Lois Werner is amazed at how much information is available on the internet on the history of Brookfield Township. However, the information is scattered in different databases and you have to know where to look for it to find it. There hasn’t been a single resource that brings that information together.

She hopes her book, “The History of Brookfield Township, Trumbull County, Ohio” changes that.

The book is now available through Amazon.com and from the author.

Werner, who now lives in Hubbard Township, was a long-time resident of Brookfield and member of the Brookfield Township Historical Society. As the archivist of the society, she was responsible for the photographs, newspaper clippings, documents and artifacts in the society’s collection, and sought to fill in gaps in that collection.

The book opens with the story of the land now known as Brookfield Township before it was settled by European-Americans, and details how the township was created. Many of the names of early settlers are reflected in township road names.

She covers the long tradition of military service by township residents; the creation of schools and churches; early businesses and how the discovery of coal changed the economic and social fabric of the township; the emergence of heavy industry; the township’s involvement in the abolition, temperance and prohibition movements; the evolution of social life and leisure; and the creation of the fire and police departments.

As a member of the historical society, Werner researched and photographed existing buildings that were constructed prior to 1899, and contributed to a “driving tour” video of some of the homes, which the historical society has for sale. The book includes an extensive examination of the properties around the township green, including use and ownership histories of some of the existing buildings.

Her research also turned up a list of early settlers, and people who have served as trustee, fiscal officer and constable through the years.

Werner’s book is not the first publication to address Brookfield history – Joe Tarkanick put out two volumes of “The Brookfield That Was,” and Elizabeth Boozer published several Brookfield history pieces in The Vindicator – but Werner, 88, is a stickler for documentation. She includes pages of endnotes to show where the information she printed came from and, perhaps, give her readers a place to go to learn more.

“James McMullin, you know, we had a lot of stories about him,” she said of one of Brookfield’s first settlers. “I needed to see if any of that was true, or not. It took months of trying to find information.”

She was able to track McMullin’s movements from his birthplace in Washington County, Pa., to Mercer County and then to Brookfield.

Werner has written pieces for the Trumbull County Historical Society, which are online through the society’s website, and turned her attention to creating a book in 2021. She kept researching as she was writing and some entries changed several times.

“It was enjoyable and then it gets to be work,” she said. “Then, it gets to be, I’d go to bed at night and go, ‘Did I write that right?”

For a copy of the book, go to amazon.com and search for “The History of Brookfield Township.” You also can contact Werner at 330-502-4486 or through her Facebook page.

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Joe Pinchot and Judi Swogger of NEWS On the Green advised Werner on writing, researching and editing her book.