Brooks, James (Congressman)

Born: 1809-11-10 Portland, Maine

Died: 1873-04-30 Washington, D.C.

James Brooks was a teacher, newspaper correspondent and editor, congressman, and railroad director. He attended public schools in Portland, Maine, before entering the Monmouth Academy in Monmouth, Maine. When he was sixteen years old, he taught school in Lewiston, Maine. He entered Waterville College in Waterville, Maine at age eighteen, graduated in 1832, and then studied law while editing the Portland Advertiser. In 1832, he was also the Advertiser's Washington correspondent. Brooks served as a member of the Maine House of Representatives in 1835. In 1836, he ran an unsuccessful campaign for election to U.S. Congress and moved to New York City, where he started the New York Daily Express, a Whig paper, with his brother Erastus Brooks. James Brooks remained the paper's editor-in-chief throughout his life. In 1842, he married Mary Louisa Randolph, a niece of William Henry Harrison. They had at least two children together. In 1847, he served in the New York State Assembly. He was elected as a Whig to the U.S. House of Representatives, serving in both the Thirty-First and Thirty-Second Congresses (March 1849 - March 1853). When he lost reelection in 1852, Brooks returned to editorial work full time. In 1860, he had real estate valued at $20,000. In 1863, he was elected as a Democrat back to the House, serving the Thirty-Eighth Congress (March 1863 - March 1865). He won election to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, but only served from March 4, 1865 to April 7, 1866, as William E. Dodge contested the election and succeeded him in the Thirty-Ninth Congress. Brooks continued editing the New York Daily Express until his death. He died of a fever contracted while traveling in Asia.

Biographical Directory of the American Congress 1774-1996 (Alexandria, VA: CQ Staff Directories, 1997), 141, 145, 170, 174, 716; Jacob Chapman, A Genealogy of the Folsom Family: John Folsom and his Descendants, 1615-1882 (Concord, NH: Republican Press Association, 1882), 170-71; The Times-Democrat (New Orleans, LA), 16 August 1882, 4:4; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Ward 21, New York, NY, 6; Gravestone, Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, NY.