Cabell County, West Virginia Biography of William M. BROOKE This file was submitted by Joyce Vickers, E-mail address: The submitter does not have a connection to the subject of this sketch. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II, pg. 266 William M. Brooke is now sole owner of one of the important industrial enterprises of the Huntington metropolitan district, the business being conducted under the title of the Huntington Seating Company, and the manufacturing plant, one of the largest of its kind in the United States, being situated on Buffington Street, near the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad station in the suburban Town of Guyandotte. Mr. Brooke was born in the city of St. Louis, Missouri, July 24, 1863, and is the son of John C. and Emily Love (Supplee) Brooke, the former of whom was born in Preble County, Ohio, in 1841, and the latter of whom was born in the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1846. The parents passed the closing period of their lives in the City of Huntington, West Virginia, where the mother died May 12, 1912, and the father in the year 1917. John C. Brooke was a son of John Brooke, who was born in Virginia in 1784, and who died in Preble County, Ohio in 1808, he having been a pioneer settler and extensive farmer in that county and having been a representative of a family of English lineage, that was founded in Virginia in the Colonial era of our national history. John Brooke married a daughter of Rev. James B. Finley, who was a distinguished pioneer clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and they became the parents of a remarkable family of twenty children. John C. Brooke gained his early education in the common schools of Preble County, Ohio, and as a lad he went to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and entered the employ of the Bradstreet Commercial Agency. He continued his residence in Philadelphia until shortly after his marriage, when he removed to St. Louis, Missouri, and engaged in the wholesale and retail coal business. In 1865 he removed to Eaton, Ohio, and there organized and became president of the First National Bank. In 1868 he established a private bank in the City of Cincinnati, that state, and there in 1871 he organized the Excelsior School Furniture Company, of which her became vice president and general manager. A few years later he organized the Excelsior Furniture Company, which established its manufacturing plant at New Richmond, Ohio, and in 1889 he effected a reorganization of the enterprise, under the title of the Cincinnati Seating company and with a factory at Harrison, Ohio. In 1910 the manufacturing headquarters were removed to Huntington, West Virginia, and the title of the corporation was changed to the Huntington Seating Company. Mr. Brooke continued as president of the company until his death. He was a liberal and progressive citizen and business man, a republican in politics, and he and his wife were zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Of their children William M., of this review, is the eldest; Finley S. is engaged in the real estate business at Cincinnati, Ohio; Emily Love became the wife of John W. Pinar, who is now a resident of Erie, Pennsylvania, and her death occurred at Washington, that state, in 1911, when she was thirty-eight years of age. William M. Brooke graduated from the high school in the City of Cincinnati as a member of the class of 1886, and thereafter he was a traveling salesman for the Church Furniture Company of Cincinnati until 1903. He then became a traveling salesman for a leading electrical appliance company in the City of Chicago, and his trade territory covered the southern states. In 1910 he became associated with his father's company, the Huntington Seating Company, for which he traveled throughout the entire United States. In 1916 he purchased the interests of his father and brother and became sole owner of this important concern, which manufactures church furniture of all kinds and which is one of the largest and most important of the order in the Union, the father of Mr. Brooke having been the pioneer in the manufacturing of church furniture, and the Huntington Seating Company thus having prestige as the oldest company in this line of manufacturing in the United States. Mr. Brooke is a stalwart advocate of the principles of the republican part, he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, his is affiliated with Huntington Lodge No. 313, B. P. O. E. and is a past exalted ruler of Dallas Lodge No. 71, B. P. O. E., at Dallas, Texas. He is a member also of Fidelity Lodge No. 123, I. O. O. F., at Huntington, and holds membership in the local Kiwanis Club, Chamber of Commerce, and Jobbers and Manufacturers Bureau. His attractive and modern home is at 516 Main Street, Guyandotte, and he is the owner of the property. At Atlanta, Georgia, in 1888, Mr. Brooke wedded Miss Anna Donna Frolow, who was born in Preble County, Ohio, September, 1870, and whose death occurred at Huntington, West Virginia, December 31, 1912, no children having been born of this union. On the 28th of April, 1914, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Brooke and Miss Mae Elizabeth Lynch, daughter of Robert and Malinda Lynch, who resides at Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Brooke have one child, Malinda Love, who was born September 19, 1917.