BROWN, William G. 1850-1930

BROWN, RHODES

Posted By: Tammy (email)
Date: 5/8/2015 at 19:42:25

William G. Brown, Early Resident, Dies On Tuesday

He Resided In Grundy County Continually For Sixty-One Years

Health Failed The Past Three Years

He is the Last of Five Brothers to Answer the Final Summons

William G. Brown died at his home in Grundy Center shortly before noon on Tuesday. Death came as a result of a gradual health decline during the past three years. His condition had at previous times during the past two years been critical but he survived each severe attack until the final summons came.

Mr. Brown came to Grundy county in 1869 and made his home here continually for sixty-one years. He acquired a farm five miles northwest of Grundy Center when he first came here and lived there until he moved to town nine years ago.

Mr. Brown was born in Whiteside county, Ill. He would have been 80 years old had he lived until next Wednesday. When he was two years old the family removed from Illinois to Benton county, Iowa, where they homesteaded on a farm near Mt. Auburn.

Mr. Brown came from a family of five sons and five daughters. He is the last to answer the final summons. The brothers who preceded him were Tom, John, Fred and Robert. Two of his sisters, Mrs. King and Mrs. Sargent, died many years ago. The surviving sisters are Mrs. Margaret Will, Mrs. R. V. Koons and Mrs. E. R. Nelson, all of Grundy Center.

Mr. and Mrs. Brown were married at Eldora in 1885 and moved immediately thereafter to their farm in Colfax township. They have one daughter, Mrs. John Mooty of Adrian, Minn., and the son, Maynard, who resides on the home farm. The wife and children and four grandchildren and the three sisters are the immediate members of the family who survive.

Funeral services will be held in the Methodist church in Grundy Center Friday afternoon with the local pastor, Rev. J. B. Bird, in charge. Burial will be in the Grundy Center cemetery.

--The Grundy Register (Grundy Center, Iowa), 30 October 1930, pg 1

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Funeral Services for W. G. Brown Friday

Mr. Brown Lived in Benton and Grundy Counties for 78 Years

William G. Brown son of William and Mary Brown, was born at Lyndon, Illinois, November 5th, 1850, and departed this life at his home in Grundy Center, Tuesday, October 28, 1930. Had he lived eight days longer, he would have reached his eightieth milestone. His death removed from Grundy county one of its pioneers and most highly respected citizens.

When he was two years old his parents moved to Benton county, Iowa, traveling in a covered wagon drawn by oxen. They crossed the Mississippi in a ferryboat and located five miles northwest of Vinton, near the Cedar river, where there was an abundance of good water, wood, and wild game. The small grain was cut by a cradle and threshed by pulling it on a rail platform and pounding it out with a flail.

Indians were numerous and at the time of the Spirit lake Massacre, great anxiety was felt until news came that the troops had them under control.

Mr. Brown came to Grundy County in 1869 and made his home here continuously for sixty-one years. He broke the prairies of a farm which he acquired five miles northwest of Grundy Center where he resided until he moved to town about nine years ago.

As one who had endured the hardships and privations of a pioneer life in the days of primitive methods, Mr. Brown often expressed the fact that he was glad to have lived to see the time when farming was done largely by machinery and to have seen Grundy Center and Grundy county as a prairie changed to a land of well improved farms and beautiful homes.

On December 16th, 1885, he was united in marriage to Flora M. Rhodes of Eldora, who shared with him the toils of pioneer life and whose constant devotion sustained and cheered him during his years of declining health. To this union were born two children, who with his widow, survive him. A daughter, Genevieve Mooty of Adrian, Minnesota, and a son, Mainard, who resides on the home farm. There are four grandchildren, John Jr. and Melvin Mooty, and Keith and Kenneth Brown. The three sisters who survive are Mrs. Margaret Will, Mrs. R. V. Koons, and Mrs. E. R. Nelsen.

Funeral services were conducted by Rev. J. R. Bird at the M.E. church Friday afternoon at 2 o'clock. A male quartet composed of D. R. Earl, Geo. B. Robinson, Arthur Trevillyan, and Prof. Janssen, accompanied by Mrs. Edna Hayes, furnished the music. Interment in the Beckman cemetery. The pall bearers were L. W. Plager, Arthur Brown, J. Ray King, Robert S. Plager, Glenn Rhodes of Clemons, and Ward Allison of Des Moines.

In the passing of Mr. Brown, Grundy county looses an esteemed citizen, universally loved and respected for his honesty, integrity of character, and spirit of hospitality, and helpfulness.

Those from a distance who attended the funeral were Miss Flora Allison of Sterling, Colorado, Mr. and Mrs. Ward Allison of Des Moines, Mr. and Mrs. Ju Mooty of Adrian, Minnesota, Mrs. Sarah Higginbotham and Mr. H. B. Higgenbotham, Steamboat Rock, Iowa, Mr. and Mrs. Geo. Rhodes of Bangor, Iowa, Mr. and Mrs. Glen Rhodes, Clemons, Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Rhodes, Zearing, Mr. and Mrs. A. B. Rash, New Providence, and Mr. and Mrs. Frank Rhodes of Dows.

--The Grundy Register (Grundy Center, Iowa), 6 November 1930, pg 9