Life Summary: David Winter Brown (1874-1953)

Davd W. Brown - 1895

David Winter Brown was born on October 26, 1874, in Listowel, Perth County, Ontario, Canada. He was the sixth of nine children born to Donald Brown and Sarah Ann Brignall. His sister Harriet, the oldest of the children, was twelve years older than David. The other eight children were all boys, three of whom died when quite young. Five brothers--Peter W., Joseph I., Daniel D., David Winter and John Wesley-- lived to adulthood. 

Why was David named “David Winter”? According to the 1871 Canadian census, a Methodist minister named David Winter, who was 23 years old and of Scottish ancestry, was living in Ops Township of Victoria County, Ontario. Since Donald and Sarah were Methodists, it seems likely that they named David after the local Methodist minister. The Brown family Bible was presented to Donald Brown by “the friends of the Wesleyan Methodist Sabbath School, Oakwood, October 30th, 1873,” a year before David’s birth in Listowel.

At some point after February of 1880, when a son named Alfred was born in Listowel,  the Donald Brown family moved from there to the town of Baltimore in the Dakota Territory. David became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1882. Apparently the family lived in the Dakota Territory until at least 1884. After that, they moved to Cass City, Michigan. A certificate of promotion from Midland Public Schools shows that David completed the eighth grade in Midland in 1891. Probably he lived in Midland with his Uncle Harmon and Aunt Harriet Fairchild while at school. 

In 1892 or 1893, David began working for the Saginaw, Tuscola and Huron Railroad. Originally a narrow gauge railroad, the ST&H ran from Saginaw to Sebewaing and Bay Port on Lake Huron and from Bay Port Junction to Bad Axe. During the period 1892-1900 David was employed as a station agent and telegraph operator, and as a clerk in the audit department. He was the station agent in Fairgrove, in Tuscola County, in 1894-1896. 

On June 24, 1896 David married Lizzie Margaret Whipple in Fairgrove. A newspaper account of the wedding says that the ceremony took place at the home of the bride’s parents. “The rooms were beautifully decorated for the occasion. After the ceremony, sumptious [sic] refreshments were served, to which the assembled guests did ample justice. During the evening the newly wedded pair were serenaded by the Fairgrove band.” The account continues: “Mr. Brown has been the S., T. & H R’y agent at this place for the past two years, and during that time his close attention to business and pleasant manners have gained him many friends.”

On February 10, 1897 David and Lizzie’s first child was born. They named him Harmon Leroy after his uncle, Harmon Leroy Fairchild. David and Lizzie had seven more children: Fred H., born January 8, 1899, Lynn (Lyndon) Joseph, born May 22, 1900, Myrtle Electa, born October 22, 1902, Neil David, born August 27, 1905, Kenneth M., born December 18, 1910, Walter B., born November 27, 1912 and Herbert Henry, born May 19, 1917. Herbert was born when Lizzie was almost 42 years old.

Perhaps because of David’s employment with the ST&H, he and Lizzie moved fairly frequently. The newspaper account of Lizzie’s death says that they lived in Sebewaing and Saginaw before moving to Huron County in 1900. Harmon was born in Sebewaing in 1897. Fred apparently was born in Fairgrove in 1899.

The Wallace Stone Company

Stone train, about 1908

The move to Huron County had to do with changes in the railroad. The ST&H served the Bayport Quarries, which were located near the town of Bay Port, about three miles inland from the shore of Lake Huron’s Wild Fowl Bay. Trains transported crushed rock (limestone) from the quarry to Saginaw. The ST&H was leased to the larger Pere Marquette Railroad on February 1, 1900. David saved a letter dated January 31, 1900, from W. H. Wallace, Superintendent of the ST&H, commending him for giving “thorough and efficient service in all the duties he has been called upon to perform” and recommending him as “competent and reliable.” In May 1900 Lynn was born in Colfax Township, near Bad Axe. In 1900 the Bayport Quarries were incorporated at the Wallace Stone Company with W. H. Wallace as president. Apparently David was hired by Wallace soon thereafter. The 1900 census, recorded on June 24, shows David and his family living in a rented home in Winsor Township, alongside other quarry workers. David’s occupation is listed as “bookkeeper at the quarry.” When Myrtle was born in 1902 the family was still in Winsor Township. The 1925 record of Neil’s marriage says he was born in Manistee, Michigan. So apparently, the family was living there in August of 1905. The Pere Marquette did have a station in Manistee. Pictures from 1907 show the family living in the “Quarry Home” near Bay Port. Both Kenneth and Walter were born in Bay Port. 

