The late General Henry Brook was the father of Marian Brook and older brother of Agnes van Rhijn and Ada Forte. He inherited his family's estate at a young age upon the early death of his father, Mr. Brook. According to his sisters, he squandered most of the Brook's wealth and sold the family farms. Following his death, he left his daughter little leaving her to move to New York and join his sisters.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
Henry Brook was born to a wealthy family from Doylestown, Pennsylvania as the eldest child and only son of Mr. and Mrs. Brook (née Livingston). His father's family had owned land in Pennsylvania since around the 1730s and his mother's family was well-established in New York.
Henry's father, Mr. Brook, died relatively young and left the family estate to his only son. According to Agnes van Rhijn and Ada Forte, Henry managed the family's wealth poorly leaving his dependent sisters to fend for themselves. This left Agnes with no other alternative than to marry the unpleasant Arnold van Rhijn from New York, as he had already proposed.
Henry joined the United States Military, eventually reaching the rank of general. He also met and married his wife who was reportedly of lower social standing and with whom he later had a daughter, Marian. At some point, Mrs. Henry Brook died when Marian was still young.
Season 1[]
In 1882, Henry dies leaving his only daughter, Marian Brook. Upon legal consultation with Tom Raikes regarding her father's finances, Marian discovers that settling her father's funeral charges and outstanding accounts leaves her with only $30 to support herself. This leads her to write to Henry's estranged sisters in New York, Agnes and Ada. [1]
References[]
- ↑ The Gilded Age, season 1 episode 1: "Never The New"