Mahlon Brown

ARMSTRONG, BELLIS, BOARDMAN, BOWLSBY, BROWN, FELBY, WEST

Posted By: Judy Wight Branson (email)
Date: 8/7/2004 at 18:25:40

Mahlon Brown is a representative agriculturist and respected citizen of Madison county, owning a well improved farm of one hundred and twenty acres on section 30, Scott township. His birth occurred in Belmont county, Ohio, on the 8th of August, 1847, his parents being Austin G. and Pleasant (West) Brown, the former a native of Vermont and the latter of Ohio, in which state their marriage was celebrated. Mrs. Brown inherited a farm from her father and on this they lived until called to their final rest, the mother passing away during the early boyhood of our subject. The property was subsequently sold and divided among the children, a record of whom follows: John joined the Fifteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry at the time of the Civil war and at the end of three years' service reenlisted. He was wounded in the leg and honorably discharged, but on leaving the hospital to come home he was seized with pneumonia and died. His remains were interred at Cleveland, Ohio. Enos, who also served in the Civil war as a member of the One Hundred and Twenty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, came to Madison county in 1867 and here passed away. Margaret Ann, who was her father's housekeeper after her mother's death and who reared her brother Mahlon, is now the widow of Jehu Moore and makes her home in Winterset. Martha, twin sister of Enos, gave her hand in marriage to Enoch Felby and in an early day removed to O'Brien county, Iowa, where her demise occurred. Harriet died when a young lady. Annis passed away in childhood. By his second wife Austin G. Brown had three sons and a daughter, namely: William, Alvin, Osborn and Emma, all of whom are deceased.

Mahlon Brown left home when nineteen years of age and began working as a farm hand, giving his father seventy-five dollars in lieu of his services until he attained his majority. He came to Iowa in 1867, traveling by train to Monroe, by stage to Des Moines and on to Winterset and reaching Madison county on the 4th of March with but seventy-five cents in his pocket. That same night he encountered some relatives and friends at a spelling school. He secured employment as a farm hand at a wage of twenty dollars per month and was thus engaged for nine months, losing less than two days of the entire period. Subsequently he bought a tract of ninety-one acres in Adams county, Iowa, and there carried on farming for ten years, on the expiration of which period he returned to Madison county, purchasing his present place of one hundred and twenty acres in Scott township. The property was fenced but otherwise entirely unimproved. He has erected substantial and commodious buildings thereon and now has a valuable and productive farm which yields him a gratifying annual income, although the work of the fields devolves upon his son Frank, for his health has become impaired.

In 1869, in Madison county, Mr. Brown was united in marriage to Miss Alice Bellis, who was born in Indiana on the 8th of September, 1850, her parents being James and Rachel (Bordman) Bellis, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Indiana. Mr. Bellis passed away in Missouri and his widow after-ward came to this county, here spending the remainder of her life. Mr. and Mrs. Brown have seven children, as follows: William E., residing in New Mexico, who is married and has three children; Emma, the wife of C. C. Bowlsby, of Des Moines, by whom she has three children; Elva, who is the wife of H. C. Frederickson, of Minnesota, and has one child; Carrie May, who gave her hand in marriage to P. J. Brusnahan, of Des Moines, and has one child; Mamie, the wife of Walter Holmes of this county, by whom she has two children; Frank, operating his father's farm, who wedded Miss Ada Armstrong and has one child; and Nellie, wife of Cecil Sanders of Sandborn, Indiana.

In politics Mr. Brown has always been a stanch republican, casting his first presidential ballot for General Grant. The period of his residence in this part of the state covers nearly a half century and he has long been numbered among the esteemed and representative citizens of his community.

Taken from the book, “The History of Madison County, Iowa, 1915”