About The Register

The Register of the Middlebrook Family is a 412 page book of Middlebrook(s) 
descendants compiled by Louis Frank Middlebrook, with assistance from his 
brother, Robert Brinsmade Middlebrook. To avoid multiple name endings he 
elected to refer to all who bore the family surname as Middlebrook. The female 
lines of the family were generally not pursued beyond two generations. 

It is not known how the information was obtained for the register, but it is 
reasonable to assume that it was by word of mouth from relatives close to Louis 
and by mail from those in the distant states.  Some records remain in the 
Connecticut State Library, but they do not yield a master game plan as would be 
typical of a project of this magnitude in today’s time.  The compilation was 
copyrighted and published in 1909, with an initial printing of 252 volumes.

These volumes were sold or given to various family members who assisted in 
providing information for the project.  Two hundred and thirty two were numbered 
and initially distributed to individual family members; the remaining 20 were placed 
in libraries for use as reference material or retained by Louis.  One of these was 
recently found by a member in a Selma, Alabama antique store.

There is an indication that there was a second printing, in possibly the mid 1900s, 
as unbound editions have surfaced.  It is hoped that with further research in 
Connecticut and with the help of Louis’s descendants that this will be clarified.  
The association has located only a dozen of the original Registers to date. If you 
know an original version owner, please ask them to contact us so their name 
may be included in the ownership log (MFA Register Update).

Two original issues have been used to make commercially available copies; one is 
unnumbered and the other is Register number 193.  The unnumbered version 
has been used by Family Tree Maker as part of their CD-ROM Disk number 117.   
Register number 193 has been used by Higginson Publication for their reprints in
both hard and softbound versions.

This tremendous endeavor of Louis Middlebrook has yielded a wealth of family 
information. It is a wonderful reference and excellent starting source to begin 
one’s family research, and hopefully most will not be led to use this as a primary 
documentation source.  Since 1909, many diligent researchers have discovered 
inaccuracies in Louis's work, which were surely due to information not available 
to Louis at that time.  Each Middlebrook/s family researcher is encouraged to 
verify the validity of any information used and one of the ongoing Middlebrooks 
Family Association projects is to clarify these inconsistencies and to go beyond 
two generations of the female line.  See Register Corrections for information on 
how to contribute corrections, omissions and additions to the original 1909 effort.