Nathan E. Brownell, 1870-1933

BROWNELL, ARMS, PAINTER

Posted By: Clay County IAGenWeb Coordinator (email)
Date: 4/13/2011 at 14:46:33

Nathan Brownell was born in Lincoln twp, Clay, Ia. He was the son of Joseph and Mary Chase Brownell. He married Nettie James. They were the parents of George, Marcia Mary, and Ensley Barnard Brownell.

Nathan E. Brownell, 63, prominent farmer living south of Spencer and a resident of Clay county for his entire life, was fatally injured about 9:30 o'clock Tuesday night, May 30, when he was struck by a heavy ice box roped to the side of the car of E. L. McMurray of Sioux Rapids as Brownell was walking on highway 71 near the Royal corner. The box struck Brownell full on the chest and crushed him. He died within 20 minutes after being rushed to the Spencer hospital by a passing motorist.

McMurray, who is principal of the Junior high school at Sioux Rapids, was taking the ice box from Spencer to his home and had roped it on the running board on the right side of his car. It projected over the running board, it was stated. Brownell was walkng from his farm home, at the southeast corner of the Royal road and highway 71 where he owns a gasoline filing station located on a corner of his property.

Brownell is believed to have been walking north either on the edge of the paving or near it on the west shoulder of the highway when he was struck. McMurray told Spencer police that he did not see Brownell prior to hearing the impact as the box struck him and this has led to the supposition that probably Brownell was on the shoulder of the road, although close to the edge of the concrete slab.

The ice box was torn from the running board and smashed by the force of the blow. Dr. J. M. Sokol, county coroner, was called at once to the Spencer hospital, but Brownell was unconscious and died in a few moments of shock occasioned by the crushing blow. Dr. Sokol returned a verdict of accidental death after a conference with McMurray and George Brownell, son of the victim, resulted in an inquest not being requested.

Funeral services will be held today (Friday) afternoon, June 2, at two o'clock from the Cobb-Phelps funeral chapel in Spencer with interment to be made in the Dickens cemetery. Rev. Relate of New Providence, pastor of the Friends church in the faith of which Mr. Brownell had been reared, will officiate.

Nathan Elvln Brownell was born on the Brownell homestead at the southeast corner of the Royal road and highway 71, on September 2, 1870. He was the son of Joseph and Mary Brownell, among the earliest settlers in this section of Iowa. He lived on the home farm all of his life and engaged actively in farming, a few years ago adding the operation of a gasoline station to his duties. It was his practice to walk from the farm house to the gas station each night to check up on the business and it was while he was engaged in this routine that he met his death.

Surviving to mourn his passing is a son, George, who farms near Rossie. Mrs. Brownell passed away in 1908. Two sisters and two brothers also survive. They are Mrs. William Arms of Spencer, Mrs. William Painter of Oskaloosa, Edward Brownell of near Des Moines, and Ralph Brownell of Long Beach, California.

Interment in Dickens cemetery
 

Clay Obituaries maintained by Kris Meyer.
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