Transcribed from "An Illustrated History of The Big Bend Country, embracing
Lincoln, Douglas, Adams and Franklin counties, State of Washington",
published by Western Historical Publishing Co., 1904.
JUDGE JACKSON BROCK, veteran
soldier, pedagogue, attorney and farmer, is, in truth, a self-made man.
Born in Scioto county, Ohio, October 19, 1836, he was the son of John and
Sarah (Shoemaker) Brock.
He was brought up in Gallia county, Ohio,
and educated in the common schools and in the Gallia academy. After
graduation from the last named institution he taught school for six years
in Ohio, then entered upon the study of law. His studies were interrupted
however, by the outbreak of hostilities between the North and the South,
and in June, 1862, he enlisted in Company E, Eighty-sixth Ohio Infantry,
served his time and reenlisted in 1864. He served principally in
Virginia, and was engaged in many skirmishes but was never wounded.
He was a corporal of the One Hundred and Forty-first Ohio when he received
his final honorable discharge. After leaving the army he returned
to his home and again took up the work of teaching and the study of the
law, and was admitted to the bar in 1865. In the fall of the same
year he went to Brunswick, Missouri, where he taught the first free school
ever opened there. The following year he was elected on the Republican
ticket to the office of superintendent of schools of his adopted county,
Chariton, and at the expiration of his term was elected to the common pleas
judgeship of the same county, he also having practiced law there.
In 1878 he removed to Armourdale, Kansas, where he was principal of the
schools, and in 1886 came to Spokane, Washington, filed and made proof
upon a preemption. He came to Davenport in 1888, entered his present
homestead, and followed the practice of his profession. In November
of the same year he was elected judge of the probate court of Lincoln,
and in 1894 was elected prosecuting attorney and reelected in 1896, after
which he retired from the law to apply himself to his agricultural interests.
He has a handsome home on sixteen hundred and fifty acres of land close
to the town of Davenport, all of which is under fence and in a high state
of cultivation and improvement.
During his lifetime Judge Brock has been unusually
prominent and active in fraternity circles, being a member of the A. F.
&. A. M., of the I. 0. 0. F., of Brunswick, Missouri, and of the Philo
Buckman Post, G. A. R. of Sprague, Washington. He is a thorough believer
in the Scriptures, including both the Old and New Testaments. Although
he has never attached himself to any denomination, still he believes every
man should worship God according to the dictates of his conscience.
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