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Charles Brooker is one of Logan county's agriculturists who is making quite a success of general farming and stock-raising. His well kept farm of three hundred and twenty acres on section 8, Mount Pulaski township, with its good buildings and equipment speaks well for his management and care. He is rated among the progressive men of the county and is one of its representative citizens. His birth occurred on his present homestead, March 24, 1868, his parents being George and Margaret (Weller) Brooker, both esteemed residents of the county for many years.

George Brooker was a native of Germany, as was also his wife, and was four years old when he accompanied his parents to America in 1833, living for ten years in Ohio, where first they settled. It was m that state that he received his education-a very meager one-and there he also obtained his first lessons in farming, which was the occupation he followed during the remainder of his life. At the age of fourteen years he commenced work in a hotel in Springfield, Illinois, where he was employed for about seven years, during which time he accumulated quite a sum of money, purchased land and went to farming again. This was in 1857, and at the outset he began with a very small amount of land. However, he was very successful and at the time of his death owned four hundred and ten acres of land. He was a life-long democrat and one of the most honest and upright of men. His death occurred February 7, 1900, at the age of seventy-one years.

His wife, Margaret (Weller) Brooker, is the second in a family of five children, two of whom were her half-brothers. She came to this country with her parents in 1854, being then twenty years old, and two years later she became the wife of Mr. Brooker. She is yet living, making her home in Mount Pulaski.

Nine children were born to Mr. and Mrs. George Brooker, of whom Charles is the sixth in order of birth. He attended the public schools and worked upon the farm, remaining with his parents until his marriage. Upon the death of his father, he bought the interests of the other heirs in the estate and in addition to owning this place he has one, hundred and fifty acres of irrigated land in New Mexico, which he purchased as an investment.

On February 25, 1902, Charles Brooker and Mrs. Emma Drake were united in marriage. Mrs. Brooker was born September 9, 1872, a daughter of Ellwood and Angeline Hollingsworth, natives of Ohio and Indiana respectively, and the widow of the late Ellsworth Drake, of Ohio. To this union has been born a son, Everett K., whose birth occurred May 19, 1903. Mrs. Brooker has two children by her first husband: Carlton E. Drake, born April 20, 1896, and Lena M., who was born January 16, 1893, and married Clarence Downing, of Logan county, January 19, 1910.

Mr. Brooker is a democrat in politics and has always voted that ticket at national elections. He has served as commissioner of highways and at present is serving a second term as township supervisor. A careful and competent agriculturist, he has made a place for himself among the prosperous men of the township, and is everywhere held in high esteem and his friends are legion.

Source: History of Logan County, Illinois, by Lawrence B. Stringer. Chicago: Pioneer Publishing Company [1911]. pp. 360-61.