History - Crooks Memorial UMC    Robert Nelson Crooks was born on 16 March 1830 to Abraham and Catherine Crooks, in Greenup County, Kentucky. He was accepted into the Greenup Quarterly Conference of the Methodist Episcopal church in March 1855 and licenced to preach.  Reverend Crooks would move to Virginia and accepted into the Western Virginia Conference in September 1855.

Rev Crooks  Reverend Crooks enlisted on 6 February 1861 in I Company, 31st Virginia Infantry Regiment at Skin Creek, VA.  He participated in campaigns in northwest Virginia, where he received a commission as a 2d Lieutenant.  When the Company was reorganized, Reverend Crooks was reassigned to Chimborazo Hospital, Richmond, VA as a Chaplain.   Reverend Crooks was five feet eight inches in height; erect, square-shouldered, and in his best days was a man of considerable force; complexion rather dark; eyes blue and well set under a broad, shapely forehead; hair and whiskers dark, with a slight sprinkling of gray.  He met Susan Scully of Richmond and they married  on August 6, 1863.  The had eight children, though four died in infancy.

After the war, Reverend Crooks was accepted into the Virginia Conference and assigned to Providence church in York County.  He served this church from 1865-1868 and later 1871-1875.  Reverend Crooks later accepted an assignment in Henrico County, VA from 1879-1882.  During this assignment, he would suffer injuries from a buggy accident that would require him to retire.  He was awarded the West House house in Yorktown, VA.  The house remained in the family until 1952, when it was sold to the National Park Service and renamed the Dudley Digges House.

Yorktown did not have a Methodist Church, but only a Sunday School that met in the school house.  Reverend Eggleston, the minister of York Circuit would come once a month and celebrate communion.  Reverend Crooks joined the Sunday School at Yorktown and in 1891 became the Superintendent.  A more permanent structure was needed and in 1909 a committee was formed to build a chapel in Yorktown.  Thomas Chandler deeded a lot having a frontage of 45 feet on the York-Hampton Road.  The Ladies Aid Society raised $200 from solicitation and the names of contributors were embroidered to squares and assembled into a patch work quilt.  The congregation secured a loan for the remaining balance and Lem Wright was contracted to build the structure.  Bringing materials in from Portsmouth by boat, Wright constructed a single room structure of 28 X 36 feet.  The chapel was completed by the fall of 1909 and furnished with cast off benches from the school house.

West House, home of Rev Crooks

Reverend Jackson was appointed to the York Circuit and in 1919 decided to raise the Yorktown Chapel to the level of a church.  The building was repaired and improved with the addition of a metal roof, pulpit area and a belfrey with a bell.  The bell was purchased through the efforts of the Ladies Aid Society.  Each member was given 10 cents and challenged to increase their holdings.  Some members roasted peanuts, sold sandwiches, cookies, aprons, shined shoes and finally a bell was purchased.  The Quarterly Conference meeting was held in Yorktown on 15 July 1921 and the church was officially recognized as Crooks Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church, in honor of their late superintendent, who passed away in 1916.   Crooks Memorial, Yorktown VA in the early 1960's Crooks Memorial remained a three church charge with Zion and Providence until 1951.  The other church were granted separte ministers and Crooks received a lay minister to preach on a regular basis.  Harry Copley was assigned as a full time minister in 1956, in a two church charge with Warwick Memorial.  The charge was split in 1960 and Reverend Copley moved into a new parsonage, which had been started the previous year.    Four years after becoming a single charge, it quickly became apparent that a new church was need to meet their growing community.  A lot was purchased at 204 Cook Road and construction was begun by W. Colbert at a cost of $85,000.  The church was dedicated on Palm Sunday 1967 by Reverend Jerry Galloway.    The Methodist Episcopal Church and the Evangelical United Brethern churches merged in 1968 to form the United Methodist Church.  Two construction projects have added to the church since the original construction.  A wing was added to the back of the church that included a new kitchen, fellowship hall and classrooms in the 1980's.  Another major construction project was the addition of the new sanctuary, kitchen and reconfiguration of the east wing.  The sanctuary was dedicated in October of 1995 to the present day configuration.     Sources: Sketches and Portraits of the VA Annual Conference - John J. Lafferty 1901 Pictures by permission of Joan Crooks, Ancestry.com Historical Record of Crooks Memorial UMC, Evelyn Zalumas