Marshall County KS Archives Biographies.....Brooks, William H. 1847 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ks/ksfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com May 3, 2007, 1:36 am Author: Emma E. Forter WILLIAM H. BROOKS. William H. Brooks, a well-known and substantial farmer and stockman of Franklin township, this county, an honored veteran of the Civil War and the proprietor of a fine farm of four hundred and eighty acres there, on which he has one of the best-appointed homes in the county, is a native of the old Hoosier state, but has been a resident of this county practically all the time since 1882 and has thus long been accounted one of the well-established citizens of Marshall county. He was born at Brookville, Indiana, on February 20, 1847, son of Joseph M. and Amelia (Swan) Brooks, who were the parents of eight children, three of whom are still living. Joseph M. Brooks was born in April, 1818, and was trained to the trade of carpenter and builder. He moved from Indiana to Peru, Illinois, and there made his home until 1879, when he came to Kansas and settled on the farm in Franklin township, this county, on which his son, the subject of this sketch, is now making his home, and presently became one of the large landowners of the county. Upon coming to this county Joseph M. Brooks bought a farm of four hundred and eighty acres, built a small house on the same and there made his home for four years, at the end of which time he retired and moved to Beattie, where he spent the rest of his life, his death occurring on July 31, 1901. After his retirement, however, he continued to extend his farming operations and land purchases and at the time of his death was the owner of fifteen hundred acres of Marshall county land. Joseph M. Brooks was twice married. Following the death of his first wife he married Margaret A. Porter, who was born on October 30, 1823, in Adams county, Ohio, and who died at the home of William H. Brooks in this county on May 7, 1916. That second union was without issue. William H. Brooks was but a child when his parents moved from Indiana to Peru, Illinois, and he received his schooling in that city. In 1864, he then being but seventeen years of age, he enlisted for service during the Civil War and served as a member of Company B, Fourteenth Illinois Cavalry, under Captain Dressier, in Sherman's Army, until the close of the war, being a participant in the spirited engagements in which his command took part in the last year of the war. In one of these engagements he was captured by the enemy and for four or five months was confined in the dreadful prison pen at Andersonville. Mr. Brooks received his discharge in Tennessee at the close of the war and then returned to Peru, Illinois, where he began working as a stationary engineer, a vocation which occupied his time chiefly thereafter for thirty-five years. In 1882 he came to Kansas and for a few years worked with his father on the farm in this county, but later resumed his calling as stationary engineer and was thus engaged, in Nebraska and points farther west, until the death of his father in the summer of 1901, when he came back to this county to settle the estate and has since made his home here. In the settlement of his father's estate he inherited one hundred and forty-six acres of the old home place and he has since added to that tract by purchase until now he is the owner of four hundred and eighty acres of excellent land and has one of the best farm plants in that part of the county. In addition to his general farming, Mr. Brooks has long given considerable attention to the raising of live stock, now feeding about eighty" head of cattle, and has done very well. His farm is situated on section 24 of Franklin township and there he has one of the best-appointed farm houses in Marshall county, an eight-room modern house, equipped with electric lights, furnace, bath and hot and cold water, and he and his family are very comfortably situated. The house has an admirable location and commands one of the best views in that part of the county. On June 24, 1885, William H. Brooks was united in marriage to Alice Beveridge, who was born on March 5, 1864, in Adams county, Ohio, daughter of Jacob and Nancy (McNeil) Beveridge, further mention of whom is made in this volume in a biographical sketch relating to Dr. Jacob Beveridge, and to this union four children have been born, namely: Ralph, who is at home: Mrs. Madge Totten, of La Junta, Colorado; Ray E., who is at home, and Chester A., an optician, practicing at Marysville. Mr. and Mrs. Brooks are attendants at the services of the Methodist church and have ever since taking up their residence in this county taken a warm and active interest in the various good works of the community in which they live, helpful in promoting all worthy causes thereabout. Mr. Brooks is a Republican, but has never been a seeker after public office. Additional Comments: Extracted from: History of Marshall County, Kansas: its people, industries, and institutions by Emma E. Forter Indianapolis, Ind.: B.F. Bowen & Co. (1917) File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ks/marshall/bios/brooks385gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ksfiles/ File size: 5.5 Kb