Major Orthnal Minter Brassfield (1811-1896)

BRASSFIELD

Posted By: Eileen Reed
Date: 2/10/2024 at 13:06:57

The Eagle Grove Eagle
Eagle Grove, Iowa
Wednesday, February 5, 1896

Major Brassfield, Wright county's pioneer, died at his home near Goldfield, Saturday morning at 1:45 o'clock. Mr. Brassfield was 85 years of age at the time of his death. He was born in Tennessee and came to Wright county in 1854 where he has since resided.

The funeral was held in the Goldfield M. E. Church Monday at 11 o'clock, Rev. Lane of the Baptist Church officiating, after which the remains of this hardy old pioneer were laid at rest in beautiful Glenwood Cemetery, over the site of which he, in his younger days, chased many a buffalo and antelope.

There is not a man in Iowa to-day or ever has been, whose life has been more full of trying experiences than Mr. Brassfield's. A frontiersman by birth and natural instincts, of large mind and stalwart frame, he was amply fitted for the life he chose. A man of great honesty, a friend of the weak, his strong arm ever ready to do battle against the cause of arrogance and deceit. A man who chose the companionship of his trusty rifle and hound rather than brush against the mixed elements of village life—he lived alone on the site where he first camped years ago, on a high bank overlooking the picturesque Boone.

There are chapters in the old man's life that were never told, the secrets of which are now locked in his pulseless breast. Be as it may, Mr. Brassfield had a work to preform and he did it well. Peace to his ashes.