Brooks County was created by act of the legislature on Dec. 11, 1858, and was named for Preston Smith Brooks, a zealous defender of States Rights. Born in S.C. on Aug. 6, 1819, Brooks served in the Mexican War and in Congress, and he died on June 27, 1857. The first county officers included Ordinary Angus Morrison, Sheriff Enoch Hall Pike, Clerk of Superior and Inferior Courts D.W. McRae, Tax Collector George Alderman, Tax Receiver John Delk, Treasurer William F. Speight, Surveyor Jeremiah Wilson, Coroner John T. Devane, State Senator Shadrack Griffin, and Representative John T. Edmonson.