Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1886-12-24
OBTTUARY
GEORGE JONES BROOKS.
uis Sudden Death on Thursday Morn
ing---Sketch Of his Life, his Husine-s
Career and Personal Characteristic.

hmEs=sNAeNgn OF MS NahNfs MS hNHhmfHH
Career md Personal characteristics.
The Brattleboro community has probably
never been 40 rudely and painfully shocked
as on Thursday morning by the announce
ment Of the sudden death Of Mr. George
J. Brooks. Mr.. Brooks's prominence as
citizen and the high esteem in which he was
held would in any case have made his death
a cause Of public grief, but when to this
was added the intimate personal feeling
which has been aroused by his act Of be
nefcence and goodwill 10 the town-an
act which the whole community watched
with unfegned interest aud pleasure as it
reached the eve Of frution-his death with
out an instants warning affected every in
dividual as that of no other man could have
done.
Barring a slight ndisposition which he
suffered two weeks ago, and from which he |
had fully recovered, Mr. Brooks had been |
in his usual health and actively engaged in |
watching and furthering the work Of com
pletion Of the new library building. He |
arose at the usual hour on Thursday morn |
ing and as he sat at breakfast chatted with |
Col Goodhue about the building and other
matters Of common interest As he finish
ed breakfast he said he was going TO complete
the work which he had begun the day be
fore, Of measuring and marking off the
portion Of land which he meant 10 give TO
the town with the new building He asked
Col. Goodhue for the loan of pair Of rub
Der boots 10 protect his feet from the snow
while thus engaged, put on the boots in the
private office and went Immediately out
He spoke pleasantly to a friend as he step
ped upon the pavement, making some iok
ing allusion 10 his unusual foot wear, and
turned up street toward the library build
A. tbis NJ. ut,I Mr. " |
Hawley were driving past and were on the
point Of bidding him good morning when
they noticed peculiar look ON his face and
instantly he sank down and settled slowly
over until his head lay upon the pavement.
Mr. Hawley sprang 10 his assistance and
with the help Of others carried him into the
house and laid him upon the pnrter's bed.
Medical help was close at hand but life was
extinct. There was a single gasp for breath
and all was over. Death had come instan
taneously by seizure Of apopexy.
Mr.. Brooks was born on the 2Sth Of Au-
| gust, 1918, in Cambridge, Mass, where his
father, the late Capt William S. Brooks
was then a resident He was the fourth in
family Of eight children, and when he-
had reached the age Of three years his
father removed tn Chesterfield, n. H.,
where his boyhood was spent He attend
ed the district school at Factory Village,
aud his education was continued at Ches-
terrified academy. W4ilpole academy, and
the well-known school Of J W Fairfield at
/ Hudson, n. Y. His first experience in
business was obtained in Brattleboro in the
store Of Gardner G. Hall and Hall & Towns
lev IN 1899 he went 10 Hillsboro, ILL.,. OPP
posite St Louis, and engaged in practical
farming on a somewhat extended scale
Leaving there some twelve years later he
went TO Alabama, where his brother in law,
Mr.. n. +. Cabot, was then located, think
ing to engage in business in that locality,
but at the urgent solicitation of his brother,
Horace Brooks. he returned to New York
and almost Immediately left for San Fran
cisco 10 engage in the paper trade there,
being accompanied on the journey by Mr..
Cabot This was in May, 1850 the year
following the breaking out Of the gold ex-
element of Forty -nine At that time the
firm Of Persse q Brooks of New York was
one Of the largest in the paper trade in this
country. Besides their large wholesale
house in that city they were extensive man
ufacturers Of printing papers and were the
builders and owners Of the first great paper
mill erected at Windsor Locks, Conn. The
idea was for the San Francisco house to be
established as the selling agency on the Pa
ciiic coast for the New York house and it
was this idea which Mr. George J. Brook
carried into practical effect with remarka
2 bic success under the style Of George }
: Brooks & Co.
p When Mr. Brooks reached Frisco tn,
Z city" was a strange collection Of tents anc
all sorts of makeshifts for a shelter. tn,
r like Of which had probably never been seeI
I before and has never been equaled since
Hotels stores and private dwellings alik'
I consisted of four poles planted in the groun,
T. with strips of cotton cloth stretched arount
u them for walls and more cotton cloth fo
d roofs 1t was in such "A place that Mr.
e Brooks set up his store and here he contin
y ued until the building which the New Yorl
e house had shipped in sections around Cap
+ Horn arrived and was set up. 1t was 10
Gated on Clay street and in this building o
=. eastern make all the large business Of tn
# firm was transacted Ii would be easy T.
F. fill columns with descriptions of the scene
i and incidents of those early days-of tn
h strange and rough, and often lawless con
n Enumeration of people who made up the in
e FAINT city Of the days when Wells, Farg
e x Co. : famous express was the main SQUIRE
= Of supplies when New York daily paper
a were cheap at dollar a single copy. am
is when ON steamer days marking the al
', rival of letters from home, a line, often
N mile long Of men Of every sort and cond
ton in life, waited and struggled by turn
~ Ia get their chance at the delivery, and som,
.e times two days elapsed before the last wa
"a served. or, mayhap, sent away disappoini
q ed and heartsick because no letter came.
~ The firm Of George j. Brooks & Co. gree
= steadily in strength and Importance.
~, had the most abundant and reliable base
supply Of any in the trade, and its methot
were those of the strictest integrity, whic
~ commanded and held the confidence of ever
- patron. Mr. Brooks used to relate with
sly twinkle of satisfaction how once, 500
~, after he began business in San Francis,
III and when things were in their most unce
" tain and unsettled condition, for fu
ne month he held in his store every sheet
~ paper that was for sale on the coast. II
su own stock was scant, and newspaper IN,
As were put To every conceivable shift tn issl
ls their papers and keep along MY sal
u were small for that month he said in r
az lating the incident they only amount'
ne to 10000, and my profits were only $1,000
re With this single exception, however,
rs said no money was ever made for his fir
IN by corners or booms or speculative metho
IT. of any sort Twice disastrous fires destro
ie- ed the stores and stocks of goods Of 9th
'es houses, which temporarily enhanced {
value of his own stock but the great 81
vi cess of the firm was won and its mon
US made by following strict, inheXible, ever
he day business methods. The firm CONTROL
k; the trade of the whole Pacific coast while
st remained in business, fixed the prices of /
. on pers of all grades, and gave small count
m nance to any concern which attempted
ing break the market or send things lifting
ent After two years Mr. Brooks was joined
Is4 the business by his brother, Mr.. f.
ply Brooks, whose death took place year a
zen last February. As the country grew tn,
s.r' business increased, and their papers we
Of sold in Arizona, Oregon, Washington 7,
ritory, Vancouver Island and the Sandwi
Islands. Their supplies were shipped fr'
I'll New York around Cape Horn, and in {
ree way it happened that a rule the firm h
I'd, stock of the value of SlOO, 900 TO S20O,t
tile always ahoat. Twice after the war bro
rise out they had cargoes of paper destroyed
in rebel cruisers, and once an invoice was L
ms, by the wreck of the vessel Just as it v
no entering the Golden Gate.
Sc, In 1852 Mr.. Brooks sold his interest
Ugh the concern TO Mr. Cabot, and permanen
up retired from trade in the enjoyment
bly, an ample fortune. During these tive
af- years he had seen the city of tents a
ght shanties grow To one of the first commert
Ugh Importance, and he was himself larg
our identified with its solid business and so,
low interests. He was one of the original me
will beers of the Unitarian church of San FIR
lily cisco, and from the first his ample me-
cut We're used without stint in promoting
In III baulg ,ras 10