forward to receive a gift whose name and face were unknown to Mr. Brooks.
The Rev. John Cotton Brooks was born at 11 Chauncey St., Boston, August 29, 1848, a member of the famous Brooks family. He was named for the Rev. John Cotton of England, in whose church he was privileged to speak, when touring that land. He was graduated from Harvard University in 1872, and from the Episcopal Theological Seminary, Philadelphia. Four of his five brothers became clergymen of the Episcopal Church. "He was Rector of St. James' Church at Bristol, Penn. but having contracted malaria there was obliged to resign from the Parish, and at the request of the Bishop of Rhode Island, took charge of St. Gabriel's mission at Providence, which needed building up at that time. He was there a year and set the mission on its feet, while waiting for sufficient strength to take a regular Parish, and from there he accepted a call to Christ Church." When he began his work in Springfield, his health was far from robust, yet outside his church his interests and activities were many and varied. "He was Archdeacon in the undivided Diocese under Bishop Lawrence, and a Dean of Convocation, Deputy to the General Convention, and President of the Standing Committee in the new Diocese." He was, at one time, President of the Union Relief Association, and he was one of the founders of the Springfield Hospital, which was dedicated in 1889. He was the directing genius that reclaimed Merrick Park from undesirable conditions and made of it one of the beauty spots of a fair city, a worthy cause for civic pride.
In his oft-mentioned historical sermon, "Seventy Years," Dr. Slattery speaks thus of the conspicuous achievements of Mr. Brooks, as rector:
". . . John Cotton Brooks . . . . found a brave people facing still a debt of $40,000. For four years there was a struggle to pay the interest and to make ends meet. But ends would not meet, and one night in 1883 the Rector and certain parishioners came together to devise a plan for abolishing a
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