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.
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| 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.
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.
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