Calhoun County AlArchives Biographies.....Crook, Emmett F. 1851 - living in 1893
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Ann Anderson alabammygrammy@aol.com May 14, 2004, 3:44 pm

Author: Brant & Fuller (1893)
   JUDGE EMMETT F. CROOK was born in Calhoun county, Ala, in 1851. He is a son
of John M. and Narmezia (Woodruff) Crook, the former of whom was a native of
South Carolina, and came with his parents to Alabama in 1833. He became a lawyer
and was a member of the secession convention. He retired from the practice of
law on account of poor health and settled on a farm. He was a son of James and
Amelia Crook. James Crook was a native of South Carolina, was a soldier in the
Revolutionary war, and came to Alabama in 1833, and settled on a farm near
Alexandria Valley, where he remained the remainder of his life. Judge Emmett F.
Crook was reared in Alexandria, Ala., and received the benefits of only a common
school education, but by hard and diligent private study he educated himself and
has gradually risen to be one of the leading citizens of the county. He began
life for himself by farming and merchandising, which occupations he followed
until 1886, when he was elected judge of probate for Calhoun county, and so well
did he administer justice during his first term of office that he was nominated
again in 1892 for the same office, and was elected after a very hard contest by
a majority of 2,395, the largest majority that was ever given in the county, and
this notwithstanding the third or people's party did all it could to prevent his
election. In his capacity of judge he has always striven to serve the people
instead of being a mere partisan officer, and in this way he has made many
friends. It is a common remark that if any one desires to know anything about
court house affairs, all that is necessary to do is to write to Judge Crook, and
an answer is sure to be forthcoming. If you call at the court house Judge
Crook's latch-string is always out, and you are certain of a cordial reception,
and he treats all alike in the same gentle-manly manner. When he assumed office,
in 1886, the county was $40,000 in debt, but now that all has been paid off, and
the county is out of debt. The condition of the public roads has been much
improved. Six iron bridges have been built, each costing about $25,000, and
there have also been erected many wooden bridges. There have been erected two
jails, one at Jacksonville, with steel cells, at a cost of $25,000, and another
at Anniston. In 1872 Mr. Crook married Miss Sallie Walker, of Gainesville,
Sumter county, Ala., daughter of Whitfield and Mary (Mangum) Walker, both
natives of South Carolina. Whitfield Walker was a member of the state
legislature before the war. He came to Alabama in 1860 and in the late war was
colonel of a regiment. Remaining in Alabama until 1873, he then removed to
Jacksonville, Fla., and was afterward elected to the senate of that state.
Colonel Walker was internal revenue collector for Florida under the Cleveland
administration and had to remain, there during the yellow fever epidemic of
1888, and both he and his wife had it, but both recovered from that dread
disease. Colonel Walker has a son who is one of the leading lawyers in New York
city. To the marriage of Judge Crook and Miss Walker there have been born four
children, viz.: Maud, a graduate of Cappell's Female college, of Columbus, Ga.:
Ida, Whitfield, and John M. Mrs. Crook was born in South Carolina and both she
and her husband are members of the Baptist church. Judge Crook is a member of
the Masonic fraternity, of the Knights of Pythias, and of the Knights of Honor.
He is deserving of all commendation for the success he has met with in life, as
he commenced with nothing after the war, and has since then accumulated
considerable property in both Jacksonville and Anniston. Besides this he has
risen to a position of honor and respectability among his fellow-men by his own
unaided efforts. He is now of the best and best known of the citizens of Calhoun
county, and has the complete confidence of all who know him.



Additional Comments:
from "Memorial Record of Alabama", Vol. I, p. 589-590

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