termined man would have become discouraged and have given up, he stuck to his Blackstone and in time was the victor. He is one of the substantial citizens of Ames and is well worthy of the regard and esteem which his fellow townsmen accord him.
ADELBERT J. BROWN.
Adelbert J. Brown, one of the most prominent representatives of mercantile interests in Story county, acts as business manager of the department store of the Lingenfelter Brothers at Maxwell. His birth occurred in Iowa Center, this county, on the 13th of September, 1869, his parents being Peter and Catherine (Shoop) Brown, who are natives of Ohio and' Pennsylvania respectively. They came to Iowa as children with their respective parents, both the Brown and Shoop families settling in Story county some time in the '40s and forming the vanguard of emigration westward. Both families entered land from the government and built homes. The parents of our subject were married in Story county and have resided within its borders continuously since. Peter Brown was successfully engaged in farming in Union township until 1892, when he put aside the active work of the fields, having since lived retired in Maxwell. He is a worthy exemplar of the Masonic fraternity, belonging to Herald Lodge, No. 455. Both he and his wife belong to the Presbyterian church and are well known and highly esteemed throughout the community as people of genuine personal worth.
Adelbert J. Brown spent his youthful days under the parental roof amid the environment of the average farm boy and was educated in the district schools. When about nineteen years of age he left the home farm to embark upon his business career, first going to Cambridge with the intention of learning the drug business. At the end of a year, however, because of the fact that his father had met with an accident, he returned home and for twelve months operated the farm. Coming to Maxwell on the expiration of that period, he was engaged in draying for a short time and then entered a general store. With the exception of one year devoted to the restaurant business at Collins he has since been continuously identified with mercantile interests. In 1905 the Lingenfelter Brothers purchased the general stock of Miller & Miller in Maxwell, and Mr. Brown was placed in charge of the store. At that time the business was conducted in a small corner room and there was about nine thousand dollars' worth of stock. Two years later the trade had grown to such an extent that the need arose for more commodious quarters and the stock was removed to the present place of business, where there are two large storerooms and also basement rooms of the same size, affording altogether ten thousand square feet of floor space. In the short period of five years, under the able management of Mr. Brown, the trade has grown to an extent almost unequaled in a town