That is why I was thinking he was a spy and changed his name to protect his family. The part of Hamilton Co. (Chattanooga), TN where he was living was VERY pro Confederacy and he would have had to change his name to protect his family and himself. The person, Anderson Brewer/Brooks was in the Confederate army. So his political sympathies would not have been apparent. And I am familiar with Occam's Razor! I'm just trying to figure out why there is no record of him before about 1876 when he married my gggrandmother, and why the only record I can find before then, if it is actually him, is a different last name.