Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 01.djvu/447

 BROOKS.

BROOKS.

In 1854 he accepted the cliair of literature and mathematics in the Monticello academj-, N. Y., and in the following year the professorshii) of matliematics in the state normal school at Millersville, Pa., a position which he held for eleven years, during which time he developed a new sys- tem of mathematical instruction that gave the school a national reputation. He published a series of mathematical text-books, which became models for many other works upon the subject. In 1866 he was elect- ed president of the school to succeed Prof. James P. Wickersham. As he was thorough- ly acquainted with its workings the promotion was in the line of services. In 1858 the degree of M. A. Avas conferred upon him by Union college. In 1868 he was unanimously elected to the presi- dency of the Pennsylvania state teachers' associ- ation. In 1876 the degree of doctor of i^hilosophy was conferred upon him by three different institu- tions. At the Centennial exposition in Philadel- phia he had charge of the normal department of the Pennsylvania exhibit, and his mathematical works on exhibition were favorably noticed by the French commissioners of education in their report to their government. In 1883 he resigned his position at Millersville and settled in Philadelphia. The following year he was elected president of the National school of oratory, which position he resigned at the end of a year to devote himself to general educational work. He gave courses of lectures in connection with the various sum- mer schools for the education of teachers, and for two years had charge of the normal depart- ment of the Florida Chautauqua. In the spring of 1891 he was elected superintendent of public schools in Philadelphia. In 1898 he was presi- dent of the department of superintendence of the National educational association. His published works include, besides his well-known mathema- tical text-books: "Philosophy of Arithmetic" (1876); "Normal Methods of Teaching" (1879); '' Elocution and Reading " (1882) ; " Mental Science and Culture" (1882); "Plane and Solid Geometry" (1889); "The Story of the Iliad" (1890) ; " The Story of the Odyssey " (1891) ; -'Plane and Spherical Trigonometry " (1891) ; "The Normal Rudiments of Arithmetic " (1895) ; " The Normal Standard Arithmetic" (1895). King Arthur 1899.

BROOKS, ElbridgeStreeter, author, was born in Lowell, Mass., Ajjril 14, 1846; son of Elbridge Gerry and Martha Fowle (Monroe) Brooks. His father was a prominent Universalist minister. He removed to New York city in 1859, and was educated in the public schools and in the College of the city of New York. In 1865 he entered the publishing house of D. Appleton & Co., and was afterwards employed ly Sheldon & Co., Henry Holt & Co., and E. Steiger, until 1880, when he joined the staff of the PiiUuhers' Weekly. Three years later he became literary and dramatic writer on the Brookh'u Times, and from November, 1884, to February, 1887, was associate editor of the St. Nicholas. In Febru- ary, 1887, he removed to Boston, and entered the corporation of D. Lothrop Co., as editor and literary adviser. In 1879 he began to write sketches, stories, verses and plays for the young, which appeared in St. Nicholas, Wide Aicake, Harper's Young People, Golden Days, and the Independent. . A series of histories entitled " The Story of the States " was edited by him, and he is the author of one of that series, " The Story of New York" (1888). In 1887 Tufts college con- ferred upon him the degree of A.M. On Jan. 1, 1892, he became editor-in-chief of Wide Awake, and the other Lothrop magazines. He was made a member of the Authors' club of New York, and achieved especial success in the field of historical studies and stories popularly told. A list of his published volumes include : "Life Work of El- bridge Gerry Brooks" (1881); "Historic Boys; their Endeavors, their Achievements, and their Times" (1885); "In No-Man's Land" (1885); " Chivalric Days, and the Boys and Girls who Helped to Make Them" (1886); "Historic Girls " (1887); " Storied Holidays " (1887) ; " The Story of the American Indian " (1887) ; " The Story of the American Sailor" (1888); "The Story of the American Soldier " (1889) ; " A Son of Issachar " (1890) ; " Historic Happenings, told in Verse and Story " (1893) ; " The True Story of Christopher Columbus " (1893) ; " Heroic Hap- penings told in Ver.se and Story " (1893); " The Century Book for Young Americans " (1894) ; "A Boy of the First Empire" (1895);^ "Great Men's Sons: Who They Were, What They Did, and How They Turned Out " (1895) ; " The Cen- tury Book of Famous Americans " (1896) ; " The- Story of Abraham Lincoln '' (1896), and compiled, from the German, "Animals in Action" (1902). He died in Somerville, Mass.. Jan. 7, 1902.

BROOKS, Erastus, journalist, was born in Portland, Me., Jan. 31, 1815; son of James Brooks, who commanded The Yankee, which sailed from Portland in the war of 1812-'14. He was cliiefly self-educated, save a sliort term at Brown universitv, and a session at HaverhiU