The Life and Times of Hubert Brooks M.C. C.D. A Canadian Hero

APPENDIX A – EXTENDED BROOKS FAMILY GENEALOGY

A.8 St. John N.D. & Hubert Brooks Family Pt 2

A 8.2 The 1910 LAND OWNERSHIP MAP ROLETTE, NORTH DAKOTA

Township/ Range Classification Map for Northern North Dakota (Rolette County) St. John Upper Right T163 R70, Rolla off map to south east along Great Northern Railway Note Fish Lake, towns of Dunseith, Alcide, Belcourt where Brooks Circle of Friends Lived

BAXTER PRECINCT INCLUDING THE VILLAGE of St. JOHN N.D.

Baxter Precinct is the northernmost precinct in Rolette County with the border with CANADA at its northern extreme.

In addition to operating a GENERAL STORE in the Village of St. John and a SUPPLY STORE on Lake Upsilon (Fish Lake), Hubert Brooks had extensive real estate holdings both in Baxter Precinct as well as in Hutchinson Precinct directly to the west.

The Land Ownership Map above shows that Hubert Brooks owned 160 acres at NE ¼ of Section 7, Township 163 N, Range 70 W (which he purchased from Madeline Jeanotte on 18-April-1904) (and which Hubert later sold to good friend Alfred Plante on April 23, 1919 for $1 and "other good and valuable considerations" ) and Hubert also owned 62 acres at NE 1/10 of Section 15, Township 163 N, Range 70 W (which he purchased from Nancy Paul Laviolette on 17-December-1906).

The image above from the May 10, 1900 Turtle Mountain Star newspaper shows that Luce Brooks owned property immediately adjacent to the Canadian border - specifically Lots 1,2,3 and 4 of Section 29, Township 164 N, Range 68 W. (This location is NOT shown on the map above at Range 68 is further to the east.)

PRINCIPAL TOWNSITE of VILLAGE of ST. JOHN N.D.

In addition to the above land holdings, Hubert owned a house and store in the Town of St. John which is shown below in the ENLARGED MAP of the TOWN OF ST. JOHN (Section 15, Township 163 N, Range 70 W) circa 1910.

St. John Baxter Precinct Map Unknown Date Thought to Circa 1910
Clearly Identified in this Map of the Town of St. John is 62 acres of property that Hubert Brooks owned in the far North East of the Town (NE 1/10 of Section 15, Township 163 N, Range 70 W).
Also clearly evident is a section adjacent to this in the north east called the BROOKS ADDITION which exists in St. John to this day.
Hubert Brooks owned Lots 5 to 8 in BLOCK 14 where his HOUSE was located - almost across the street from St. John the Baptist Catholic Church.
Hubert's STORE on Foussard Ave was located in Lots 9 and 10 in Block 1. If you closely on the map you can see these lots shaded with STORE printed in front.
In 1906 the first roundhouse was built for the Great Northern Railway -- along with a coal chute.
A July issue of the STAR newspaper stated that "The Main Streets in St. John are in good shape and have been graded, and some of the side streets greatly improved. New sidewalks and crossings have been laid which gives St. John the appearance of a neat town."

PHOTO & QUOTE Courtesy: Book: St. John, City at the End of the Rainbow Inside Back Cover

According to the records at the courthouse in Rolla, Hubert Brooks owned:

1. Lots 5,6,7,8 in Block 14 where the house was located. House was sold in 1918.
2. Lots 7,8,9,10,11 and Lots 25 to 26 in Block 1. The STORE was on Lots 9 and 10. Hubert sold these lots to Philias LeBeau on April 18^th, 1921.
   (Tax records for the Town of St. John for the year 1896 show Hubert Brooks owning Lot 9 in Block 1. This was the initial location of his STORE on the main street of St. John. Tax records for the time shown a total valuation of $300 for which Hubert paid $5.70 in taxes for the year 1896.)
3. Lots 3, 4,5, 19, 20, 21 and 22 in BLOCK 3 in the Village of St. John.

Some futher details concerning the Purchase (BUY) and SALE of these properties are as follows. (One can view the actual document by CLICKING ON THE LINK in the table DOCUMENT column. You may have to adjust the View Zoom size to fit your screen.)

NOTE: Purchase Deeds for Lots 7, 25 and 26 for BLOCK 1 have not been found to date.

And the sequence of Hubert & Mary (known as Marie again when in Bluesky) selling the properties are as follows. (Again one can view the actual document by CLICKING ON THE LINK in the table DOCUMENT column.)

BROOKS ADDITION in St. John N.D.

To this day there is a section of St. John called the BROOKS ADDITION. From the PLAT image shown below, it is clear that on June 10, 1907 Hubert Brooks donated approximately 18.5 acres of land to the town of St. John. The transaction was witnessd by his son-in-law, Oscar Bolstad -- who was also a Notary Public.

The donated land was henceforth called the BROOKS ADDITION.

Early tax records indicate that there were approximately 34 lots in the BROOKS ADDITION that the Town collected taxes on.

Today the BROOKS ADDITION consists of Lots 1 through 38 of Block 15 and Lots 1 through 26 of Block 17 with St. Ann Street separating the two Blocks.

It seems that for the BROOKS ADDITION land donation, Hubert peeled off 18.5 acres from the 62 acres that he owned at NE 1/10 of Section 15, Township 163 N, Range 70 W. In 1913 Hubert still owned 3 of these lots. Other tenants at the time included Fred Couture, F. LeBlanc, Leon Allard, A.N. Bourassa amongst others....