Correspondence from 1912 between David and Harmon Fairchild indicates that at that time David and LIzzie were trying purchase a home, apparently in Midland, where Harmon lived. In 1916, when David was 42, the family moved to Midland, Michigan, where David worked as an accountant for Dow Chemical Company until his retirement. (According to the 1930 census, he was on the unemployment schedule at that time.) The 1920  census shows the family living at 608 Carpenter Street West. In 1930 and 1940 the address was 1316 West Carpenter Street. 

David W. Brown, 1950

Old photos show that there were family vacations at Indian Lake in 1931 and at Lake Huron, in 1938. By 1939 several members of the Brown family, including David and Lizzie, had purchased cottages on Lake Huron.

David died on October 6, 1953, in Midland, Michigan. He is buried in the Midland City Cemetery.

New Information from an Old Bible

I have recently been in contact with members of the family of my great-uncle, Neil D. Brown. They are in possession of the Brown family Bible and several documents that were stored in it. They have been kind enough to make photocopies of this material available to me, as well as some other family history.

Probably the most important of the materials I have received are photocopies of several pages of lined paper with penciled notes on them. Since these notes refer to “Hattie’s father” and “Hattie’s mother," they were probably written by the husband of “Hattie” (Harriet) Brown, Harmon Leroy Fairchild. It appears that the notes were written in 1888, since that date appears in them and Sarah (Brignall) Brown’s weight at age 43 is noted. Sarah would have been 43 in 1888.

Harmon Fairchild's notes

Some of the information in the material I have received corroborates what I have learned from other sources. Some of it adds to or corrects what I have written earlier. Some of it appears to be mistaken. I will be editing previous posts to include some of the things I have learned. So far, I have edited the post “The Brignall Family in England and Canada” to include new information about Joseph and Harriet Brignall, the parents of Sarah Ann Brignall.

Baltimore, Pembina Co. Dakota Territory

A significant new piece of information about the family of Donald Brown (1840 - 1918) has to do with their movements from one place to another. I had thought that the family moved directly from Listowel, Ontario, to Cass City, Michigan. But in fact, after living in Listowel, the family first moved to the Dakota Territory. There they lived in or near the town of Baltimore. At first I was unable to locate Baltimore or find any reference to it. However I found an 1886 map of Dakota Territory online. On that map, in the extreme northeast corner of what is now North Dakota, I found Baltimore. The tiny town is now called Glasston, North Dakota, and is located in Pembina County. The dates that the family was there are a bit uncertain. Alfred Hubert Elwood Brown, the youngest of the children of Donald and Sarah Brown, was born in Listowel, Perth County, Ontario on February 26, 1880. (Alfred died on September 6, 1886.) The record of the marriage of Harriet Brown to Harmon Fairchild says that she is a resident of Baltimore, Dakota Territory. Harmon and Harriet were married in Chicago, Illinois, on September 4, 1884. Harmon was from Midland, Michigan, and that is where the couple settled. Apparently the Donald Brown family moved to Michigan soon thereafter. Thus they probably were in the Dakota Territory between 1880 and 1884.

The new information I have received will enrich past posts about the Browns (when I am able to modify them) and future posts as well. My sincere thanks to my relatives in the Neil Brown family!

The Brignall Family in England and Canada

Bringhenale - Domesday Book

What can we learn about the ancestors and family of Sarah Ann Brignall, who married Donald Brown (1840-1918)?

According to the Internet Surname Database, the surname Brignall has its origin in the village of Brignall, located in the North Riding of Yorkshire, England. “The place name is first recorded in the famous Domesday Book of 1086 in the spelling of 'Bringenhale',” a name which may mean “bright place.” According to the same website, Thomas de Briggenhale appeared in the Poll Tax rolls for the county of Yorkshire in 1379.

