BROWNELL, J. A.

BROWNELL, ENGLE

Posted By: Jean Kramer (email)
Date: 5/20/2004 at 15:52:56

Biography reproduced from page 582 of Volume II of the History of Kossuth County written by Benjamin F. Reed and published in 1913:

J. A. Brownell, who is senior partner of the J. A. Brownell Shoe Company, Incorporated, was born at Three Rivers, Michigan, October 26, 1862. He was reared at home and acquired his education in the graded schools of Three Rivers. After laying aside his text-books he assisted his father in various duties and was engaged in several capacities until he reached the age of twenty years. At that time he entered the employ of Johnsen Bennett, the leading dry-goods firm at Three Rivers, where he held the position of head clerk and buyer for ten years. Before removing to Petoskey, Michigan, where he maintained headquarters for two years, he was acting as traveling salesman. After he gave up that position he came to Algona and has since been a resident of this city. Soon after his arrival here he established the firm of Brownell & Allred. This was in 1894. Seven years later the partnership changed and the firm name became the J. A. Brownell Shoe Company, Incorporated, with Mr. Brownell as secretary and treasurer. The success and growth of this store is due in a large measure to Mr. Brownell’s exceptional ability, both in choosing and handling stock and also in meeting the demands of the public. His courteous manner and genial disposition win him many friends in the store and also in his social relations. The success which is his is due entirely to his own earnest and persistent endeavor to succeed in a career for which he seems to have been eminently fitted. The mercantile circles of Algona have few companies whose standing is higher and more creditable than that of the J. A. Brownell Shoe Company. Mr. Brownell acts as traveling salesman during a part of the year and he has the state agency for the Lambertville Rubber Company of Lambertville, New Jersey, manufacturers. He also does a wholesale business.

In 1890 Mr. Brownell was married to Miss Eva A. Engle, whose birth occurred in Michigan, and they are the parents of three children, Roy Alfred, Ralph Engle and Clarence John, all of whom reside at home.