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| William and Margaret Hendricks Brown |
The
last blog posting stated that William Henry Brown, the youngest son of John and
Ellen Brown at the time of John’s death1,
was living with his Uncle Patrick in McLean County, Illinois by November 1879. (William Henry had likely traveled to
Illinois earlier with Patrick when he returned home after Ellen’s death in
April 1878.) Although he was still a
minor, he was the first of the children to leave the Columbus, Ohio area. (See previous post for John and Ellen) In this post, we will take a closer look at
William Henry’s life. The following
information was submitted by Don, a descendant of William Henry Brown.
William
Henry Brown, son of John Brown and Ellen Burns, was born in 1868 in Columbus,
Franklin, Ohio, USA. There is some
controversy about the date of his birth.
A letter from Bernard
Charles Brown, a grandson to Jack and June Brown,
another grandson, from several years ago, states William Henry was born on April
2, 1864. William’s grave marker and his
obituary show 1864 as his year of birth.
(See image of tombstone)
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| Fairview Cemetery, Stanley, ND |
Page
four of the Brown letter of 19432,
shows a “?” for his Baptism date. Also a
brother, Thomas, is listed in the same letter as being baptized on April 19,
1864 Baptism. (See previous post for John and Peter.) It would be impossible to
have two children born on different days in April 1864. There is no evidence of a Baptism Certificate
for William Henry. Perhaps it was lost, not
registered, or just not done.
His
father, John Brown, was killed in 1873 after being run over by a train he was
hitching a ride on. His mother, Ellen,
died from breast cancer five years later in 1878 leaving him and his siblings
orphans. Patrick Brown, a brother of
John Brown, took William Henry in after Ellen’s death. Patrick who lived in McLean, Illinois had ten
children of his own. He also was raising
two other nephews, James and David Roach, who were children of his sister
Johanna. The other siblings of William
were taken in by other family members.
In
the 1870 Federal Census in Ohio, William Henry was listed as two years old;
and, the 1880 Federal Census in Illinois shows him as eleven years old making
his year of birth 1868. In all other Federal
census records, his age is consistent with the 1870 and 1880 census.
He
may have gone to Nebraska with Patrick in the late 1880’s but there are no
records of that. It is more likely that
he moved to Nobles County, Minnesota about 1888, the same time as Mary Ann
Brown and James Cox, a daughter of Patrick Brown and her husband3. (See
information about Mary Ann and James Cox in the previous post, " . . . and he leaves a large family to mourn his death.")
William Henry is listed in the 1905 Minnesota State Census in Adrian,
Nobles, Minnesota4. The record shows that he had been a resident
of the area for seventeen years which would put his entry into Minnesota about
1888, the same time as the Cox family.
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| 1905 MN state census cropped to show data on two pages. Note highlighted sections (click to enlarge) |
While
in Nobles County, he met and married Margaret Elizabeth Hendricks on January 11,
1893. She was the daughter of James
Hendricks and Margaret Brobender.
Margaret Elizabeth was born on February 22, 1869 in Terre Haute, Vigo,
Indiana. Eight of their ten children
were born in Adrian, Nobles, Minnesota:
John Edward “Ed”, Mary Agnes Henrietta “Ag”, Claude William, Margaret
Ellen “Nellie”, Martha, James Francis “Jimmy”, Cecilia Emily, and Ann Irene.
William
Henry and his growing family, four children by this time, are listed in the
1900 US Census in Olney Township, Nobles County, Minnesota where he was renting
a farm5. Based on neighbors shown on the census record,
the farm was likely located just southeast of the town of Adrian, also in Olney
Township. The 1905 Minnesota State Census shows him
living on Second Ave, in the town of Adrian. (See above.) His occupation is given as “auctioneer,” a vocation he followed the rest
of his life. The 1910 US Census shows
William Henry, again a farmer, in Mountrail County, North Dakota6. This location is in the very northwest
corner of the state. What prompted him
to move to a seemingly out of the way place?
