Biographical Sketch of Capt. James C. BROOKS (1893); Chester County, PA Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by John Morris . Copyright. All Rights Reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm ********************************************************* Source: "Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Chester County, Pennsyl- vania, comprising a historical sketch of the county," by Samuel T. Wiley and edited by Winfield Scott Garner, Gresham Publishing Company, Phila- delphia, PA, 1893, pp. 613-4. "CAPT. JAMES C. BROOKS, a man of fine business ability and the president of the Southwort Foundry and Machine Company of Philadelphia, is recognized as an example of what a man can accomplish who relies upon his own energy and persistent labor for success. He is a son of James and Phoebe (Paxson) Brooks, and was born in New Albany, Indiana, March 26, 1843. "The Brooks family is of English lineage and is one of the oldest families of the State of Maine and northern New England. William Brooks, the pater- nal grandfather of Captain Brooks, was a native of Maine and a ship builder by occupation. In early life he removed to Ohio, where he died at Cincin- nati. His son, Capt. James Brooks (father), was born in Bangor, Maine, and removed, when a boy, with his parents, from the Pine Tree State to Cincin- nati, Ohio, where he remained until he attained his majority. He then went to New Albany and engage dint he wholesale hardware business, which he fol- lowed for many years at that place, where he died in 1867, aged fifty-seven years. During the late war he was appointed by Secretary Stanton to pur- chase and fit up a ram fleet and to organize a marine brigade for service on the waters of the Mississippi river. He moved with rapidity in the matter and in a short time a very fine fleet was moving down the Father of Waters. He was a remarkably successful business man, and one of the largest enter- prises in which he ever engaged was the building of the New Albany & Salem railroad, of which he was president for many years. This road is now known as the Louisville, New Albany & Chicago railroad, being an important link in the railways of the North Central States. Mr. Brooks was a republican in politics, and a member and ruling elder of the Presbyterian church, and married Phoebe Paxson, a native of the city of Pennsylvania and a member of the Presbyterian church, who died at West Chester in January, 1892, when in the eighty-first year of her age. "James C. Brooks was reared in his native city until he was fourteen years of age, when he entered an academic school in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, from which he was graduated just before the commencement of the late war. In 1863 he enlisted in the United State commissary department in the west, with the rank of captain, and was assigned to duty in the marine brigade on the Mississippi river. He took part in several encounters, and was at the siege and capture of Vicksburg. He returned home after the war closed, and in the latter part of 1865 went to New York city, where he was engaged in the wool business for three years. At the end of that time, in 1868, he removed to Philadelphia, where he was connected for nearly twenty years with the heavy machinery manufacturing firm of William Sellers & Company, of which he was a partner during the larger part of the time. In 1886 Captain Brooks retired from the firm, but eight months later, upon pressing solici- tation, accepted his present position of president of the Southwort Foundry and Machine Company, of Philadelphia. He is now serving as a member of the executive council of the board of trade of Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Manufacturing and Mutual Insurance companies, and as a trustee of the Wil- liamson free school of mechanical trades. "On January 25, 1872, Mr. Brooks was united in marriage with Mary C., a daughter of James and Hannah Murtagh, of West Chester. Mr. and Mrs. Brooks have two children, a son and a daughter: Massey and Fannie A. "Captain Brooks is a republican in politics, and has been for many years a regular attendant of the Protestant Episcopal church. He is a member of the Pennsylvania Historical society of Philadelphia, and the Union League and the Manufacturing clubs of the same city. He is a pleasant and courteous gentleman, and owns a beautiful home on the corner of Church street and Vir- ginia avenue, where he resides during the summer, while he spends the winter in Philadelphia. Mr. Brooks has been interested in many business enter- prises of the leading eastern cities during the last twenty years, and has often made his influence and capital felt for the material improvement of the places where he does business, in measures with which he has not been personally connected. His name, however, is most closely identified with and best known in regard to the manufacturing interests of Philadelphia then with any other city of the United States in which he has been interested in business enterprises. James C. Brooks is a man of clear and vigorous intellect. He is energetic, resolute and masterful in the prosecution of his enterprises. He possesses to a high degree those characteristics which inspire confidence in all with whom he comes in contact, and gives the assurance of success ere it is won. Like every American citizen who has risen to distinction, he has achieved success by earnest and persistent effort."