Brooks, Samuel S.

Born: 1801-1802 New York

Died: 1866-01-11 Quincy, Illinois

Born in Avon, New York, Samuel S. Brooks was a prominent early Illinois newspaper editor, printer, Democrat, and Methodist. He lived and worked as a newspaper editor and publisher in both Cincinnati, Ohio and St. Louis, Missouri before moving to Illinois in 1830. His work took him throughout the state: from 1829-30, he edited the Springfield Illinois Herald; from 1830-31, the Edwardsville Crisis and Illinois Advocate; in 1837, the Jacksonville Gazette and News; from 1839-40, the Alton Commercial Gazette; in 1840, the Springfield Illinois Messenger; from 1844-45, the Springfield Times; from 1850-54, the Lewistown Illinois Public Ledger; and from 1856-58, the Cairo Gazette. In August 1855, President Franklin Pierce appointed him postmaster for Cairo, Illinois. In 1858, President James Buchanan appointed Leonard G. Faxon to replace him as postmaster, which Faxon did in July 1859. Late in life, Brooks worked for the Illinois State Register in Springfield. He was the father of newspaper editor Austin Brooks as well as three other sons, with his wife, Eliza. By 1860, he lived in Peoria and owned $50 in real estate. He was elected clerk of the Adams County Circuit Court in November 1864 and served in this position until his death.

History of Sangamon County, Illinois (Chicago: Inter-State, 1881), 237; John Williston Cook, Educational History of Illinois (Chicago: Henry O. Shepard, 1912), 515; Edmund J. James, A Bibliography of Newspapers Published in Illinois Prior to 1860 (Springfield, IL: Phillips Bros., 1899), 8, 14, 31, 45, 66; Record of Appointment of Postmasters, 1832-1971, NARA Microfilm Publication, M841, 145 rolls, Records of the Post Office Department, RG 28, 1855-1865, 20a:4, National Archives Building, Washington, DC; Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1857 (Washington, DC: A. O. P. Nicholson, 1857), *329; Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1859 (Washington, DC: William A. Harris, 1859), *55; Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:445; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Ward 2, Peoria, Peoria County, IL, 83; The Evening Argus (Rock Island, IL), 16 January 1866, 2:3-4; The Alton Telegraph (Alton, IL), 19 January 1866, 2:2; The Madison County Courier (Edwardsville, IL), 25 January 1866, 4:2; Gravestone, Woodland Cemetery, Quincy, IL.