Elbridge S Brooks

The boy life of Napoleon Elbridge S Brooks

Elbridge Streeter Brooks (April 14, 1846-January 7, 1902) was an American author, editor, and critic. He is chiefly remembered as an author of numerous works of fiction and nonfiction for children, much of it on historical or patriotic subjects. His byline for most of his writing was Elbridge S. Brooks. Brooks was born on April 14, 1846 in Lowell, Massachusetts, the son of Universalist minister Elbridge Gerry Brooks and Martha Fowle (Monroe) Brooks. He was raised in Bath, Maine, Lynn, Massachusetts and New York City, where his father served in various churches. He was educated in the public schools of Lynn and New York and entered the Free Academy (later the College of the City of New York) in 1861, which he left during his junior year to seek work. Later, in 1887, he received an A. M. degree from Tufts College. As an adult he lived in Philadelphia and New York City until removing to Somerville, Massachusetts, his mother's home town, in 1887. He married, in 1870, Hannah-Melissa Debaun of New York. They had two daughters, Geraldine and Christine Brooks. Geraldine would also become an author, revising some of her father's works for new editions as well as writing her own works. Brooks died January 7, 1902 in Somerville. He was survived by his wife and daughters, though the younger, Christine, died the next year.