THOMPSON L. BROOKHART has been engaged in the practice of law at
Washington, judicial center of Washington County, since 1911, save for the
interval of his World war service, and here he was junior member of the
representative law firm of Brookhart Brothers, in which his coadjutors were his
two brothers, Smith W. and James L., until November 11, 1926, at which time the
firm was dissolved by the death of J. L. Brookhart.
Mr. Brookhart, who is of German Swiss lineage, was born on the parental home
farm near Slema, Van Buren County, Iowa, March 14, 1886, and is a son of Abram
C. Brookhart, who was born in Ohio and there acquired his early education, and
who, in 1850, accompanied his parents on their removal to Missouri, where the
family gained pioneer precedence in Scotland County, and whence he later, went
forth as a loyal young soldier of the Union in the Civil war, he having served
three years as a private in the Seventh Missouri Cavalry and having taken part
in the various engagements in which this command was involved. After the close
of the war he returned to the old home in Scotland County, Missouri, where was
solemnized his marriage to Miss Cynthia A. Wildman, and they came to Iowa
and established their home in Jefferson County, whence they later removed to Van
Buren County. Abram C. Brookhart was a farmer by vocation during virtually his
entire active career, his political allegiance was given to the Republican
party, and after coming to Iowa he served several terms as township trustee. He
was long and actively affiliated with the Grand Army of the Republic. The death
of Mr. Brookhart occurred in 1920, when he was venerable in years, his wife
having passed away in 1916. Of the ten children all survived the honored
parents: Smith W., who was senior member of the law firm of Brookhart
Brothers, of Washington, Iowa; Newton D., of Pocatello, Idaho; James L., of
Washington, Iowa, now deceased; Odes E., of Des Moines, Iowa; Miss Della E., of
Chicago, Illinois; Mrs. Myrtle Poole, of Washington, Iowa; George W., of Nampa,
Idaho; Mrs. May Quinn, of Columbus Junction, Iowa; Miss Lillian E., of
Pocatello, Idaho; Thompson L., immediate subject of this review.Thompson L.
Brookhart passed the period of his childhood and early youth on the old home
farm in Van Buren County, and there he attended the public schools until 1903.
He then came, in 1904, to his present home City of
Washington, and here he was graduated in Washington Academy, as a member of the
class of 1909, he having in the meanwhile served as clerk and student in the
local law office of his brothers, Senator Smith W. Brookhart and James L.
Brookhart, his former law partners. In 1906-7 he taught in the rural schools of
Washington County, and in 1909 he entered the law department of the University
of Iowa, in which institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1911,
his reception of the degree of Bachelor of Laws having forthwith been followed
by his admission to the bar of his native state and by his admission to
partnership in the law business of his brothers at Washington, where he
continued in the active practice of his profession, as junior member of one of
the strongest and most influential law firms in this part of the Hawkeye State.
He is serving as United States referee in bankruptcy for the southern district
of Iowa, and is an active member of the Washington County Bar Association and
the Iowa State Bar Association. While a student in the law college of the
University of Iowa Mr. Brookhart was a member of the Zetagathian Society, and in
1910 was a member of the 'varsity football team. In his junior year at the
university he supplemented his financial resources by serving as janitor of the
law
building. Mr. Brookhart is a stalwart in the ranks of the Republican party
and has been influential in its Iowa councils, though he has manifested no
desire for official preferment. His Masonic affiliations include his membership
in Kaaba Temple of the Mystic Shrine, in the City of Davenport; Des Moines
Consistory No. 3, Des Moines, Iowa, and the York Rite bodies at Washington,
Iowa.
When the nation formally entered the World war Mr. Brookhart was one of the
first Iowa volunteers. May 12, 1917, he enlisted in the United States army, and
he attended the Officers Training Camp at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, where,
August 19, 1917, he received commission as second lieutenant and was assigned to
the Motor Transport Corps. In May, 1918, he was advanced to the rank of first
lieutenant, and in the following July he accompanied his command to France,
where he was stationed at Tours in the office of director of Motor Transport
Corps, under Gen. M. L. Walker. He was thus placed at the time the armistice
brought the war to a close, and at Camp Dodge, Iowa, he received his honorable
discharge in January, 1919. He was one of the organizers and is an honored and
popular member of Leon Beatty Post of the American Legion, in his home city, and
he served two years as a member of the executive committee of the Iowa State
Department of the American Legion. He and his wife are members of the Methodist
Episcopal Church. August 11, 1924, marked the marriage of Mr. Brookhart to Miss
Winifred Virginia Anderson, of Cedar Rapids, and she is the gracious and popular
chatelaine of their pleasant home, at 936 South Iowa Avenue. They have no
children. |