William
Henry was raised by his Uncle Patrick, who himself and his family, seemed to
travel great distances to find better opportunities. Perhaps it was this environment that
encouraged William Henry to seek alternative locations. Events in Minnesota may have also affected
his decision to move to North Dakota. As
we saw earlier, William Henry was listed as a farmer in the 1900 US
Census. In July, 1903, a devastating
hail storm hit the area where his farm was located. A long wet season followed the storm with
about six inches of rain in six hours falling on September 11th alone,
completely wiping out the crops for that year.
Several wet years in succession ruined many farmers7. Perhaps this affected
his decision to re-locate to North Dakota where he remained the rest of his
life.
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| 1914 Land patent sections 29 and 32 Algers Township, Mountrail County, ND (click to enlarge) |
Land
was available for homesteading when William Henry moved to North Dakota, and,
he took advantage of this. (Another reason
that drew him to the state?) Bureau of
Land Management records show that he had two plots of land in sections 29 and
32 of Alger Township, Mountrail, North Dakota, just southwest of Stanley, the
county seat for Mountrail County. The
first was forty acres purchased in 1910 as a “cash entry.” The other property was an “original entry”
homestead finalized in 1914 consisting of 160 acres8.
William
Henry appears to have been one of the leaders of the Mountrail area. The site chosen for the new county courthouse
in Mountrail County was a topic for much discussion in 1913. William Henry attended a “mass meeting” to
consider its location. He was mentioned
in an article in The Stanley Sun in September 1913 under the heading “MASS
MEETING ON COURT HOUSE SITE9.” He certainly gave his opinion on the
issue. Included in the article was the
following. “ . . . The meeting was
address by several of the Stanley people and W. H. Brown, who lives south of
Ross, and who is the leading auctioneer of the county, spoke on the
subject. He stated that he had possibly
talked to more farmers in the county than any other man in the county, as that
was his business, and that he believed that 95 percent of the farmers were in
favor of the half block donated by the city three years ago . . ." William Henry was elected to the board of
directors of the newly formed North Dakota Auctioneers Association in February
1920. The same month, he was also named
director from Mountrail County for the Mouse River Loop Pure Bred Livestock
Association, another newly formed group.
In February 1922, he was named a director to the Northwestern North
Dakota Potato Growers’ Association. In
March 1919, William Henry entered a “short-horn” Bull in the prestigious Ward
County Breeders sale10;
and, he was listed as the auctioneer for several livestock auctions held in the
area.
By
1920, William Henry was living in Stanley City, Mountrail, North Dakota and
again listed his occupation in the census of that year11 as an auctioneer.
The two youngest children of William and
Margaret, Lucille and William
Joseph “Pat”, born in Ross and Stanley, were included in this census. During
late May, 1921, the house they were living in was struck by lightning, but, no
one was injured. (See newsclipping right.)
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| The Ward County Independent, May 26, 1921 |
While William Henry continued to maintain his
residence in Stanley throughout the rest of his life, he also maintained the
homestead, and, according to another grandson, always had livestock on the
property, cattle and horses, which the family bought and sold as part of their auction
and cattle business. His oldest son, John
Edward “Ed’, was also an auctioneer. His
youngest son, William Joseph “Pat”, was a cattle buyer, buying and selling as a
family business. Pat was named “Cattle
Buyer of the Year” for a number of years.
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| Advertisement appearing in the Ward County Independent on October 2, 1919 |
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| Obituary for William Henry Brown, 1947 (click to enlarge) |
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| Obituary for Margaret Hendricks Brown, 1935 (click to enlarge) |
In
the next post, we will continue looking at the children of John and Ellen Burns
Brown.
1. From the last
post, we learned that Ellen was pregnant with their last child at the time of
John’s tragic death. Peter Brown was
born posthumously on October 14, 1873.
