|
a.
|
Note: 1880 census Assyria Twp Barry Co. MI
George BROWN Self S Male W 58 IRE Farmer IRE IRE
Frederick BROWN Son S Male W 11 MI Farmer IRE OH Lucy I. BROWN Dau S Female W 7 MI IRE OH Orley ESKRIDGE Other S Male W 12 IN Farmer --- --- Checkered Cemetery, sec 31, Assyria, Barry Co. Michigan
Brown, Elizabeth R., 30yrs, d.5/11/1861, wf of George
Brown, Sarah A., 28yrs, d.9/9/1860, wf of George
Ellis Cemetery, Assyria Township, Barry County, Michigan
Brown, George, b.no date, d.1892
Brown, Glenn, b.no date, d.11/20/1964
Brown, Lillian M., b.1903, d.9/10/1975
Brown, Sarah, b.no date, d.11/21/1874
Butler, Jemina, b.no date, d.no date
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Title: "Portrait and biographical album of Barry and Eaton counties, Mich., containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county ... [and] the presidents of the United States and governors of the state."
Chicago: Chapman bros, 1891. pages 387-388
GEORGE BROWN, an old settler of Barry County, is one of the foreign-born citizens to whom the States owe much for enterprise in their work and sympathy with the institutions of the land of their adoption. His ancestors for two or three generations were born in Ireland, but in both lines the genealogy is traced back to Scotland. His paternal grandfather, Joseph Brown, was born and died in County Fermanagh, Ireland. His maternal grandfather, Thomas Gilkison, was a merchant in County Tyrone, but spent his last years in County Fermanagh. The parents of our subject were Joseph and Helen (Gilkison) Brown, the latter born in County Tyrone, and the former in County Fermanagh. In 1844 they left the shores of their native isle with the purpose of setting up their home in America, and the wife died during the voyage. The father located in Canada and tilled the soil near Peal, Ontario, for some years. He then came to this State, spent a few years with his son George, and then went to the home of another son in Minnesota and died there. He was a stanch Presbyterian. His family includes nine sons and daughters, George being next to the oldest.
Our subject was born at Five Mile Town, County Fermanagh, Ireland, in February, 1823, and during his boyhood attended the National schools and also became familiar with farm work. In the spring of 1840, when seventeen years old, he took passage from Belfast to Quebec, and was seven weeks crossing the Atlantic. He found employment as a farm hand near London, Canada, then bought seventyfive acres of land at Queen Bush, where he built a log house and made other improvements.
In 1856 he came to Barry County, and making choice of one hundred and sixty acres of wild land in Assyria Township, took up the work of its development with great energy. He labored here eight years, then spent a twelvemonth in Scott County, Minn., after which he returned to Barry County and bought eighty acres on section 7, Assyria Township. This he improved, adding to it one hundred and twenty acres adjoining, and here he has been engaged in general farming and stock-raising with satisfactory results. In the fall of 1890 he sold the last eighty acres of his farm to his son, with the intention of buying another tract in the locality.
The cares and pleasures of life were shared with Mr. Brown for some years by a wife to whom he was married in Canada. She bore the maiden name of Sarah Woods, was a native of England, and died in Barry County. She left three children: William, a miner in Montana; George, a farmer near Reed City, this State; Mary E., wife of Elijah Dickenson, who lives in Canada.
In Battle Creek, in November, 1880, Mr. Brown was again married, his bride being Mrs. Aurelia Hendricks, nee Fox. This lady was born near Richfield Springs, N. Y., June 26, 1840, and spent her childhood there. She then went to Indiana, and two years later came to this State, where she grew to womanhood on a farm, with the school privileges that were to be had in the log schoolhouse in the neighborhood. In 1862 she was married to Samuel Hendricks, the ceremony being performed in Battle Creek. Her husband was a native of New York, and was a tanner and currier by trade, but after his marriage he spent a few years in farming. They then took up their residence in Kalamazoo, and he resumed his trade, which he later carried on in Whitehall and Holland. His health gave way and he was advised to go on a farm, so located in Newaygo County, where he died October 8, 1879. Of the union there were born five children: Frederick, now cabinet-maker in a chair factory in Grand Rapids; Franklin, who is employed in the same shop; Jessie, wife of Orville Smith, a farmer in Assyria Township; Oscar, whose home is in Battle Creek; and Lewis, who lives in Pennfield.
By her present husband Mrs. Brown has had one child, Clifton. The grandfathers of Mrs. Aurelia Brown were Revolutionary soldiers, and both were natives of the Empire State. The maternal ancestor, Elijah Chadwick, was a glass-blower at Schenectady, and later at Green Bush, and Grandfather Fox was a farmer in Otsego County. Her father, Elias Fox, was born in Cortland County, N. Y., and in his early manhood farmed in Otsego County. In 1847 he located in Allen County, Ind., but the fever and ague was so prevalent that within two years he removed his family to this State. He improved two farms in Assyria Township. He was killed by falling timber while working in the woods in 1859, he being then forty-eight years old. Politically he was an ardent Whig. To him and his wife, Susan Chadwick, seven children were born. The mother died at Grand Rapids when sixty-four years old.
Mr. Brown is a believer in and a supporter of the principles of the Republican party. The only official station he has held has been School Director. He and his wife hold to the faith of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and conscientiously order their lives by Christian principles. They are given their due measure of respect by their associates, and while Mr. Brown is commended for his good citizenship, Mrs. Brown is praised for her neatness and capacity as a housekeeper and the refinement of her character.
|
