Rachel Ann Brooke (née Michael) was born on March 8, 1850 in what is now Marion County, West Virgina. She was one of at least seven children born to Allen Duckett Brooke and Rachel (Michael) Brooke. Rachel Ann was the youngest of her siblings (one boy and the rest girls) to reach adulthood and marry. It is believed, however, that there were two additional daughters born to Allen and Rachel Brooke that died young, but at the time of this writing, no information about them has been located.

Rachel's father Allen was a merchant in West Virginia at the time she was born; however, he was descended from the distinguished upper-class, aristocratic Brooke family of Prince George's County, Maryland.

Shortly after the Civil War, the Brooke's moved west to Benton, Nemaha County, Nebraska. On December 24, 1868 in Nemaha Rachel married William Gabriel Michael. William and Rachel were 1st cousins -- Rachel Ann's mother was the sister of William's father. William was 24 and Rachel was 28, with the consent of her father, at the time of their marriage.

Rachel and William returned to West Virginia, to his home of Preston County, to raise their children. To this union were born Martha Adda, Mary Louisa, John Allen, Jennettie Ann, Thomas Jefferson, Elsie Agnes, Mary "May" Lucendia, George William, Albert "Bertie" Elsworth, and Earl Ray Michael.

In about 1881, the Michael's moved west to settle land in Kansas. This is where their four youngest children were born. William was a farmer but also worked as a laborer for the Rock Island Railroad. In 1897 he sustained a debilitating spinal injury while loading a railroad car of dirt when an embankment collapsed around him. He required crutches from that point on and his general health declined. In 1903 he fell from a farm wagon and suffered a compound fracture of his leg. He died shortly thereafter from blood poisoning at the age of 60.

In September 1904, Rachel rented her farm in Winfield and moved to Arkansas City, KS to open up a restaurant. Sometime prior to 1910 Rachel sold her property and went to reside with her son, Earl, in Anthony, Kansas. In 1910, in Anthony, Rachel married George Ray Wilson, the widowed father of her son-in-law Edward Edwin Wilson (daughter Elsie Agnes' husband). George's wife Mary had died near New Salem, KS in 1902. Rachel was 60 and George was 62 at the time of this second marriage for each. Shortly after their marriage, Rachel and George moved to Oklahoma to be near her daughter Elsie and his son Ed. They remained married until February 1917 when Rachel was granted a divorce from George in El Reno, OK. Rachel never remarried.

Over the next decade, Rachel divided her time living with her various children and grandchildren. In 1930, she was living with her grandson John David Wilson's young family in Blackwell, OK. It is here that she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Rachel moved back to El Reno, OK to live out her remaining life with her daughter Elsie Agnes, where she died at home on January 26, 1932. Her body was shipped via the Rock Island & Santa Fe railroad to Wichita, accompanied by her niece Flora Mae Brooke Barnes, and she was buried alongside 1st husband William in Graham Cemetery, Winfield, KS.