He was baptized December 6, 1873 at St. Patrick’s Church in Columbus,
Ohio. Catholic Record Society, Baptismal Register, St. Patrick’s
Catholic Church, Columbus, Ohio
2. Brown, David,
Kewanee, IL, 11 May 1943, Letter to Esther _______, Columbus, OH. Records from the Catholic Record Society also
confirm Thomas’ baptismal date as May 7, 1864.
3. The Petition
for Letters of Administration in the estate file for Patrick Brown identifies
three children living in Adrian, Minnesota at the time of his death in 1891;
Mary Ann Cox, age 34, James E. Brown, age 25, and Hannah K. Brown, age 21. Since the original research on Patrick’s
children was done, I have discovered a marriage record for James E. Brown in
Box Butte County, Nebraska to Jennie Phillips. Witnesses were David Brown (a brother of
James or perhaps a cousin, a son of John Brown and Ellen Burns) and John
Phillips. The record is dated August 26,
1888 and definitely shows his parents as Patrick Brown and Ann Burns. Alliance in Box Butte County, Nebraska was
identified in the same Petition for Letters of Administration as the residence
of Emily Julia Brown Betebenner, another daughter of Patrick Brown. The original research showed that James E.
Brown married Jennie Barney about
1893. Perhaps this was an earlier
marriage for James E. Brown and James had moved back to Minnesota by 1891, the
time of his father’s death. Additional
research is needed to follow up on this new information.
4. Minnesota
State Census, 1905, database with images, William H Brown, Adrian, Nobles,
Minnesota; citing p. 169, line 39, State Library and Records Service, St. Paul;
FHL microfilm 9328,798. https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:SP3V-7FS : 15
November 2014.
5. United States
Census, 1900, database with images, , William Brown, Olney & Westside
Townships Adrian village, Nobles, Minnesota, United States; (ED) 221, sheet 5A,
family 71, NARA microbilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives
and Records Administration, 1972): FHL microfilm 1,240,778. FamilySearch
(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M93Q-L MR)
6. United States
Census, 1910, database with images, William H Brown, Alger, Mountrail, North
Dakota, Unites States; ED 106, sheet 12B, family 291, NARA microfilm
publication Y624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records
Administration, 1982) roll 1143; FHL microfilm 1,375,156. FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MLGF-188)
7. Rose, Arthur
P, An Illustrated History of Nobles
County, Minnesota, Northern History Publishing Company, Worthington,
Minnesota, 1908, p. 120
8. Bureau of
Land Management, “Land Patent Search,” digital images, General Land Office
Records (http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch : accessed
23 March 2017), William H. Brown (Mountrail County, North Dakota), homestead
patent no. 06864 and no. 05119
9. Mountrail
County Historical Society, Tales of
Mighty Mountrail , A History of Mountrail County, North Dakota, Taylor
Publishing Company, Dallas, Texas, 1979, p. 14.
The rest of the quote is as follows, “. . . He also stated that the
farmers were under the impression that the matter had long ago been settled and
that they were satisfied. He further
stated that he did not believe that the taxpayers wanted their money spent at
this time on unnecessary grounds. He
urged the people of Stanley to get together on the question and stated that the
way things were going now, was disgusting to the farmers and would work to the
detriment of Stanley. . .”
10. Information
concerning his membership, and leadership, in many of the associations
concerned with farming and raising livestock in the area was taken from The Ward County Independent, a newspaper
located in Minot, Ward County, North Dakota, just east of Mountrail County
where William Henry lived. Online
information, through the Library of Congress’ Chronicling America site, is only available until 1922. I’m sure
that a review of The Stanley Sun (sadly
not available online) in Stanley, Mountrail County, and The Ward County Independent through 1947, the year of William’s
death, would reveal additional information about his social and business
dealings in the community.
11. United States
Census, 1920, database with images, William H Brown, Stanley, Mountrail, North
Dakota, United States; ED 163, sheet 1B, line 64, family 15, NARA microfilm
publication Y625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records
Administration, 1992), roll 1337; FHL microfilm 1,821,337. FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MC82-8DJ)
