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.