John W. Brooks

26 August 1836 - 31 July 1921

The son of Wilton B. Brooks and Alpha Ingalls Brooks, John W. Brooks was born on 26 August 1836 in Troupsburg, Steuben County, New York. The Commemorative biographical record of Central Pennsylvania, Including the Counties of Center, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion, by J. H. Beers and Company, Chicago, IL, 1898, includes the following information about John W. Brooks on pages 1241-1242:

John W. Brooks, one of the honored veterans of the Civil war who followed the starry banner on many a Southern battlefield, is now numbered among the leading lumbermen and agriculturists of Gaskill township, Jefferson county. He is a representative of one of the prominent old families of this locality. A son of W. B. and Alpha (Works) Brooks, our subject was born in 1836, in Steuben county, N.Y. John W. Brooks came with his parents to Jefferson county, where he was reared to manhood. In 1858 he married Catherine Holowell, of Indiana county, Penn., a daughter of Edward and Annie Holowell. He then located in Big Run, where he followed the carpenter's trade for a few years, after which he purchased 103 acres of timber land in Gaskill township. In 1860 he took up his residence on the farm, building there a log barn and frame dwelling, and continued to improve the place until the fall of 1861.

In an affidavit sent as part of her application for a Widow’s Pension, Catherine Brooks cited the following information from “their family Bible which said Bible has been theirs since about the year 1864: Family Record. Marriage. John W. Brooks, Born Aug. 26 1836. Catherine Hallowell, Born Feb. 17, 1838. John W. Brooks Catherine A. Hallowell married July 7^th 1858.” She stated that there was no public record of the marriage. Another General Affidavit also states that: “There is no public record, so far as I ever knew, of my marriage...; and there is no church record of our marriage... [as] We were married by Cornelius Lowe, Justice of the Peace, then at Summiksburg, Indiana Co., Pa., the marriage took place in my mother’s home in Georgeville, Indiana Co., Pa. on the 7th of July, 1856,.... There were at least 25 people present at our marriage, but I do not know of any one of them, except myself being alive.”

The Company Muster-in Roll for Capt. Robert Kirk’s Company F, 105th Pennsylvania Volunteers, dated 9 September 1861 lists John W. Brooks’ date of enlistment as 3 September 1861. The muster roll cites his age as 24 years, although a General Affidavit signed by John W. Brooks in Talbot County Maryland on 16 February 1905 as part of his application for a pension stated the following: “Mr. John W. Brooks presents a record of his fathers family showing that John W. Brooks was Born August 26, 1836. There was no record kept in any family Bible. This record was kept on a sheet of paper which he had in his possession. It is just imposable [sic] to prove by evidence the date of my birth. In regard to the discrepancy when I enlisted I gave my age as one year younger than I was. I was enroled [sic] on the third day of Sept. 1861 and my birthday was the 26th of August 1836 just eight days previous to the date of enrolement [sic] which would have made me 25 years instead of 24 years. Through the excitement at the time of enlistment caused me to overlook birthdays.”

He was mustered in on for a three-year period of enlistment. The Commemorative Biographical Record of Central Pennsylvania continues:

In September of that year he joined the boys in blue of Company F, 105^th P.V.I., under Capt. Robert Kirk, and from Pittsburgh went to Washington, and on to Alexandria. During the first winter the regiment was engaged in picket duty. In April, 1862, the troops were taken by boat to Fortress Monroe and marched to Yorktown, where they participated in the siege, and again met the Rebels at Williamsburg. At Fair Oaks they suffered a heavy loss, but drove the enemy back, and then participated in the Seven-days' battle, ending in the engagement at Malvern Hill. From there they marched to Harrison's Landing, and when McClellan was recalled marched back to Yorktown and Alexandria. After the defeat at Bull Run they retreated to Arlington Heights, where they remained until November, 1862, when they started to check Stuart's raid in Maryland. They participated in the hotly contested battle of Fredericksburg, in which Mr. Brooks was severely wounded in the head by a shell, while supporting a battery. He was then taken to the Baptist Church Hospital in Alexandria, and later to Portsmouth Grove, R. I., where he remained for three months, when he was honorably discharged in March, 1863, being unfit for further service.

