Biography of Robert W. Crooks, pages 536/537/538/539. History of DeKalb County, Indiana; B. F. Bowen & Company, Inc., Indianapolis, 1914. Robert W. Crooks The record of Mr. Crooks is that of a man who by his own unaided efforts worked his way from a modest beginning to a position of comparative affluence and influence in the business world. His life has been one of unceasing industry and perseverance and the honorable methods, which he followed while actively engage in business won for him the unbounded confidence of his fellow citizens of Waterloo. Robert W. Crooks was born on December 9, 1830, in Trumbull county, Ohio, and is the son of William and Jane (Norris) Crooks. William Crooks was born probably in Scotland and his parents lived in Glasgow. He came to this country in childhood and was reared to manhood probably in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, where he married Jane Norris. Her father, James Norris, was a native of Ireland. William and Jane Crooks moved to Trumbull county, Ohio, being the first family to locate in what afterwards became the county seat. To them were born eleven children, of whom five became residents of DeKalb county, Indiana, two of them, William and Matthew, coming here in April 1836, and locating on the St. Joe river, there miles below Newville. They had come by way of Defiance, Ohio, with a brother-in-law, Mr. Hull and several other families, and for about fourteen miles of the distance they had to literally cut their way through the woods. They entered land first three miles below Newville. In September, 1836, their mother came here with two other sons, Robert M. and Thomas. The latter was married to Eliza Davis. A year and a half later the widow and he two sons just named returned to Ohio, locating about ten miles west of Cleveland. Robert M., at the early age of nine years, went on the lake and for about thirteen years he traveled about a great deal, laboring in various capacities on the lake and canal, and then in 1859 came to DeKalb county and made his permanent home here. He bought a farm on Cedar creek, one and one-half south miles of Waterloo, where he has since made his home. He owned at one time one hundred and sixty acres of land, but sold forty acres of that, which has since been bought by his son. In the fall of 1894 Mr. Crooks and John Lightner engaged in the furniture business in Waterloo. About a year later Mr. Lightner sold his interest to Mr. Crooks and went to California, Mr. Crooks continuing the business alone until 1900, when his grandson, D.E. Newcomer, came into the business as a partner. In March, 1903 the store was burned, but a new building was immediately erected and business resumed. In 1909 Mr. Crooks sold his remaining interest in the business to his son-in-law, Christian Newcomer, and finally retired from business, residing now at his comfortable home at Auburn, where he enjoys the quiet and rest which his strenuous years of activity so richly entitle him to. In 1852 Robert M. Crooks married Mary A. Burdick, who was born in Onondaga county, New York, the daughter of Samuel and Nancy (Spencer) Burdick, They moved to Cuyahoga county, Ohio, about 1833, where Mary A. Burdick lived until her marriage. Her mother died at Waterloo and was taken back by Mr. Crooks and buried at her former Ohio home. Thirteen children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Crooks, namely: Martha, the wife of Christian Newcomer, of Waterloo; Mamie, the wife of Franklin B. Fretz, well known citizen of Auburn, but finally moved to Rochester, where she died; Hattie is the wife of George Crowell, of Wilmington township, this county; Mary Rebecca is the wife of Philip Seiberts of Auburn; Lucy is the wife of John Carper, who lives a half mile east of Waterloo; Eudora is the wife of Isaac McDaniel and lives in Wilmington township; Laura Belle is the wife of Henry Ginerich, of Waterloo; Robert Wilson, who is engaged in the restaurant business at Akron, Ohio, married Annie Houshalter; Frederick, who lives on a farm about three miles south of Garrett, this county, married Dora Stafford, and they have three children, two boys and a girl; Victor, who lives on a part of his father’s farm and owns forty acres on the south edge of Grant township, married Henrietta Haynes and they have four children, two boys and two girls; Delbert, who is on a part of his father’s farm south of Waterloo, married Maude Soules and the have two sons; James Burdick is a railroad man and lives in Waterloo; he married Blanche Morgan and they have two sons; Clyde died at the age of thirteen years. The mother of these children died in 1864, and in 1866 Mr. Crooks married Mrs. Queen C. (Atkinson) Crooks, the widow of the subject’s deceased brother, William Crooks. She died in September, 1900, and on June 8, 1902, Mr. Crooks married Mrs. Ellen (Hammond) Denison, who was born in Ohio, and came her in infancy with her parents, Daniel and Sophia (Wolfe) Hammond. They came from Columbiana county, Ohio, settling in Franklin township, this county, but later moved to Kosciusko county, Indiana, where they lived until the father’s death, and the mother spent her last years with her daughter, Mrs. Crooks. Mrs. Crooks was but a child of six years when her father died and the mother being left with a large family of small children, she was reared by strangers in Kosciusko county. In 1867 she became the wife of George Washington Frick, of Grant township, this county, who was born in Stark county, Ohio, on April 25, 1837, the son of George and Elizabeth (Harold) Frick. When he was about eight years old the family settled about two miles east of Waterloo, this county, where the father had entered a tract of government land and there they made their permanent home. George Washington Frick was one of seven children and lived on the home place until his marriage in 1867. At that time he owned forty acres of land, which he traded in on an eighty-acre tract, giving five hundred dollars cash to balance the trade and later bought twenty-two and one-half acres more. Mr. and Mrs. Frick were the parents of five children, namely: Rosa Jane, born April 19, 1868, is the wife of Riley Moore and lives on a farm in Franklin township, this county; Charles Herbert, born September 24, 1869, lives on the home place two miles southeast of Waterloo; Lucy Bell became the wife of Joseph Morr of Garrett, this county; Adella May, born July 6, 1875, is the wife of William Powell, and lives in Wilmington township, near Butler; Earl W. lives on the home place. George Washington Frick died on April 12, 1891, in the fifty-fourth year of his age. He was an industrious man of regular and steady habits and enjoyed to a notable degree the respect of all who knew him. He and his wife both belonged to the Methodist Episcopal church. After her husband’s death Mrs. Frick lived on the farm until her marriage to Mr. Crooks, whose farm was separated from hers by a roadway and they had long been acquainted prior to their marriage. Mr. Crooks had for many years been actively interested in the success of the community in which he lives and has been a potential factor in its advancements and improvement. He was township trustee of Union township for fourteen years and as ditch viewer he and the surveyor laid out over two-thousand miles of ditch, mostly in DeKalb county, which contributed greatly to the improvement of the county, not only materially, but in the advancement of health conditions and the abolishment of malaria. Fraternally, Mr. Crooks is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, being the only surviving charter member of the subordinate lodge of the latter order of Waterloo. He was also an active member of the Grange when it was in existence here. Mr. Crook’s high personal qualities have gained for him a wide acquaintance throughout the county, among which are many and loyal friends. Quiet and unassuming in his disposition, he is at the same time genial and companionable and is a welcome member of any circle, which he chooses to enter. Submitted by: Arlene Goodwin Auburn, Indiana Agoodwin@ctlnet.com