When Philander Caleb Brooks was born in 1858, in Victoria, Knox, Illinois, United States, his father, Caleb Brooks, was 31 and his mother, Lucy May Porter, was 20. He married Susan M. Middleton on 6 July 1879, in Webster, Iowa, United States. They were the parents of at least 2 sons and 6 daughters. He lived in Cedar Township, Calhoun, Iowa, United States in 1880. He died on 21 July 1925, in Major, Oklahoma, United States, at the age of 67, and was buried in Rusk Cemetery, Rusk, Major, Oklahoma, United States.