Frederick John Brooker, born on September 22, 1873 was the son of John Frederick Brooker and Anne Luckett in Canterbury, Greater Kent, London, England.  At the age of 11 he immigrated to Montrel, Canada with his father aboard the ship Polymesian from Liverpool, England.  They landed at Halifax in 1883, coming into the U.S. in 1884.  He was naturalized in 1915 in White Plains, New York.  He married Eleanor Theresa Scanlon,l born September 11, 1873 in Spring Garden, Dromore, Ireland.  She immigrated to New ork in 1891.  She was in training at Bloomingdale Hospital at the time of the marriage in 1897.  They lived in Brooklyn where Eleanor was born in November 1898.  Charles, born in 1902, died of diptheria at the age of two.  Fred, Jr. was born in 1904, followed by Edwad in 1908, and Albert in 1910. 

Frederick Brooker went to work for the New York Central Railroad and became a conductor.  In 1925 he left his wife and children to live with Mary Short.  They bought property in Armonk, New York, which consisted of a house and barn in 1927  They turned the barn into Brooker's Old Town Tavern.  The bar was a well-known place for many years.  Before he went to live with Mary, Frederick had a popular orchestra.  He played the trombone.  They played at many hotels at Lake Waramaug in 1922.  He retired from the New York Central railroad in 1935.  Eleanor and the children sufered great hardship during The Depression since there was no financial assistance available at that time.  Young Fred and his sister, Eleanor, worked while Edward and Albert were in high school.  Eleanor got married in 1925 and could no longer help her mother.