Memorials › William Thomas Brooks

William Thomas Brooks

15 Dec 1852 – 15 Jan 1940

Birth15 Dec 1852
Death15 Jan 1940
CemeteryPark Grove Cemetery
Broken Arrow , Tulsa County , Oklahoma , USA
Added byOkieBran on 12 Apr 2008
FaGhttps://www.findagrave.com/memorial/10252869

Gravesite details

Age 87 Cause of Death Coronary Thrombosis

Bio

Sketch of Huntsville and Huntsvilliettes reads... Hon. W. T. Brooks, one of Huntsville's widely known and public spirited citizens was born in Hawkins County, Tennessee in 1852 and came to Arkansas in 1859 and attended the public schools of Washington County, Arkansas til 1872, when he entered the Law Department of the Michigan State University, from which he graduated with honor in 1875. During the years of 1883 and 1889 Mr. Brooks ably represented the people of Madison county in the Legislature, and he was Deputy Collector of Internal Revenue during President Harrison's Administration. In 1893 he became Cashier of the Madison County Bank, which position he has filled with honor to himself and the stockholders; and his business like supervision realized the bank 28 percent on money invested during the panic which plainly proves that he possesses and eye for business. William Thomas Brooks, deceased was prominently connected with banking and merchandising and with the public life of Broken Arrow, his labors being a vital force in the development of his town. He was born in Hawkins County, Tennessee December 15, 1852. His parents being Lafayette and Isabel (York) Brooks, who in 1859 removed with their family to Arkansas. William Thomas Brooks, then a lad of but six years was largely reared in Arkansas and became a student in the University of Arkansas during the first year of its existence in 1872. Later he took up the profession of teaching which he followed in the schools of Fayetteville, Arkansas, but he regarded this merely as an initial step to other professional activity, for it was his earnest desire and purpose to become a member of the Bar with this end in view he enrolled as a Law Student in the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Michigan where he was graduated in 1875. His life was always one of activity accompanied by gratifying results. He served for several terms as a Revenue Officer and appreciation of his value matters of citizenship led to his election to the Arkansas Legislature, to which he belonged from 1883 to 1889. He was always conversant with the vital questions and issue of the day and as a lawmaker closely studied the problems bearing upon the welfare of the state. During the Spanish-American War he was commissioned a Colonel of the United States Army. The year of 1901 witnessed the arrival of Mr. Brooks in Oklahoma as permanent resident. He became the first Postmaster of Broken Arrow and at the same time was connected with the First National Bank as it's Vice President filling the office for eleven yeas. he was likewise a member of the Brooks, Sanders and Williams Brothers Mercantile Company and after withdrawing from that partnership conducted a Mercantile Business of his own. On the 4th of July 1879 Mr. Brooks was united in marriage to Miss Alice Routh, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. L. W, Routh of Huntsville, Arkansas. She first attended school at Hindsville, Arkansas at Fayetteville. When her college course was completed she devoted five years to teaching in the schools of Hindsville and subsequent to her marriage also taught for about five more years. After coming to Broken Arrow she assisted her husband in the Post Office and she also purchased and conducted the Crystal Theater, which she still owns but has not managed since 1933. Mr. and Mrs. Brooks became parents of two sons and three daughters; R. W. of Broken Arrow; Guy L. of Pomona, California; Mrs. Floy Green of Broken Arrow; Mrs. A. D. Kneale of Tulsa and Mrs. M. G. Lewis of Farmington, Arkansas. The community of Broken Arrow was greatly shocked on the 15th of January, 1940 on learning of the sudden death of Mr. Brooks who passed quietly away while seated in a chair in his home, being then eighty seven years and one month of age. Two days later the funeral services was held by the Rev. J. Edwin Kerr, pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Wagoner, Oklahoma and former Presbyterian Pastor of Broken Arrow. Mr. Brooks had been a member of the Presbyterian Church for nearly thirty years and his was a consistent Christian life that won him the honor and unqualified regard of all who knew him. To his family he was a devoted Husband and Father and to his friends a faithful and loyal companion, while in business circles his was ever an untarnished name. Mrs. Brooks still occupies her hoe on West Broadway in Broken Arrow. She is a helpful member of the Self Culture Club of the Eastern Star and of other Woman's Organizations and she belongs to the Presbyterian Church being particularly active in it's missionary department. She has a broad acquaintance here and occupies an enviable social position. Submitted by Eunice #46890048

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