HENRY S. BROWN
The death of Henry S. Brown in Humeston in 1911 marked
the passing of one of that sturdy band of pioneers who founded
the civilization of the central west and laid the foundations
of its future development.
At the time of his death Mr. Brown was ninety-three
years of age and had lived for upwards of half a century in
Wayne county, so that he was among its oldest residents,
having been a witness of its growth and advancement through
fifty years of an honorable and worth life. He saw the broad
prairies converted into productive fields and in all of the
work of progress was an active participant, his fine qualities
of mind and character gaining him the unqualified respect and
esteem of his fellowmen.
Henry S. Brown was born in Swedesboro, New Jersey,
November 3, 1818, the same year which marked the birth of
Queen Victoria. His
parents were poor and he had therefore the advantages of only
a common school education and was obliged to lay aside his
books at the age of fourteen in order to begin his
apprenticeship to the blacksmith’s trade. He became very
proficient in this work and followed it successfully for a
number of years, finally establishing a shop of his own at
Shiloh. Before
he left New Jersey, on July 21, 1842, Mr. Brown married Miss
Ruth D. West and after the event continued working at his
trade until 1850, when, attracted by the growing prominence of
the central west as a productive farming region, he and his
young wife began their journey westward to cast their lot in a
country which was then a frontier wilderness. They went to
Buffalo by rail and from there by way of the Great Lakes to
Chicago and thence to Peoria, Illinois. Mr. Brown bought a
farm of eighty acres sixteen miles northwest of Henry, in
Stark county, and began its improvement in connection with his
work as a blacksmith. In
the development of the farm he was ably assisted by his wife,
who proved herself a worthy and courageous helpmate for the
pioneer, and together they carried forward the work of
improving their holdings, becoming finally the possessors of
one of the finest farms in that part of Illinois. In 1870 they sold
this property and moved to Richman township, Wayne county,
Iowa, where Mr. Brown purchased one hundred and sixty acres,
located three miles northwest of Humeston. The years brought
him prosperity as the result of his well directed labor and
each season more abundant harvests rewarded his care and
labor, and at length he retired from active life, moving in
1880 into Humeston, where he established a home and where the
remaining years of his life were spent.
Mr. Brown was particularly happy and fortunate in his
home life, his wife being a true and worthy helpmate during
their sixty-five years of married life. They became the
parents of nine children, four of whom are still living,
namely: Mrs.
John McKinnon, of Viola, Illinois; H. H., who is agent for the
Colorado Springs & Cripple Creek Short Line Railroad, with
headquarters in Colorado Springs; R. A., a farmer residing in
Farson, Wyoming; and Mrs. Alva Humeston, of Humeston. One of the most
interesting events in the career of Mr. and Mrs. Brown was the
celebration in 1892 of their golden wedding anniversary, when
all of their children and grandchildren and their many friends
gathered at their home to congratulate them upon the event and
to wish them many more years of happy life. The companionship
between Mr. and Mrs. Brown was broken by death in 1907, when,
on April 21st of that year, the mother was called
to her final rest. While
preparing breakfast on the 13th of April she was
stricken with apoplexy and fell across Mr. Brown’s lap, pining
him to the chair in such a way that he was unable to move. Miss Hattie
Humeston, a granddaughter, was awakened by Mr. Brown’s cries,
and with the assistance of her mother placed Mrs. Brown in
bed, from which she never again arose, passing away on Sunday,
April 21st, at four o’clock. She was one of the
true pioneer women of the central west and her life was filled
with goodness, love and helpful service. She was an untiring
worker in the cause of temperance, serving as president of the
Women’s Christian Temperance Union for several years and upon
the committee of ladies organized to break up the saloon
business in Humeston. The
sorrow at her death was widespread and sincere, for she had
many friends in Humeston and throughout Wayne county who had
been drawn to her by her kindness, her helpfulness and her
true and worthy life. She
and her husband belonged for many years to the Baptist church,
but after they moved into Humeston joined the Christian
denomination, of which they were active supporters for a
number of years. Mr.
Brown survived his wife until 1911, when he passed away at the
advanced age of ninety-three, his death ending a life
honorable, loyal and upright in its purposes and high and
lofty in its aims and ambitions. A broad sympathy and a true kindness of
heart endeared him to many friends, for whom “Grandpa” Brown
always had a cheery word and a helping hand, and his death was
a great loss to Wayne county in the ranks of her successful
pioneers.