Freestone County, Texas
Biographies 



Biography of William H. Brooks
    (Nov 9, 1862-Jun. 7, 1922, buried Oakwood Cemetery in Waco, TX.)

A History of Texas and Texans, VOLUME 4
By Frank White Johnson, Eugene Campbell Barker, Ernest William Winkler
Published by American Historical Society, 1914

Page 2132

   WILLIAM H. BROOKS. A very successful architect, whose business headquarters 
are in Waco, but whose practice has extended into many diverse quarters of the 
state, is William H. Brooks, who has been a permanent resident of the state 
during the last thirty years and has devoted most of his time to building 
construction and to his profession as an architect.
   William H. Brooks was born at Tehuacana, in Freestone county, Texas, November 9, 
1862. His father, William Brooks, born in November, 1832, came to Texas when a young 
man, about 1858, and before the war was a ranch man and after the struggle between the 
states was engaged in merchandising. During the war he fought on the Confederate side 
as a member of a Texas regiment, and when the Southern troops returned to their homes 
he moved from Texas to Butler, Alabama, locating at Greenville, where he was an 
enterprising merchant up to 1879. His health failed in that year, and his oldest son, 
William, then had to leave school and take charge of the store until 1884. The father 
passed away in 1888, having been fairly successful as a business man and leaving a 
worthy name to his descendants. The mother was Mrs. Annie E. McCann, who was born 
in Butler county, Alabama, in 1844, and who died in 1907. Their six children were 
named William H., Charles L., Louis, Lillian, Edward and Hubbard, both of whom died 
in infancy.
   William H. Brooks was three years old when the family returned to Alabama, 
and his schooling was acquired in Butler county of that state until he was 
seventeen years old. He continued a resident there until 1884, having for several 
years had the actual management of his father's store. 'On his return to Texas 
at the age of twenty-two, he located in Falls county, and spent the first five 
years in agricultural pursuits. The designing and planning and construction of 
buildings has been a natural gift and almost a passion with him since childhood, 
and at the end of his farming experience he entered actively upon his profession, 
and has made of it an excellent success. His headquarters were at Marlin, Falls 
county, up to 1903, in which year he moved to Waco. In that city he was employed 
by other architects until 1911, when" he set up in business for himself, and now 
enjoys a good practice and a growing reputation. He has been commissioned as 
architect for a number of public and business structures in outside cities and 
towns. He drew the plans for the courthouse, the First Baptist church and the 
high school building at Anson, in Jones county. Mr. Brooks is a single man, is 
affiliated with the Woodmen of the World, a member of the Methodist church, and 
in politics a loyal Democrat. Besides some property in Waco, he owns his former 
residence in Marlin, Falls county. With him his business is his chief interest, 
and he occasionally takes his pleasure in a fishing or hunting trip.