Henry C. CROOKS and owns and operates a farm of one hundred and sixty-seven acres which is pleasantly located on section 24, Lacon township, about a mile and a half north of Lacon. A native of Maryland, he was born in 1845, and is a son of Richard and Maria (SOWERS) CROOKS, who are also natives of that state, the father having been born in 1816 and the mother in 1820. Mr. CROOKS was a blacksmith by trade and devoted his time and attention to that work during the greater part of his life. He died in 1892, having long survived his wife, who passed away in 1866. They were the parents of nine children, the brothers and sisters of our subject being Mrs. Catherine MUSGROVE, who is living in Maryland; George, who was born in 1849 and died in 1886; Winfield, who was born in 1852; Amanda, a resident of Howard county, Maryland; Anna, who is living in the same county; Susanna, who died in 1891; Robert, who died in infancy; and Mrs. Sarah YATER, living in Baltimore, Maryland.
Henry C. CROOKS spent his childhood and youth in the state of his nativity and was twenty-four years of age when he came to Illinois, first locating in Marshall county. He has always followed fanning and worked by the month as a farm hand for two years, when he resolved that his labors should more directly benefit himself and began farming on his own account. He started out with nothing, but instead of capital he possessed energy, determination and resolute purpose and as the result of his careful conduct of his business interests and his unfaltering diligence he is today the owner of one hundred and sixty-seven acres of good land about a mile and a half north of Lacon. His farm is well cultivated and has upon it good buildings and other substantial improvements.
In 1871, in Hopewell township, Marshall county, Mr. CROOKS was married to Miss Delia WESTBROOK, who was born near Rome, in Adams county, Ohio, in 1851, a daughter of J. R. and Elizabeth WESTBROOK. The other members of her parents' family were Albert, who married Sadie COLE and is now engaged in farming in Gentry county, Missouri; Lina, the wife of William HALL, a resident farmer of the same county; Joseph, who married Rose COLLIER and lives in Lincolnville, Marion county, Kansas; Jennie, the wife of James JORDAN, a real-estate dealer at Los Angeles, California; and William, who married Benena COX and is farming at Rush Springs, Indian Territory.
Mrs. CROOKS acquired her education in the schools of Ohio and came with her parents to Illinois in 1865, the family home being established in Woodford county, whence they removed to Marshall county in 1869. Mr. and Mrs. CROOKS have no children of their own, but have an adopted son, Perry, now sixteen years of age. Mrs. CROOKS belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church and Mr. CROOKS is fraternally connected with the Odd Fellows. Since coming to Illinois he has made steady progress in his business career and each forward step has been carefully and thoughtfully made. There have been few mistakes in his business life and on the contrary he has displayed a keen discernment and ready recognition of opportunity whereby he has won a gratifying measure of success.
Extracted July 2011 by Norma Hass from Past and Present of Marshall and Putnam Counties Illinois, 1907.
| Bureau | Putnam | |
| Stark |
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La Salle |
| Peoria | Woodford |
