WILLIAM L. BROWN

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         William L. Brown was born in Clark county, Indiana, September 30, 1840, and is a son of Ziba and Jane B. (Coffey) Brown, natives of Ohio and Pennsylvania respectively, both of whom are now deceased. During the dark days of the Civil war the father enlisted in 1863 as a private in the Fifth Iowa Cavalry. He had previously served as a member of the state senate, being elected to that position in 1861, and when Adjutant General Bacon found that he was serving as a private he at once appointed him chaplain of the regiment. In his family were thirteen children. George B., now a resident of Arkansas, served two years in the Civil war, being a member of Company B, Sixth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and was wounded on the first day of the battle of Shiloh. William L., of this review, is the next in order of birth. John L. and Leonidas are both deceased. Adolphus Z., of Fredonia, Kansas, also served two years during the Civil war, being a member of the First Iowa Cavalry, and was wounded . . .

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. . . in battle. America D. is the wife of Caleb Robert Hank, of Thermopolis, Wyoming. Floretta and Isadore P. are both deceased. Cassius M. is a resident of Santa Barbara, California. Lucinda is living in Ogden, Utah. John F. is deceased. Oren Dick was killed by a tree falling upon him. Cemilia Jane is the wife of B. M. Short, of Fredonia, Kansas.

         Mr. Brown was engaged in farming in Clarke county, Iowa, at the outbreak of the Civil war and in response to the call of President Lincoln for soldiers to uphold the flag he enlisted in 1861 in Company B, Sixth Iowa Volunteers, participating in many prominent battles and movements of the war. He was taken prisoner at Corinth, Mississippi, after the battle of Shiloh and was confined for four months in the stockade at Jackson, Mississippi. After being exchanged he returned to his regiment and was wounded, his injuries necessitating his discharge after a service of two years and three months.

         Mr. Brown returned to Clarke county and engaged in farming until 1865, when he moved to Missouri. In 1870 he went to the northwest and engaged extensively in the cattle business in the state of Washington, becoming the owner of three hundred and twenty acres of land. In 1903 he disposed of that property and spent the next seven years in Kansas, at the end of which time he came to Louisa county and was married March 24, 1910, to Mrs. Dunham. He and his stepsons are now in charge of the old family homestead of four hundred acres, which they are cultivating to excellent advantage. Mr. Brown has been three times married. His first wife was Miss Bernice Young and they were married in 1873. On June 10, 1887, he was married to Mrs. Myra Cullen, who died in 1903.

         Politically Mr. Brown has ever since he attained his majority indorsed the principles and candidates of the republican party. He served as postmaster in the state of Washington for seventeen years and also as notary public and justice of the peace, discharging his duties with the same zeal and earnestness that he applies to his own business affairs. A veteran of the Civil war, he holds membership in the Grand Army of the Republic and has many stanch friends among his old comrades. He has experienced many fluctuations in life and has had his share of joys and sorrows but, as was exemplified earlier in this life, when the country was in danger, he has always attempted to perform his duty even in the face of the gravest obstacles. An intelligent, patriotic and public-spirited man, he commands the respect of a wide circle of acquaintances, who admire him for his sterling qualities.