Nicholas Brocke, one of the prominent farmers and fruit-growers of the Potlatch Country, is pleasantly located three and a half miles west of Kendrick. He was born in Michigan, July 24, 1855, a son of John and Christine (Webber) Brocke, both of whom were natives of Germany, whence they crossed the Atlantic to the United States in 1849. . They were then single, their marriage being celebrated in Baltimore, Maryland. Mr. Brocke spent three years in the employ of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company and three years in the Lake Superior copper mines, and then emigrated to Iowa. In 1858 he went to northwestern Nebraska, and in 1877 became a resident of South Dakota, where he industriously and energetically carried on farming until his death, which occurred when he was in his sixty-fifth year. His wife still survives him, and is now in her sixty-eighth year. They had five children, four of whom are living.
The second child, Nicholas Brocke, was reared in his parents’ home, obtained his education in the public schools and accompanied his parents on their various removals until after their arrival in Nebraska. In that state he was married, in 1877, to Miss Annie Geiser, a native of St. Louis, Missouri. They came to Idaho and located on a farm nine miles south of Moscow, Mr. Brocke improving his property and making his home thereon until 1888, when he sold his farm and came to his present location. In June of that year he entered a claim of one hundred and sixty acres, which he has transformed into a very desirable and valuable farm. The buildings upon the place stand as monuments to his enterprise, and the neat appearance of everything indicates the careful supervision of a practical and progressive owner. He has a good residence, large barns and all the appliances for successful farming. He has secured a pumping outfit which conveys water to his residence and all over the farm wherever wanted, and thus the fields are well irrigated. He raises both grain and fruit, and his harvest and fruit crops well attest the Business ability of Mr. Brocke, who is most energetic and resolute in carrying on his work.
Unto our subject and his wife have been born eight children, namely: John, Frank, Ettie, Carrie, Amelia, Joseph, Charles and Nicholas. The parents and children are valued members of the Catholic Church, and Mr. Brocke belongs to the Knights of Pythias fraternity and to the Woodmen of the World. In his political connections he is a stalwart Democrat, and has been school trustee and highway commissioner, filling both offices with ability and fidelity. To all the duties of citizenship he is true, and is ever reliable in all life’s relations. The success he has achieved is the result of his own well directed efforts, and he may justly be called a self-made man.
