I. E. BROWN.

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         One of the citizens of Louisa county who has met with success in agricultural pursuits is I. E. Brown, who owns a fine farm on one hundred and forty acres on section 26, Elliott township. He was born in Ohio on the 22d of November, 1867, and is the youngest son of John and Elizabeth (Bird) Brown, also natives of the Buckeye state, where the mother died when our subject was only four years of age. The family removed from Ohio to Illinois and resided in Sangamon county until 1869. From there they came to Louisa county, settling on a farm, and the father still survives and continues to make his home in this state. In the family were five children, four of whom are living, as follows: . . .

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. . . John W., who is living in Indiana; Charles, who is a resident of Webster City, Iowa; Seymour J., of Fort Dodge, Iowa; Newton J., deceased; and I. E., our subject.

         The first seventeen years of his life, I. E. Brown spent under the parental roof, his time being divided between the work of the fields and the schoolroom, both of which were now and then varied by such diversions as appeal to the youth of the more sparsely settled communities. He began his life as a wage earner in 1884 by accepting a position as a farm hand, continuing to be thus employed for eight years. Ambitious and thrifty, he carefully saved his wages until 1892 he was able to purchase his present homestead. Success has attended the efforts of Mr. Brown, who has brought many improvements in his farm during the period of his residence, having erected some fine buildings and brought the land into such a state of cultivation that abundant harvests are always assured. He is making a specialty of the raising and feeding of hogs, which venture has proven to be very lucrative, in addition to the cultivation of his fields.

         On September 30, 1888, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Brown and Miss Harriet L. Moon, who is a native of Missouri and a daughter of William and Czrena Moon. Her father is deceased but her mother still survives and is now making her home in Kansas. Mr. and Mrs. Brown have five children: Edith M., who is at home; Irene Gertrude, a high school student; and Myrtle Elizabeth, Raymond Elsworth, and Geneva May.

         Mr. Brown, who has served his township in both the capacity of trustee and school director, gives his political support to the candidates of the republican party, as he considers their policy best adapted to protect the interests of the majority. The church affiliation of both himself and family is with the Methodist Episcopal denomination. For the past five years he has been one of the directors of the Farmers’ Mutual Insurance Company of Louisa county, of which he is one of the stockholders, the length of his service attesting his ability as a business man. During their residence in Elliott township, which covers a period of nearly twenty years, both Mr. and Mrs. Brown have made many friends in both their church and the community where they reside.