According to the parish records of Settrington, Yorkshire, England, John Bignal (Brignall) and Isabel Dale were married there on November 29, 1759. Among their children was John, who was born on October 18, 1774 in Settrington. The parish records of Terrington, Yorkshire, show that John married Sarah Pickering on April 16, 1798 in Terrington. They resided in the ancient village of Scagglethorpe in the parish of Settrington and had five children, including Thomas, born on July 7, 1803, and Joseph, born on June 3, 1811. Harmon Fairchild's notes say that Joseph was born in Wintringham, but this appears to be a mistake. The Brignall family moved to Wintringham, but the Settrington parish records show that both Thomas and Joseph were born in Settrington parish.

All Saints Parish Church, Settrington

Thomas Brignall was married to Mary Mook in 1824. They emigrated to Canada in about 1836 and were living there in Pickering Township of Ontario County, Ontario in 1851. Interestingly, the oldest child of Thomas and Mary was Sarah Ann Brignall, born in 1825. The Sarah Ann Brignall (1845-1933) who married Donald Brown (1840-1918) may have been named after her older cousin or after her mother's sister, whose name was also Sarah Ann.

Haigh Clapham and Ann Goodare were married in Mirfield, West Yorkshire, in August of 1800. Haigh is said to have been a merchant. Haigh and Ann had several children including Harriet, who was born in 1818 in Wakefield. On December 28, 1836 in the village of Sherriff Hutton, Joseph Brignall married Harriet Clapham. They may have been servants who worked for the Ingram family there. Harmon Fairchild's notes say that Joseph and Harriet had three sons before having a daughter, Sarah Ann. One of the sons, named Haigh after his grandfather, was christened in Sherriff Hutton on July 22, 1838. Another son, John, was christened on August 1, 1841. All three boys died before 1851. According to the British census of 1851, Joseph Brignell, 39, his wife Harriet, 33, and their daughter Sarah, 6, were living at that time in the village of Earswick in the parish of Huntington, Yorkshire, close to the city of York. (Sarah was born in Earswick.)

As mentioned in an earlier post, Joseph Brignall and his family sailed from Liverpool to New York in the John Bright in May of 1855. According to the ship’s manifest, Joseph and Harriet were both 40 years of age and Sarah A., was 9. The 1861 census for Mariposa Township in Victoria County, Ontario, has Harriet Brignal, 45, who is married and living with Sarah A., who is 16. Also living them is a girl named Ellen Much, who is four years old. (Was Ellen an orphan Harriet took in?) All are listed as belonging to the Church of England. On a separate page of the census there is a Joseph Brignal, 45, a farmer who is married but apparently living by himself. His religion is listed as B. Christian, which stands for “Bible Christian.” The Bible Christian denomination began in England and spread to Canada. It was later absorbed into the Methodist Church of Canada. 

In the 1871 census Joseph, 60, and Harriet, 55, Brignal are listed as living in Fenelon Township, Victoria County. Ellen is now 13. Joseph is a farmer and their religion is “B. Christian.” In the 1881 census Joseph, 67, and Harriet, 65, Brignell are living in the city of Listowel, in Perth County, Ontario. (The Donald Brown family moved to Listowel sometime between 1871 and 1874.) Joseph and Harriet’s religion is “E. Meth.”-- apparently Episcopal Methodist. Joseph’s occupation is “Dealer in s___” (indeciperable). That brings us to the census of 1891. Joseph, 81, and Harriet, 75, now have a 17 year-old adopted daughter named Elizabeth. They are living in Listowel. Their religion is “United Brethren” and Elizabeth’s is “S. Army” (Salvation Army).

The following description of Joseph and Harriet is in Harmon Fairchild's notes of 1888 and probably comes from Sarah (Brignall) Brown: Joseph is "a small man" with a "light complexion" and "blue eyes." His wife is "large weight, 230 pounds."

Harriet Brignall died in Listowel on Monday morning, March 28, 1892. The funeral notice says she was 76, but if the record of her christening and the 1851 census are correct, she was actually three years younger than that. According to the funeral notice, the funeral was to "take place from her late residence, corner of Alma and Reserve Streets." She was to be buried in the New Cemetery. I have not yet learned the details of Joseph's death and burial.