful welcome picture is of Ruth Shepherd Gurkin and her mother, Maggie Terrell Shepherd.

I am Denise Diffee Hall, of Burlington, Alamance County, NC.  My mother is Jeanne Brooks Diffee, a descendant of James M Terrell and Lula Morgan Terrell of Alamance County and John R Shepherd and Susan Kinney Shepherd of Alamance as well, maternal side.  She is descended on her paternal side from Joseph Samuel Brooks' and Sarah Catherine Sharp Brooks (this is the grandparents of Jeanne instead of Great Grandparents because I have not found the Great Grandparents yet), William G. Sharp, Jr.and Emily Isely Sharp.

Belva Shepherd Brooks was Mom's mother and she was the daughter of Maggie Terrell and Lonnie Edwin Shepherd Sr.

I have been working on Ancestry.com for a few months trying to trace our heritage.  Some of you may have already done this.  If you have - let me know so I can add the information you have found.  It's quite an adventure trying to trace all these people.

Here are some pictures I have scanned from our collection.  If you have some you would like to share  here that would be awesome!  We can make this our home base and I will give out the password so everyone can upload information as well as pictures.  That is my intention by creating this blog.

Email me if you would like to upload a story, info or picture to this site.  If you don't know how to upload - I can upload from an email you send me.

The email you can write to is :  denisedh22@yahoo.com