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Person · John B. Brock
The record
- HHomethe fan · what changed · open questions
- MMigrationbirths and deaths on a map, by decade
- TTimeline609 entries · 5 eras
- PPeople290 cards, by generationJohn B. Brock
- LLines13 surname pages
The evidence
- DDocuments896 thumbnails, filterable
- SSourcesS1–S1207, with where each is cited
The findings
- How the wall came downProeger line
- The glass patentsProeger line
- How the Caffey half was closedCaffey line
- What the DNA saysits own page
- Four routesMigration
- The asymmetryLines
- Open questions20 questions
- Add to this recorda form, read by Earl
How to read this record
Every claim is tagged
Most family trees flatten everything into the same confident typeface. This one does not.
The three research tags below are the whole point of the exercise: they say what a document
proves, what the weight of evidence suggests, and what nobody has found yet. A fourth marks
what the family stated directly, where no document has been retrieved at all — it is kept
separate on purpose and is never quietly promoted to confirmed. A fifth, added on
13 September 2026, marks biological evidence: a DNA result is not a document, and it is not
testimony either. Two further labels mark where this page withholds information
rather than lacking it.
ConfirmedAttested by a document that was actually retrieved and read — a census sheet, a
government index, a grave marker, a family-written obituary.
ProbableStrongly supported but not nailed down: a user-contributed tree, a masked index field,
or a chain of consistent circumstances. Believable, not proven.
Not foundSearched for and not located. This is a statement about the search, not about the
person — the record may well exist somewhere unsearched.
Family testimonySupplied by the family and recorded on their word — no document has been retrieved for
it. Note the diamond rather than the dot: this is provenance, not proof, and it stands
apart from the three record tags above S24.
DNA evidenceBiological evidence consistent with a claim. It corroborates origins; it does
not by itself establish a person or a link. Note the bar rather than a dot or a diamond:
no DNA result on this page is ever counted as confirmed, because no document
was read for it S46.
Living — withheldThe person is living. By the privacy rule for this page, name and relationship are
shown, and at most a year the family has already published. Full dates of birth, ages,
places of residence and record identifiers are held back.
Research in progressA branch that is actively being worked on. The node exists in the structure so the
shape of the family is honest; the detail is simply not in yet.
- Born
- December 1874
- Parents
- Iona Belle Brock & Mary E.
- Sources
- 7
Research status
Research status: PROBABLE — added 24 September 2026 and entered in the family tree the same day, labelled probable there too; the 1880 census of Hilburn Township, Madison County, Arkansas, read from the image, lists John B., 6, son, born Arkansas, in Matilda Brock's household
S166; the 1900 Callahan County, Texas, census gives him with his parents S. A. and M. P. Brock, born December 1874, Arkansas
S138. Death dates offered by other users' trees are not used, and the John B. Brock of Palestine (died 1942, born Texas) is a different man
Evidence: The 1880 Arkansas census (son, in Matilda Brock's home) and the 1900 Texas census with S. A. and M. P. Brock. Weak or missing: Census entries only; no birth record, and his death date is unknown. Not yet confirmed. Know more? Confirm or correct this →
Life in the order the records give it
Birth1874
Born December 1874, Arkansas
the eldest of the Arkansas-born children, which dates the family's move from Kentucky
Work1910
🆕 He was a
minister at Natchitoches, Louisiana, in 1910, married 8 years to
Jimmie, with John B. Jr. and Ruth
S458. By 1920 he was a minister at
Opelousas, owning his home, with a third child, Edwin, and his mother-in-law Amanda Stewart, which makes Jimmie probably a Stewart
S459. In 1930, still at Opelousas, he was a contractor hauling dirt
S460. added 25 September 2026.
Military1918
🆕 His World War I draft card, filed at Opelousas on 12 September 1918, gives his name as
John Berry Brock, a minister on Liberty Street, aged 43, born
5 December 1874, with his wife Mrs.
Jimmie Stewart Brock as nearest relative; it describes him as of medium height and stout, with brown eyes and dark hair
Confirmed S1170. The card names no parent.
