My Genealogy Hound

WILLIAM BROOKE, a retired farmer, residing at No. 259 Chestnut street, Pottstown, was born in Limerick township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, June 23, 1841. He is the son of Robert and Catharine (Yost) Brooke, both of whom were born in Montgomery county.

Robert Brooke (father) was a teamster for twelve years, driving a six-horse team to Pittsburg. He later bought a farm in Limerick township, where he lived for forty-five years, and where he died, June 11, 1880, at the age of eighty years. His wife died in 1878, at the age of seventy years. She belonged to the German Reformed church. Mr. Brooke was a member of the school board for a number of years. They had twelve children, nine sons and three daughters, seven of whom are now living: Michael; Mary Elizabeth, widow of John A. Loughridge; Martha, wife of Andrew Fenstermacher; William; Charles; Kate, wife of William H. Jones; and Isaac.

Matthew Brooke (grandfather) lived in Montgomery county during the greater part of his life. He was a farmer by occupation. He married Mary Stetler and they had a large family. The Brooke family is of English descent, Matthew Brooke having come to America from England, accompanied by his brother, early in the eighteenth century.

Peter Yost (maternal grandfather) was born in Pennsylvania and lived in Montgomery county most of his life. He owned the mill now known as the Kepler Mill, and carried on the milling business in connection with farming. He married Elizabeth Ziegler and they had a large family. The Yost family is of German origin.

William Brooke has lived in Montgomery county all his life. He was reared on the farm and attended the district schools in his youth and he lived at home until the time of his father’s death. He then abandoned farming and removed to Pottstown in 1882. He built his present home in 1888.

December 31, 1880, William Brooke married Miss Effietta Scholl, daughter of Conrad and Elizabeth (Scholl) Scholl. They had no children. Mrs. Brooke died June 23, 1891, at the age of fifty-eight years. She was a member of the Lutheran church. Her parents lived in Montgomery county all their lives.

August 13, 1862, William Brooke enlisted in Company H, Sixty-eighth Pennsylvania Regiment, commanded by Colonel Lipton. He served one year as a corporal. He was in the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, in the latter of which he was badly wounded in the right arm, May 3, 1863. He was confined in Carver Hospital at Washington for three months, and was mustered out of service on August 13, 1863, and returned to his farm.