Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 626 - 627 

JACKSON BROOKS. A residence of twelve years in Valley Center Township has rendered this worthy citizen familiar to the majority of its people, with whom he is considered an important factor in its growth and development. He is proprietor of 160 acres of land on section 14, where he carries on general farming and stock-raising, and is each year adding something to the beauty and value of his homestead. He is a man who has made the most of his opportunities in life, and has kept his eyes open to what was going on in the world around him. These qualities, in connection with his natural industry and perseverance, have served to make him, wherever known, an object of uniform regard.

             Mr. Brooks, a native of Wayne County, Ind., was born on the 26th of May, 1833, and is the son of Jacob and Mary (Vorhis) Brooks, who were natives respectively of Virginia and Ohio. They removed from their native State to Indiana before their marriage, locating in Wayne County, where the father engaged in agricultural pursuits, and departed this life in October, 1875. He had served as a soldier in the War of 1812, and the mother, who is still living, draws a pension from the Government. She was born in 1802, and has consequently arrived at the advanced age of nearly eighty-six years, and makes her home with her children in Kansas. To Jacob and Mary Brooks, the parents of our subject, there were born three sons and five daughters, who were named respectively: Mary Jane, Jackson, Martha M., Thomas B., Irene B., Adeline, Josephine and Aurelius. The eldest daughter, Mary J., became the wife of Richard L. Leeson and the mother of two children, and died in Wayne County, Ind., June 28, 1855, when a young woman. Martha M. is the widow of Archibald Poston, who was a farmer by occupation, and died in Indiana in 1873, leaving six children; Thomas B. married Miss Margaret McLane, and is engaged in the lumber business in McPherson, this State; Irene B. is the wife of Joseph B. Dale, a retired farmer, of Newton; Adeline, Mrs. Albert W. Florea, is living with her husband on a farm in Butler County; Josephine married Jonathan Thomas, an extensive lumber dealer of Topeka; Aurelius married Miss Mary E. Miller, and is engaged in farming near Parsons.

             Jackson Brooks, the second child of the parental household, continued under the home roof until twenty-three years of age, assisting his father on the farm, and acquiring his education in the district school. At an early age he conceived the worthy ambition to have a farm and home of his own, and commenced operating on land near the old homestead. In order to more fully carry out his ideas of being able, while in his prime, to sit under his own vine and fig tree, he chose to preside at the head of his domestic affairs one of the most estimable young ladies of his acquaintance, Miss Sarah Jane Charman, with whom he was united in marriage Sept. 30, 1856. The young people commenced life together in a modest dwelling on a farm in Wayne County, where they continued until coming to this State, in 1876.

            Mrs. Brooks was born in England, Dec. 8, 1837, and is the daughter of Arthur and Rebecca (Garton) Charman, who were natives of England, whence they emigrated to the United States in 1851, and located at Centreville, Ind. Mr. Charman had followed farming early in life, but later retired from active labor, and for a few years prior to his death was engaged in the grocery trade. He passed away on the 11th of May, 1880, at his home in Muncie, when quite advanced in years. The mother survived her husband until the 20th of November, 1887, and died at the age of eighty-two years, three months and twenty-nine days. Their remains rest side by side in the cemetery at Anderson, Ind.

             The father of Mrs. Brooks took an active part in politics, and was one of the most reliable members of the Democratic party. In his native town in England he was Overseer of the Poor, and otherwise prominent in public affairs. Both parents were conscientious and upright in their lives, and devoted members of the Christian Church. Their family consisted of nine sons and three daughters, of whom the record is as follows: Richard G. was born Oct. 6, 1824, and died June 21, 1883; John was born Sept. 19, 1827, and died Oct. 22, 1854; Thomas was born Sept. 8, 1829, and is now a prosperous banker of Oregon City, Ore.; James was born Sept. 22, 1831, and is a retired merchant of Muncie, Ind.; Arthur W. was born Sept. 30, 1833, and died in Muncie, Feb. 11, 1865; Frederick was born Aug. 27, 1835, and died in Oregon City, Dec. 23, 1868; Sarah Jane, Mrs. Brooks, was the seventh child; George was born April 19, 1840, and died upon the day he was one year old; Edward Ross C. was born April 16, 1842, and is engaged in the dry-goods business at Oregon City, Ore.; Ann was born Jan. 24, 1844, and died Oct. 20, 1868; Louisa was born July 11, 1846, and died Jan. 13, 1886; Joseph Alfred was born Sept. 16, 1848, and died July 28, 1875.

             Of the three children born to Mr. and Mrs. Brooks, Josephine Lulu, who was born Dec. 10, 1857, became the wife of Samuel M. Potter, of Middletown, Ohio; Voorhees C. was born March 19, 1860, completed his studies in the High School at Sedgwick, and makes his home with his parents; Harvey C. also attended the High School at Sedgwick one year; Carrie Dale was born Nov. 17, 1861, and died May 15, 1877, when an interesting maiden of sixteen years.

             Mr. Brooks uniformly supports the principles of the Democratic party. His estimable wife and himself are members in good standing of the Congregational Church.

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