Family parents, marriages, children, siblings
Parents1920
🆕 Jimmie's parents were probably
James (J. T.) Stewart and
Amanda Stewart Probable confirm or correct →: Amanda Stewart lived with John and Jimmie as his mother-in-law in 1920 and 1930
S459S460. In 1900 in Opelousas the census, read from the image, lists James Stewart, 48, born Alabama, and his wife Amanda, 42, born Alabama, the mother of two children, both living:
Mollie J., daughter, born November 1883 in Louisiana, and Willie, a son
S874. Mollie J. fits Jimmie, 36 in 1920 and 47 in 1930. What is weak: Mollie J. and Jimmie are matched only by inference; Amanda's ages disagree (42 in 1900, 70 in 1920); no document read names Jimmie with her parents or gives Amanda's maiden name, and James's middle name and dates are unsourced. Accepted by Earl on 28 September 2026 pending more evidence. added 28 September 2026.
In the record
Generation 5 — Earl's great-great-grandparents and their siblings
- S1381900 U.S. Federal Census — the Solomon Alfred Brock household, Justice Precinct No. 5, Callahan County, Texas. Ancestry collection 7602, record 70304882, image
4112117_00044. Supervisor's District 4, Enumeration District 16, sheet 2 B, stamped page 6248, dwelling and family 29, enumerated 6 June 1900. Read from the image at full resolution — 3822 × 3736 px, 21 September 2026; read-only, nothing accepted, attached or edited. Lines 58–62: S. A. Brock, head, April 1838, age 62, Farmer, renting, married 35 years; M. P., wife, Jan 1847, age 53, 10 children born, 7 living; John B., son, Dec 1874, Preacher; M. L., daughter, Jan 1883; Ada M., daughter, Feb 1885. What it settles and what it cannot. Matilda's birth month is confirmed January; the year stays open — the sheet reads Jan 1847 against the tree's 9 January 1848, and the 1900 schedule carries month and year but no day column, so no census can close it. The same wall stands on Solomon's April 1838 against the tree's 8 April 1837 — the next source must carry a day: a Texas death certificate or a gravestone. The surname is written plainly Brock; Ancestry's alternate index reading "S A Breck" is a transcription artefact, not a name variant. Migration window: both parents and all four grandparents are Kentucky, all three resident children are Arkansas, the eldest born December 1874 — which with Iona Belle Brock's December 1865 Kentucky birth brackets the move to between December 1865 and December 1874. ⚠ This is a fact about Solomon's household; it reaches Earl's line only through Iona Belle's Probable FindAGrave parentage [S23]. - S1661880 U.S. Federal Census — Matilda Brock household, Hilburn Township, County of Madison, State of Arkansas. Ancestry collection 6742, record 5406340, image
4239811-00834. SCHEDULE 1.—Inhabitants, enumerated the Eighteenth day of June, 1880 by Aaron L. Thompson, Enumerator; page 27, S.D. 2, E.D. 104, stamped 554; dwelling and family 228/234, lines 11–17. Read from the image at full resolution — 3888 × 4560 px, 22 September 2026. Brock, Matilda, 33, head, MARRIED, Keeping House, born Kentucky, both parents Ky; Iona B. 14 (Ky), Mary E. 11 (Ky), Ellen 9 (Arkansas), Ida C. 7 (Ark), John B. 6 (Ark), James B. 3 (Ark). 🔑 Age 33 is the fourth age column to exclude 9 January 1848. Reference day 1 June 1880; 33 puts her birth between 2 June 1846 and 1 June 1847. With 1860 (13) [S165], 1870 (23) [S153] and 1900 (Jan 1847, age 53) [S138], four independent schedules close the year on 1847 and the day remains unattested by any document. 🔑 She heads her own household and the tick is in the MARRIED column, not Widowed — while Solomon heads a separate household at Eureka Springs, Carroll County, sixty miles north, fourteen days earlier [S168]. These two sheets must be read as a pair. ⚠ This is NOT early widowhood: the pension index dates his death to on or before 23 May 1904 [S152]. 