Born October 17, 1850, the place of his birth having been Benton township, Keokuk county, Iowa, He is the son of John G. and Mary (Kyger) Brooks. Mr. Brooks was reared in Benton township, and the old homestead was the scene of the boyhood labors and pleasures in which he indulged, he in the meantime becoming familiar with the branches of study, taught in the district school. This was later supplemented by more advanced work in the schools at Sigourney, and at the Iowa Wesleyan University, at. Mount Pleasant, where he graduated in 1875. Deciding on the law as a profession. Mr. Brooks then entered the office of Woolson & Babb at Mount Pleasant, and after finishing the required course of reading passed an examination before the court and was admitted to the bar at Sigourney in 1876. While successful in the practice of law, the forces of circumstances and opportunity led him in 1881 to discontinue the active practice of law and engage in the banking business as cashier of the Union Bank at Sigourney. The public life of Mr. Brooks has been one of equal activity and interest with his business life. He served a period of ten successive terms as mayor of Hedrick. He has been for seventeen consecutive years the treasurer of the Independent district school board. His political affiliations have always been with the Republican party, in whose life he has been a tower of strength in the local organization. His standing in the community and the services which he has rendered the party in the past made him a marked man in the conventions of the party as the time passed, but not until 1901 could he be prevailed upon to accept of a nomination. In that year he became a candidate for state senator for the Twelfth senatorial district, and in the election which followed he was chosen to fill that office. Fraternally Mr. Brooks is a Knight Templar Mason. The family life of Mr. Brooks began May 21, 1879, when he chose for a life companion Miss Lucy E. White, of Mount Pleasant, Iowa.
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