BIO: BROOKS, PRESLEY T 1821
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Submitted by Sandi Gorin. 

#4596:  Dr. E. Duis, The Good Old Times in McLean County, Illinois, (The
Leader Publishing and Printing House - 1874). Hart County.   Presley T.
Brooks was born November 9, 1821, in Hart County, Kentucky. His father's
name was Miles Brooks and his mother's name before her marriage was Lucy
Pulliam. Both were born in Virginia and were of Scotch or Irish descent.
Miles Brooks volunteered as a soldier in the war of 1812 and started from
home on a campaign, but the war closed and the troops were discharged. In
the year 1828 Mr. Brooks, sr., sold his property in Kentucky for the
purpose of going to Illinois or Missouri. He started late in the fall of
1828, but stopped in Indiana until September 1829, when he came to
Illinois. During the winter of 1829 and '30 he stayed at Clearry's Grove in
what was the Sangamon County, but is now contained in the county of Menard.
During that winter he selected and entered land at a grove which has ever
since been called Brooks' Grove, in the present county of McLean. In
February, 1830, Mr. Brooks moved from Sangamon County to Hittle's Grove in
Tazewell County, and on the fourteenth day of March of that year he moved
into a very rough log cabin in Brook's Grove. The Brooks family was the
first to settle in the present Allin township. This was before the
organization of the county of McLean. The Indians, wolves and deer seemed
to have things all their own way and were very numerous. The Indians were
exceedingly kind and friendly and always wanted to trade some of their
papooses for white children. Mr. Brooks relates nothing remarkable
concerning the winter of the deep snow, beyond what is stated in other
places in this volume. The Brooks family was snowbound for six weeks and
during that time, saw no living persons outside of their own family circle.
In 1832, when the Black Hawk war occurred, the settlers were
panic-stricken, and Mr. Brooks says: "When old Black Hawk was captured,
there was rejoicing, you better believe." Mr. Brooks describes the sudden
freeze of December, 1836, and says it came so suddenly that fowls were
frozen into the slush of snow and water, which covered the ground. The west
wind came cold after a thaw "as quick as thought," and the water and slush
became a sheet of ice. Mr. Brooks had no opportunity to attend school until
about fifteen years of age. During the winter of 1836 and '37 he boarded
about six miles from home and attended school for about six weeks. During
the next summer he went to school for three months and his education was
finished. Money was valuable in the early days. Mr. Brooks went to Chicago
in 1846, and one dollar paid all of his expenses. But as he camped out
during the trip this does not appear so wonderful. In the fall of 1847 Mr.
Brooks made a visit to his native hills in Kentucky and returned with his
sister's family to Illinois. The people of Allin township seem to take
pleasure in employing the services of Mr. Brooks in the various township
offices. He has been constable, justice of the peace and supervisor, and
has been elected to these offices without opposition and in some cases
against his will. At one time he refused to qualify as a justice of the
peace, when his townsmen held a special meeting and chose him once more,
and he consented to act. He has been school treasurer, assessor and
collector, and if a new office could be invented in Allin township Mr.
Brooks would, in all probability, be called to fill it. On the twenty-ninth
of December, 1842, Mr. Brooks married Miss Eliza Silvey Larison, and in
April following began keeping house at Brooks' Grove. There Mr. Brooks had
built a frame house, one of the first in the township. In November, 1870,
the Brooks family moved to Stanford where they have resided ever since. His
son-in-law, William J. Haines, lives on the old farm. Mr. Brooks has had
ten children, of whom eight are living. They are: Malinda Catherine, wife
of William Haines; Miles Brooks, one of the partners of the firm of Brooks
& Son; Mary, wife of George W. Kaufmann, who resides half a mile northwest
of Stanford; Abel Brooks is a teacher, and lives at home; Rachel B., Lucy
Ann B., Millie Frances B., and Eliza Ellen B., the pet, live at home. As to
personal appearance, Mr. Brooks is five feet, nine inches, in height, well
set, wears glasses when he reads and writes. His hair is turning gray, but
he has plenty of it; he has a short aquiline nose and blue eyes. He has
been very successful in life, which is due in a great measure to his wife.


Col. Sandi Gorin, 205 Clements, Glasgow, KY 42141 (270) 651-9114
             Member: Glasgow-Barren Co Chamber of Commerce


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