🔑 The Kentucky-to-Arkansas move narrows to 1869 × July 1870. Mary E., 11, was born in Kentucky; Ellen, 9, in Arkansas, and the 12 July 1870 sheet already has the family in Madison County with both then-living daughters Kentucky-born [S153]. The wider December 1865 × December 1874 bracket closes to a little over a year. 🔑 It settles S153's one open reading. The eldest daughter here is Iona B., 14, born Kentucky; four in July 1870 and fourteen in June 1880 is the same child, so the 1870 line-28 given name is Iona B. and Sara B., Jane B. and Ancestry's Imma M. can be retired. 🔑 A sixth child, James B., 3, born Arkansas — Ancestry's index truncates its household list at "John B. Br" and he is not in the tree. ⚠ No month, no day. ⚠ The page gives no reason for the split household, and no separation, desertion or estrangement should be inferred from it. - S4581910 U.S. Federal Census — John B. Brock household, Natchitoches, Louisiana (ED 80). Ancestry record 9240301. Image examined, read 25 September 2026. Confirmed John B. Brock, 35, minister, born Arkansas, parents both born Kentucky, married 8 years; Jimmie, 26; John B. Jr., 7; Ruth, 2. Ancestry's index reads his age as 25; the image reads 35, which fits his December 1874 birth.
- S4591920 U.S. Federal Census — John B. Brock household, Opelousas, St. Landry Parish, Louisiana (ED 88). Ancestry record 25029764. Image examined, read 25 September 2026. Confirmed John B. Brock, 45, minister, owns his home; Jimmie, 36; John B. Jr., 16; Ruth, 12; Edwin, 9; and his mother-in-law Amanda Stewart, 70, born Alabama. Amanda Stewart as mother-in-law makes Jimmie's maiden name probably Stewart. No marriage record has been read.
- S4601930 U.S. Federal Census — John B. Brock household, Ward 2, Opelousas, St. Landry Parish, Louisiana (ED 49-2). Ancestry record 35843677. Image examined, read 25 September 2026. Confirmed “John E.” [John B.] Brock, 56, contractor (hauling dirt), married at 27, parents born Kentucky; Jimmie, 47; John Jr., 26; Ruth, 22, teacher; Edward, 19; Amanda Stewart, 83; and Thelma. The enumerator wrote “John E.”; the household, ages and the mother-in-law match 1920. Thelma's relationship is not stated.
- S8741900 U.S. Federal Census — James Stewart household, Opelousas, St. Landry Parish, Louisiana (ED 52, sheet 19A, dwelling/family 379, lines 16–19). Ancestry record 2516147 (image 4120195_00898). Image examined, read 28 September 2026. Confirmed James Stewart, head, born November 1851, 48, married 20 years, born Alabama, lumberman [?]; Amanda, wife, born February 1858, 42, married 20 years, mother of 2 children, 2 living, born Alabama; Mollie J., daughter, born November 1883, 16, born Louisiana; Willie, son, 14, born Louisiana. Enumerated 15 June 1900. Amanda's age here does not agree with the 70 given for Amanda Stewart in 1920 (S459).
- S1170World War I draft registration card, St. Landry Parish local board, Opelousas, Louisiana (17-3-39 C), registered 12 September 1918. Ancestry record 27878387. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 25 September 2026. Confirmed John Berry Brock, Liberty Street, Opelousas, St. Landry Parish; age 43; born 5 December 1874; white, native born; minister, no employer; nearest relative Mrs. Jimmie Stewart Brock (wife), Liberty, Opelousas; medium height, stout, brown eyes, dark hair; registrar H. M. Callahan. The index reads the wife as “Jennie”; the card says Jimmie, as the 1940 and 1950 censuses do. The card names no parent: the link to Solomon Alfred Brock rests on the name, the birth month (December 1874, as in 1900, S138) and the Opelousas ministry already on his card.