Charles Henry PHILBRICK (1837-1885), Private Secretary To President Lincoln.  One man who touched Abraham Lincoln's life in a rather important way has rarely been mentioned in studies of the sixteenth President.  He has been neglected previously because information on his life has been almost impossible to acquire.  Yet some serious students of Lincolniana have at least heard the name "Charley" Philbrick.  When Lincoln became the Republican Party's candidate for President on May 18, 1860, he selected John George Nicolay (1832-1901) to serve as his private secretary, taking him from his chief clerkship position under Ozias Mather Hatch, the Illinois Secretary of State.  To replace Nicolay, Hatch hired Philbrick from Griggsville, Pike County, Illinois - Hatch's own home town.  Charles Henry Philbrick was then 23 years of age and the son of Jabez D. & Elizabeth H. (Lyman) Philbrick.  You can read the entire story by clicking HERE. You can see his genealogy by clicking HERE!

Mary travelled to England in 1932 to research the English origins of her ancestor Thomas Philbrick.  Her notes were used by G. Andrews Moriarity, A. M., F. S. A., to compose his article "The English Connections of Thomas Felbrigge or Philbrick of Hampton, N. H." for the NEHGR in 1954.

SIR Winston Churchill (1874-1965), the Prime Minister of England during World War II, was the 7th great-grandson of Thomas PHILBRICK, the emigrant. See his genealogy HERE!

Robert Lee Frost (1874-1963), poet laureate, was the 7th great-grandson of Thomas PHILBRICK, the emigrant. Robert Frost was born in San Francisco, California on March 26, 1874. When his father died in 1885, Frost's mother moved the family east to Lawrence, Massachusetts. Robert was 11 years old at the time. His mother pursued a career as a schoolteacher. Robert continued his education, graduated from high school, and attended Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire for a short while. He wrote poetry, and supported himself variously as a teacher, a mill worker, a cobbler, and a farmer. Robert Frost married Elinor White in 1895. Together they had six children. The fields and woods of New Hampshire farms surrounded Frost as he composed his poetry. However, Frost had only limited success in getting his works published, and he decided he needed a change of scenery. So in 1912 he packed up and moved to England. Here he succeeded in getting two collections of poetry published over the next two years. By the time he returned to the United States in 1915, Frost was known as a poet on both sides of the Atlantic.

The family returned to New England, and Frost was able to pursue his writing. His love for rural settings kept him on farms in New Hampshire and Vermont, and much of his work reflects these pastoral settings. Robert Frost received four Pulitzer prizes during his lifetime. In 1961, the nation watched the televised inauguration of President John F. Kennedy. On that blustery day in Washington, D.C., Robert Frost achieved an unofficial status as the nation's poet laureate as he honored the new president with readings from his poetry. Frost continued to write poetry throughout all his life. Robert Frost passed away on January 29, 1963.  See his genealogy HERE.

Frank Randolph Cady (1915-present), actor, was the 8th great grandson of Thomas PHILBRICK, the emigrant.

Balding, long-necked character actor Frank Cady was a stage actor of long standing when he moved into films in 1947. He was usually cast as a quiet, unassuming small town professional man, most memorably as the long-suffering husband of the grief-stricken alcoholic Mrs. Daigle (Eileen Heckart) in "The Bad Seed" (1957). A busy television actor, he spent much of the 1950s on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet as Ozzie Nelson's neighbor Doc Willard. The "TV Generation" of the 1960s knows Cady best as philosophical storekeeper Sam Drucker on the bucolic sitcoms Petticoat Junction (1963-1970) and Green Acres (1965-1971). Whenever he wanted to briefly escape series television and recharge his theatrical batteries, Frank Cady appeared with the repertory company at the prestigious Mark Taper's Forum.  See his biography, genealogy and film credits HERE!

Rod and his wife, also a writer, divide their time between Maine and the Florida Keys.

Click his name to visit his homepage.  Click the book title to read reviews of the books.  Click the movie title for a review of the movie. Click HERE for his lineage to Thomas the Emigrant [His birth name is William Rodman Philbrick III].

Philbrook was born in Davenport, Iowa. His first screen role was at the age of thirty-two on CBS's Alfred Hitchcock Presents as a town clerk in the 1957 episode "The West Warlock Time Capsule", with Henry Jones in the starring role. A few months later, Philbrook appeared in "The Les Rand Story" of NBC's western series, Wagon Train, with Eduard Franz in the episode lead role. He also appeared in the 1957 episode "Decoy" of the syndicated western series Man Without a Gun, starring Rex Reason. In 1958, Philbrook guest starred in two ABC and Warner Brothers western series, Maverick in the role of Sloan in the episode "The Seventh Hand" and Sugarfoot as Smokey in "A Wreath for Charity Lloyd". He portrayed Clem Harrison in the 1958 episode "Manhunt" of ABC's Broken Arrow, starring John Lupton and Michael Ansara.

In 1958, Philbrook played Charles Stewart in the episode "Hit and Run" of the syndicated television series, How to Marry a Millionaire, based on the earlier Marilyn Monroe film and starring Barbara Eden and Merry Anders. In 1959, Philbrook appeared as Yancey Lewis in "Return to Friendly" of the CBS western The Texan, starring Rory Calhoun. He starred too as Hank in "The Trap" of the syndicated series Rescue 8, starring Jim Davis and Lang Jeffries. He also appeared as Bender in the 1959 episode "Domestic Katy" of the CBS sitcom. The Ann Sothern Show. That same year, he appeared as an unidentified man, with Sothern and Pat Carroll, in the CBS anthology series The DuPont Show with June Allyson.

Philbrook procured his first recurring role in a series as Zack Malloy on The Islanders, with co-star William Reynolds (born 1931) in the role of Sandy Wade. The two played owners of an airplane that can land in water. The series is set in the Spice Islands of Indonesia. Diane Brewster (1931-1991) appeared in a few of the twenty-five episodes of the series. Reynolds later co-starred on ABC's war drama, The Gallant Men (1962-1963) and with Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., on The F.B.I. from 1967-1973.

After The Islanders, Philbrook portrayed Steve Banks, a New York City insurance investigator, in all thirteen episodes of The Investigators, with co-stars James Franciscus (1934-1991), Mary Murphy (born 1931) as Maggie Peters, and Alan Austin as Bill Davis.

Philbrook appeared five times in different roles from 1958-1961 on the original NBC The Loretta Young Show, also called the Letter to Loretta anthology series. Among those roles are Mike Roberts in "A Visit to Sao Paulo" and Wainwright Tyler in "Doesn't Everybody?" In 1962, he was cast as magazine publisher and romantic interest of Loretta Young (1913-2000) on The New Loretta Young Show. The couple married in the twenty-sixth and final episode of the series. Young played a widowed mother of seven children, some grown, and Philbrook, according to the story line, adapted to the idea of becoming a stepfather to so many.

Philbrook's other appearances were as Jim Costain in the 1961 segment "Triple C" of NBC's anthology series The Barbara Stanwyck Show and as McWhorter in the 1962 episode "Inger, My Love" on Bonanza. He also guest starred twice in 1959 and 1963 on CBS's Perry Mason, starring Raymond Burr. He appeared in two 1965 films, as Adam Hyde in Finger on the Trigger and as James "Ace" Ketchum in Son of a Gunfighter.

Philbrook's last English language role was as Dr. Keller in the 1966 episode "The Blind Man's Bluff Raid" of ABC's The Rat Patrol, a World War II drama starring Christopher George. His last film roles were in some dozen foreign westerns, primarily through 1969, with two others in 1975.

Philbrook died two days after his 58th birthday in Los Angeles, California.