ARTHUR LEROY¹⁰ PHILBROOK  (ELI⁹, ALBERT⁸, SETH⁷, JOEL⁶, JOB⁵, JONATHAN⁴, WILLIAM³, THOMAS² PHILBRICK, THOMAS¹)

    This photograph is the only known image of Arthur Leroy Philbrook, my great-grandfather.  He is pictured here with his wife, Pearl Sheppard, and their sons Earl Leroy Philbrook (rear) and William Jay Philbrook (front).  Jay Philbrook is my grandfather.  Arthur was born August 9, 1880 and died by his own hand, August 15, 1908.   His wife Pearl was born in Kansas on May 3, 1884 and she died about 1935.  After Arthur's death, Pearl remarried twice:  first to a Mr. Henry Lear sometime between 1908 and 1911 and then to Jim Schneider in 1912.  After 1912, my grandfather & his brother Earl took on the surname of Schneider.  They changed it to Snyder during WWI due to the animosity shown towards Germanic names.  After the war, Jay returned to his birth surname of Philbrook however his brother Earl retained the last name of Schneider.  Earl's descendants to this day carry the Schneider name.

    Arthur had one brother, Frank Philbrook, and one sister Marrilla May Philbrook.  Frank was at one time a photographer by profession and had 5 sons and one daughter.  Despite much searching on my part for the last 10 years, with some clues from my father who had visited one of his cousins in Texas during the 1950's, I've been unable to locate any descendants of Frank Philbrook.  Regretfully my grandfather Jay died of cancer in 1986 four years prior to me starting on my genealogy quest. 

- Robert W. Philbrook