Brooks Properties in Hutchinson Township

Hutchinson Township, also in Rolette County, is located directly to the west of Baxter Township, and also borders Canada to the north.

Hubert Brooks owned 2 properties in Hutchinson Township as well as a SUPPLY STORE on (Big) FISH LAKE (later called Lake Upsilon) - see A6.4 for photo. The first property was 160 acres from a combination of (South 50% of SE ¼ of Section 14, Township 163 N, Range 71 W) plus (South 50% of SW ¼ of Section 14, Township 163 N, Range 71 W); and then another 160 acres with property SE ¼ of Section 26, Township 163 N, Range 71 W.

The Lake Upsilon Supply Store property location description was as follows: "That portion of Wallinder's First Addition to Birchwood Park described as follows, to wit; Begining at the SW corner on the shore line of Lake Upsilon of Lot 46 of Wallinder's First Addition to Birchwood Park, thence running east 115 feet, thence in a notherly direction on the east side of Park Street 280 feet, thence running east 220 feet, thence running south on the West side of Bay Street 114 feet to the shoreline of Lake Upsilon. thence around the shore line of Lake Upsilon to the place of begining, being a part of Lot 1 of Section 10, Township 163, Range 71, containing 2 acres more or less."

Hubert sold the Lake Upsilon property on Sept 9, 1912 to T. J. Dougherty for $950.

Section 6 Lots 7 & 8

A series of NOTICES in the Rolla N.D. newspaper The Turtle Mountain Star between November and December 1912 indicate that, like most businessmen, Hubert Brooks had the the occasional bad debt that he had to collect on. (This also shows some other land that Hubert owned at the time.)

Notice of Mortgage Sale. Notice is hereby given that that certain mortgage executed and delivered by Albert, Blue and Virginia Blue, his wife, of Rolette county, North Dakota, mortgagors, to Hubert Brooks of St. John, North Dakota, mortgagee, dated the 29th day of May 1912, and duly filed for record in the office of the Register of Deeds of the county of Rolette and state of North Dakota, on the 29th day of Mar A. D. 1912, at, 4 o'clock p. m., and duly recorded in hook "31" of mortgages on page "307", will be foreclosed by a sale of the premises in such mortgage and hereinafter described, at the front door of the court house, in the city of Rolla. Rolette county. North Dakota, at the hour of 2 o'clock p. m. on Saturday the 11th day of January A.D. 1913, to satisfy the amount due upon such mortgage at the date of sale. The premises described in such mortgage and which will be sold to satisfy the same are described as follows, to-wit: The east half of the south west Quarter (E1/2 SW1/4) and lots numbered seven and eight (7 & 8) of section numbered six (6) in township numbered one hundred sixty-two (162) north of range numbered seventy (70) west of the fifth principal Meridian in Rolette county, North Dakota. There will be due on such mortgage at the date of sale the sum of two hundred thirty-eight dollars and eighty-five cents (238.85).                    HUBERT BROOKS. Mortgagee. H.E. PLYMAT.                 St. John N.D. Attorney for Mortgagee, Rolla, North Dakota.                 8-13

A 8.2B Fish Lake Land Ownership

As discussed in Section 6, Hubert Brooks also had a SUPPLY STORE and a cottage a few miles out of town on (Big) FISH LAKE (now named Lake Upsilon).
It is believed that the BROOKS SUPPLY STORE was on the east side of Lake Upsilon just north of where the county park is now located.

Property Sales Records has the Lake Upsilon Supply Store property location description was as follows: "That portion of Wallinder's First Addition to Birchwood Park described as follows, to wit; Begining at the SW corner on the shore line of Lake Upsilon of Lot 46 of Wallinder's First Addition to Birchwood Park, thence running east 115 feet, thence in a notherly direction on the east side of Park Street 280 feet, thence running east 220 feet, thence running south on the West side of Bay Street 114 feet to the shoreline of Lake Upsilon. thence around the shore line of Lake Upsilon to the place of begining, being a part of Lot 1 of Section 10, Township 163, Range 71, containing 2 acres more or less." (see Scetion 8.2 for map)

H. Brooks starting planning his Fish Lake Store early April 1909. The store proper was 20 by 24 feet in dimension. Attached to the store was a boathouse as well as a cottage that the Brooks family used occasionally in the summer months.

Early June 1909, H. Brooks opened his large general store to the public. H. Brooks had Prof. N.D. Fradd in charge of his Fish Lake Store.

H. Brooks had purchased a large 20 foot launch with a 6 hp gasoline engine from the Brooks Boat Company of Saginaw Michigan. The boat was launched July 1, 1909 and considered to be one of the finest boats on the lake.

Brooks Supply Store - Fish Lake - Lake Upsilon

PHOTO Courtesy: Mel Kuhn, St. John N.D.

A 8.2C Mountain Home Idaho Land Ownership

The Thursday January 11, 1906 edition of the Turtle Mountain Star newspaper had an interesting reference to land at Mountain Home, Idaho that Hubert Brooks had purchased. (Mountain Home is just south east of Boisie on the way to Twin Falls.)

At this time it is unclear as to what Hubert did with the land and whether his intentions were straight real estate investment or if he had some longer term fallback homesteading ideas.

Reference To Hubert Brooks Land Ownership In
Mountain Home, Idaho
Editor's NOte: John Labbe was married to (Marie) Elinire Rébecca Grégoire, Hubert wife Marie's sister. John and Elinire would end up moving to Mountain Home.

The Turte Mounatin Star, January 11, 1906

The Life and Times of Hubert Brooks M.C. C.D.