Biography of R.N. Crooks, pages 859 / 860.  History of De Kalb County, 
Indiana.  Inter-State Publishing Company, Chicago, 1885.

R.N. Crooks, farmer and stock-raiser, Union township, was born in Trumbull 
County, Ohio, near Warren, Dec. 9, 1830, a son of William and Jane (Norris) 
Crooks, and grandson of Henry Crooks, a native of Scotland, who emigrated to 
America in and early day.  William Crooks was one of the first settlers of 
Trumbull, County, and was married there to Jane Norris, and early settler of 
the county, of Irish descent.  Eleven of their thirteen children grew to 
maturity.  Mr. Crooks, Sr., was a very energetic man and an active worker in 
the interest of the county.  He was a very large man, he and two brother 
being known as the “great race.”  When our subject was two years of age his 
father died, and the next year he went with his mother to Cuyahoga County, 
Ohio, and was here reared and educated, and there his mother died in July, 
1850.  He was married in 1850 to Melvina Reynolds, who only lived three 
months and two days after her marriage.  In November, 1852, he married 
Mary Ann Burdick, Of the sixteen children born to them thirteen are 
living---Martha L., wife of Christopher Newcomer; Linna, wife of B.F. 
Frets; Hattie M., wife of George Crowel; Lucy H.,  Mary Rebecca, Eudora, 
Laura, Robert W., Frederick E., Victor H., Burton B., Clyde E. and James.  
Mr. Crooks came to De Kalb County in July, 1859, and purchased a farm on 
section 11, Union Township.  He owns a fine farm of 120 acres, valued at 
$75 an acre.  In politics Mr. Crooks was originally a Republican, but 
later has affiliated with the Greenback party.  He has held the office of 
Township Trustee six years, and was also elected Sheriff on the Greenback 
ticket.  He is a member of Waterloo Lodge, No. 307, F. & A.M., and has 
passed all the chairs in the Odd Fellows’ order; is also a member of the 
Knights of Honor.

Submitted by:
Arlene Goodwin
Auburn, Indiana
Agoodwin@ctlnet.com