The Company Muster Rolls for 31 October to 1 March 1863 lists him as being “absent in Hospital, Alexandria, Va. wounded.” An affidavit attached to his pension records by James A. Minish attests to John W. Brooks service and the wounds that resulted in his discharge. Minish states that he: “was well and intimately acquainted with John W. Brooks who was late a private in said Company (F, 105th P.V.A.) and Regiment. I was present in the line of my duty at the Battle of Fredericksburg Va. December 13th AD 1862 and the said John W. Brooks was so present in the line of his duty and while so present in the after part of the day in line of Battle said John W. Brooks was struck by some missile from the enemy across the top of the head it was supposed at the time to have been a piece of shell. After said Brooks was so wounded he was sent to the Rear and I did not again see him until I saw him at home.” The Certificate of Disability for Discharge for John W. Brooks dated 25 March 1863 stated that he was found “incapable of performing the duties as a soldier because of a gun shot wound to the head fracturing right parietal bone both tables coming away and the brain protected by only the scalp which is not yet entirely healed. Chronic Herpetic affection existed before enlistment. Disability One fourth.” He was officially mustered out with his Company according to the Muster-out Roll completed “near Washington, D.C., July 11, 1865” which states that he was “Disch’d Mar 25/63 Surgeon’s Certificate of disability by order of Capt. Sillaney 1 Artillery and Military Commander.”

After the war, he “... remained upon the farm until 1866, when he removed to Schuyler county, Mo., but in the fall of that year went to La Fayette county, same state, where he remained until the spring of 1868, when he returned to his farm in Jefferson County, Penn., having made it his home continuously since. In 1879 he erected a large barn and other outbuildings, and in 1885 erected a commodious two-story frame residence. His land, under a high state of cultivation, constitutes one of the finest farms in Jefferson county.”

In an affidavit sent in support of Catherine Brooks’ Civil War veteran’s pension, Mrs. Fannie Brink stated that: “I am a sister of the deceased soldier, John W. Brooks; I can remember well the time of his marriage to Catherine A. Hallowell; after their marriage they kept house in Big Run, Jefferson County, PA. They lived together all those years and reared a family of ten children, all of whom are living; They were married before he went to the war. I remember they had two children when he went to the Army; There has never been any trouble between them; They were well known and respected by all who knew them; The greater portion of their married life they lived at or near Big Run, Jeff. Co., Pa. They were in Delaware and Maryland a few years, – not very long ago – I am certain they were married & they lived openly as man and wife for all these years. I can remember they went in to the adjoining County of Indiana to get married. I was quite young but know they had a wedding at her mother’s house – they were never divorced.”

In his Declaration for Pension application made on 17 May 1912, John W. Brooks listed his address as “near Viola” and his post office address as Felton in Kent County, Delaware. He describes himself at the time he enlisted in the army (September 1861) as being five feet six and three-quarters inches in height, having a light complexion, and with blue eyes and light hair. His occupation at the time was as a carpenter. He listed his places of residences after discharge from the service as: “March 25, 1863 to February 1866 Pennsylvania, from Feb. 1866 to Feb. 1868 Missouri, from Feb. 1868 until Nov. 1903 Pennsylvania, from Nov. 1903 until Nov.[?] 1905 Maryland, from 1905 until Nov. 1906 Pennsylvania, from Nov. 1906 until present time Delaware.” The date and place of his death is listed in Catherine Brook’s application for a pension as having occurred on 30 July 1921 at “Gaskill Township, Jefferson County, Pa.” She was awarded a pension of $50 per month.

A Certificate of Death was issued for John Wilson Brooks on 31 July 1921. His death on 30 July 1921 was listed as being caused by “cerebral apoplexy” resulting from the “shock from a fall.” His occupation was listed as “Farmer.”