ALFRED BROOKS, M. D.
The life of the physician and public-spirited man of affairs, whose name appears above, affords a striking example of well-defined purpose. Dr. Alfred Brooks is also possessed of a purpose to make his ability serve not only his own ends, but the ends of his fellow men as well. He has built up for himself a distinct position in the medical profession, a vocation which requires for its basis sound mentality and intellectual discipline of a high order.
Alfred L. Brooks was born on June 6, 1858, at Vinton, Iowa, the son of Lorenzo and Jane (Peace) Brooks, natives of New York state. Lorenzo Brooks was born in 1821 and died in 1901. He was a farmer by vocation, who came to Iowa in 1854 and settled in Benton county, where he spent the remainder of his life. His wife was born in 1823 and died in 1903. They had five children, two of whom are living. Dr. Alfred L., the subject of this sketch, and C. B., who lives in Iowa City.
Dr. Alfred L. Broooks is self-made and self-educated and deserves a great deal of credit for his achievements in the world. He received his elementary education in the common schools and subsequently, attended the Blairstown Academy. After this he taught school and worked on the farm during vacations, later taking up the study of medicine, and was graduated from Rush Medical College, at Chicago, with the class of 1883. Upon receiving his diploma, Doctor Brooks commenced to practice his profession at Gray, in Audubon county, and was there for five years, at the end of which time, in 1888, he moved to Audubon and has there built up an excellent practice. Doctor Brooks is a member of the Audubon County Medical Society, the Iowa State Medical Society and the American Medical Association, and is active in all of these bodies. He is also a member of the International Association of Railway Surgeons, having been appointed some years ago as surgeon for the Northwestern Railroad.
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Dr. Alfred L. Brooks was married in 1887 to May Langworth, who died in 1898, leaving one child, Lucile, who married Dr. W. E. Kimbell, of Des Moines, Iowa, to which union has been born one son, William Brooks, On June 20, 1901, Doctor Brooks married, secondly, Caldona Young, of Grand Junction, Iowa, to which union two children have been born, Emmett F. and Jane C.
Doctor Brooks is identified with the Republican party and has served as coroner of Audubon county for three terms, his first service in this capacity having begun in the eighties. In 1890, Doctor Brooks was elected to the twenty-fourth Iowa General Assembly and served during the session of 1891, filling places on many important committees and assisting materially in passing much important legislation. Fraternally, Doctor Brooks is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and is a member of the Knights Templar and the Mystic Shrine at Des Moines. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias. Doctor Brooks and family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
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Transcribed from History of Audubon County, Iowa Its People, Industries and Institutions With Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families, by H. F. Andrews, editor, Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & Company, 1915, pp. 336-337.
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