Elizabeth Boozer
Brookfield Historical Society has collected and reprinted a series of historical stories published by Elizabeth Boozer in a book called “History in Our Back Yard.”
Boozer, a founder of the society, wrote much of the material, or edited pieces written by Joe Tarkanick, Lois Werner, David Addicott and others.
The Vindicator of Youngstown originally published the stories as part of its Newspapers in Education initiative.
Subjects covered in the articles include the founding of the township, the migration of African-Americans to Brookfield, century homes, Brookfield Center, burial customs and eminent citizens such as Frederick Masury, Samuel Jennings and George A. Nicholas.
Boozer died Sept. 10 at age 89. The society met with Boozer several times in the run up to publication, but Boozer died before any copies were available, said society President Barbara Stevens.
“Elizabeth wanted that done for a long time,” Stevens said of the book. “It was sad she passed. She knew it was getting published. She was very excited about it.”
Copies of the book are $10 each and are available by calling Stevens at 724-456-7356 or society Vice President Jan Arnaut at 941-661-7814. Copies also are sold at the society’s monthly meetings at 7 p.m. the second Thursday of the month, usually at Briceland funeral home, 379 Route 7, Brookfield. The next meeting will be Feb. 12 with a program on 19th-century headstone carver Elijah Sikes, who is buried in Brookfield Township Cemetery.
“We hope she’s (Boozer) happy up there with what we did,” Stevens said.
The society also is raising money to republish Tarkanick’s book, “The Brookfield That Was.” Anyone interested in advertising in the book or contributing to its publication can call Stevens or Arnaut.
“It shouldn’t take long to print once we get all the money in line,” Stevens said. “It will probably be out this summer if not before.”
