* A portrait has been posted on-line at http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~westklic/wcportrait.html
SAMUEL L. BROOKS, one of the earliest and most enterprising of the west coast pioneers of Oregon, is at present a retired merchant residing at The Dalles, Oregon. He was born November 8, 1830, at Burton, Geauga county, Ohio, the son of Linus and Eliza (Humiston) Brooks. The father was a native of the same town and county, and his father, Jonathan, came from Cheshire, Connecticut, with the first surveying party in 1798. With him he brought a quantity of apple seeds and raised the first apples in that county. The preserved genealogy of the Brooks family dates back more than two centuries.
Henry and John Brooks, brothers, came from Cheshire, England, in 1660, to New Haven county, Connecticut, where they located on lands given them by the Crown. Laying out a town-site on the tract they conferred upon it the name of Cheshire in honor of their old home. It is presumed that these brothers were unmarried on their arrival in the new world. Henry was united in marriage to Miss Martha Hotchkiss, and to them a son was born in 1679 to whom they gave the name of Thomas. Thomas Brooks, Jr., son of Thomas Brooks, Sr., was born in 1706. He married a Miss Desire ______, and to them were born Joshua, in 1730; Deborah, February 5, 1732; Thomas, December 2, 1733; David, July 7, 1736; Samuel, April 4, 1738; Desire, February 9, 1740 Jonathan, Sr., August 25, 1743; Isaac, August 24, 1745; Gideon, August 29, 1747. Jonathan Brooks, son of Thomas and Desire Brooks, was married, and to them were born Gideon, Joshua, Jonathan, Ichabod and Amadeas. Jonathan was born July 25, 1777. These of the Brooks family were born in the old home town of Cheshire, Connecticut. Jonathan Brooks, Jr., was married to Miss Rachael Clark, in Burton., Ohio, who was born July 22, 1789; their marriage took place in 1802. Their family consisted of three sons and one daughter; Selden, born April 2, 1803; Linus, born April 25, 1805, and married Miss Eliza Humiston, April 19, 1827; Lovira, born August 13, 1809, and died in 1891. Jonathan was born October 7, 1820. Miss Rachael Clark Brooks was the daughter of Captain Ephraim Clark, of Revolutionary fame, and died September 4, 1852. The children born to Linus and Eliza Brooks were: Samuel Linus, on November 8, 1830, who is the immediate subject of this sketch; Eliza Maria, on February 20, 1835; Edgar Selden, on January 31, 1838; and Henry Jonathan, on March 7, 1842. Samuel Linus was married to Miss Anna Pentland, on August 7, 1872, and they have no children. Eliza Maria was married to William E. Brainard and they have two sons, Sherman Humiston and Linus Brooks. Edgar Selden, who died on July 26, 1900, married Miss Emma Perkins, on May 5, 1870, and to them were born two daughters; Iva C., on August 18, 1873, now the wife of Eugene J. Collins, of Dufur, Oregon; and Emma Seldena, on July 26, 1877, now deceased, having been the wife of William Hillis. Henry Jonathan married Miss Mary Rhodes, in 1870, and they were the parents of three children, named as follows: Wilson Henry Linus, born April 6, 1871, and died September 30, 1897; Lavina, deceased; and Esther Eliza, born June 20, 1882. Henry Jonathan Brooks died January 18, 1901. His wife, Mary, who was born October 8, 1854, died May 15, 1888.
The mother of our subject, Eliza (Humiston) Brooks, was born at Wallingford, Connecticut, and died October 11, 1888, at the age of eighty-four years. At different times, she journeyed from New Haven, Connecticut, by team, to the Pacific slope. Until he was seven years old Samuel L. Brooks was reared in Ohio, going thence with his parents to Illinois. With his parents, he crossed the plains in 1850 with ox teams, being six months on the road. Locating on the south part of French prairie, Oregon, the father filed on a section of land, and they were the second white family to settle in that vicinity. The town of Brooks, named in honor of our subject's father, stands today where their first house was built. Until 1863 our subject remained with his parents, with the exception of about a year passed in California, mining. Mr. Brooks was revenue collector for eastern Oregon of the district of Oregon, from March, 1866, to August, 1870. He then entered into a partnership with E.B. McFarland, now of Portland, engaging in the general merchandise business, which partnership was continued until about 1877. Owing to the failure of his health he sold out and with a partner purchased The Dalles city water works, later selling the same to the city. He has always taken a deep interest in educational affairs, and was one of the incorporators of the Wasco Independent Academy and a director during the twelve years of its existence. He was, also, the incorporator of the Wasco Warehouse Company and was interested in the same for several years. Between 1890 and 1892 he was prominently identified with the Portland & Astoria Navigation Company. At present Mr. Brooks is retired from active business life.
August 7, 1872, our subject was married, at The Dalles, to Anna Pentland, a native of England, born May 26, 1842. When eight years of age she came to the United States with her parents. Her father, Robert, was a native of England, who crossed the plains in 1845. He installed the first water works in the city of Portland, Oregon, and later, in 1862, removed to The Dalles, where he put in the original water system. He removed to the Willamette valley where he died July 5, 1887. Our subject and his wife are members of the Congregational church, and reside in a handsome, two-story residence at the corner of Third and Union streets.
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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in January 2005 by Jeffrey L. Elmer. Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.