Siblings of David W. Brown: Joseph I. Brown (1868-1925), Daniel D. Brown (1871-1902) and John Wesley Brown (1877-1958)

This post completes my account of the siblings of my great-grandfather, David W. Brown.

Joseph I. Brown was born on May 2, 1868 in Oakwood, Mariposa Township, Victoria County, Ontario. He moved with the family to Listowel and to Baltimore, Dakota Territory. On October 18, 1890, at the age of 22 (the marriage record says 23) Joseph was married to Lulu M. Brebner in the Methodist Episcopal parsonage. Both Joseph and Lulu were residents of Port Austin, Michigan, at that time. Joe’s occupation was “railroad station agent.” (It seems that at one time or another all of the brothers Brown worked for the railroad.)

According to the census of 1900, Joe and Lulu were then living in Sault Ste. Marie, in Chippewa County, in the northern peninsula of Michigan. They had three children, Harriet J., 6, Sarah A., 2 and Donald, six months. Joe’s brother John was also living with them. Joe’s occupation was "railroad train master" (an employee in charge of a railroad yard); John’s was "railroad fireman."

Joe and Lulu's son Donald died in 1902. They had another son named Peter B, who was born in 1903 in Saginaw. The 1920 census has the family living in Saginaw. Peter was then 16. Their daughter Harriet and her husband Earl H. Kelsey were also living with Joe and Lulu. A second daughter, Sarah A., had married a chemist named Carl W. Blenkhorn in 1917.

I have two letters that Joe wrote to his brother David, one written in 1919, the other in 1923. The letterhead shows that Joe was the sales manager for The Wallace Stone Co., Bay Port Stone, Saginaw. This is the same company David W. had worked for. In the letter of 1919, Joe thanks David “for your kind and nicely placed congratulations.” No doubt David had congratulated Joe on the birth of his grandson, Carl W. Blenkhorn, Jr., who was born in 1919.

Joe’s wife Lulu died on March 21, 1922, at the age of 52. Joe himself died on August 13, 1925, at the age of 57. They are both buried in the Midland City Cemetery.

Daniel D. Brown was born on August 15, 1871 in Mariposa Township, Victoria County, Ontario. With the rest of the family he moved to Listowel and then to Baltimore, Dakota Territory. The 1900 census says he was born in September 1871 rather than August, but that appears to be a mistake.

 When the family moved to Michigan, Daniel began to study law. I have a “Certificate of Admission as an Attorney” for Daniel dated August 31, 1894. For a time he and Harmon Fairchild practiced law together, with Daniel serving as a justice of the peace. Daniel was also involved in the fraternal organization known as the Knights of the Maccabees. According Wikipedia, "The group's fraternal aspects took a backseat to providing low-cost insurance to members." The census of 1900 shows that at that time Daniel was working as a lawyer in the town of Onoway, in Presque Isle County, Michigan. 

Daniel died on July 2, 1902 at the early age of 30. Apparently he was visiting his brother Peter in Sumas, Washington, when he died. The funeral was held at the Presbyterian Church in Midland. A newspaper article gives the following account: "The ceremonies were in charge of the Maccabees, who with the Midland Band, more than a hundred in all, marched from the home [of Donald Brown, Daniel's father,] to the church and from the church to the cemetery." The article speaks of "the solemn strains of appropriate music floating upon the air." Daniel was buried in the Midland City Cemetery.

John Wesley Brown

John Wesley Brown was born on August 27, 1877 in the city of Listowel, Perth County, Ontario. He moved with the rest of the family to Baltimore, Dakota Territory in 1880. Two certificates of promotion show that he attended the Port Austin Graded School. As mentioned above, John was a railroad fireman in 1900. In 1902, at the time of Daniel's death, he was living in Akron, Michigan, which was on the Pere Marquette Railroad. By 1918, when his father Donald died, he was living in Midland, Michigan. At some point he started a furniture business in Midland, John Brown Furniture. He never married. According to the census of 1930, John's mother Sarah Brignall Brown was living with him in Midland at that time. In 1940 he was living in the same house, 606 E. Grove Street. His occupation: furniture dealer. 

John died on July 13, 1958 in Midland at the age of 80. He is buried in the Midland City Cemetery.

An ad from a 1942 telephone directory

Siblings of David W. Brown: Peter W. Brown (1864-1942)

I should soon add a post about Lizzie M. Whipple, my great-grandmother and the wife of my great-grandfather, David W. Brown. But before I do, I will finish my account of David’s siblings. My last post was about Harriet Brown, the oldest child of Donald and Sarah Brown. Donald and Sarah had three boys who died in childhood: Donald, John Melville and Alfred Hubert Elwood. Five boys lived to adulthood: Peter W., Joseph I., Daniel D., David Winter and John Wesley. This post summarizes what I know about Peter. The next one will focus on Joseph, Daniel and John.

Peter W. Brown

Peter W. Brown was born on October 21, 1864, in Mariposa Township, Victoria County, Ontario. With the rest of the family, he moved to Listowel, Ontario, in 1873-1874, and then to Baltimore, in the Dakota Territory in 1880. According to a story passed down in the Neil Brown family, the second year the family was in Baltimore, “an unseasonable cold spell froze most of the crops and the family was forced to subsist on potatoes. Tempers ran high: on one occasion Donald unjustly accused his son, Peter, of eating too many potatoes (the hired man had actually raided the stockpile), and Peter left home. He was then sixteen. He travelled west, not communicating until years later when he returned to tell of conversations with Sitting Bull and prospecting for gold in Alaska Territory” (taken from an account written by Neil Brown’s granddaughter).

According to the Canadian census of 1901, Peter was then living in Sumas Municipality between the villages of Abbotsford and Chilliwack, in the New Westminster district of British Columbia, Canada. He was 36 and married. His wife is listed as M. Myrtle. She was born in the United States on August 12, 1875, Her religion is listed as Methodist, while Peter’s is Presbyterian. The census says Peter was educated through grade 8, but did not attend high school. His occupation is listed as “railway agent.”

The next piece of information I have about Peter is a newspaper article describing the funeral of his brother Daniel. According to that article, Peter was then living in “Somas [Sumas], Washington.” Daniel died in Sumas, on July 2, 1902, apparently while visiting Peter. There was a delay in bringing Daniel’s body to Midland, Michigan. Peter traveled by train with the body and arrived in Midland on July 11, 1902.

In 1918, when his father Donald died, Peter was living in Bend, Oregon. I have a letter Peter wrote to his brother David in April of 1929. He was then living in Vancouver, Washington, just across the Columbia River from Portland, Oregon. He says he has heard from “Mother” (Sarah Brignall Brown) that David has been having a lot of expenses because of sickness. So he has sent “a little present although no [sic] much.” He adds that he has been wanting to come home “to see all the folks and mother particularly and Hattie,” but is unable to do so. It appears that he is divorced and complains about his ex-wife “that Mother wished on me” and “those dog eating lawers [lawyers].” “I think so much about Hattie and you and Mother,” he writes. “It seems awful for Hattie to be so sick after setting [sic] in that window all her life earning money and now cannot enjoy it for sickness.”

I have not been able to find Peter in the census records for 1910, 1920 or 1930. In the 1940 census he is listed as living in the State Hotel in Portland. At that time he was 75 years-old. An online index of Michigan death certificates has a record for Peter W. Brown and says he died on May 27, 1942 in Traverse City, Michigan. Strangely, his parents are listed as Joseph Brown and Sarah Brignall and his birth year is given as 1866. In fact Peter died at the age of 77. He is buried in the Midland City Cemetery.