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from Past and Present of Mahaska County, Iowa by Manoah Hedge The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. 1906
Frank Brown, living on section 21, Cedar township, where he carries on general farm- ing and stock-raising, was born in this town- ship, October 23, 1862, and is a son of George W. Brown, whose birth occurred in Knox county, Ohio, February 22, 1820. The father was reared in the state of his nativity and there learned and followed the shoemaker's trade. He was married in Ohio to Miss Mary J. Dunmire, also a native of Knox county, and in 1854 they removed from the Buckeye state to Iowa, settling in Fremont, where Mr. Brown opened a shoe shop and carried on his trade. He continued in business there up to the time of his demise, which occurred in 1883. He also bought and owned a farm at Fremont and became one of the substantial residents of the community, his success resulting entirely from his own well directed efforts and enterprise. His wife survives him and now resides in Fremont. Frank Brown was reared in Fremont and assisted in carrying on the old home farm until eighteen years of age. He learned the carpenter's trade, in early life under the direction of Captain Newell, and afterward carried on business along that line for several years. He also farmed and broke prairie and herded sheep on the prairies, driving his flock across the land that he now owns when it was entirely unimproved, not a furrow having been turned thereon. As the years have gone by, however, he has prospered in his undertakings and he now owns and cultivates a valuable farm of two hundred acres, which is equipped with modern conveniences. Mr. Brown was married in Fremont, November 10, 1886, to Miss Morna C. Shaw, a native of this county, who was reared and educated in Oskaloosa and is a daughter of America Shaw, one of the early settlers of Maryland. Following his marriage Mr. Brown located at Beacon, where he rented a farm for a year, after which he removed to Putnam county, Missouri, where he raised one crop upon a rented farm. He then returned to Cedar township, Mahaska county, and purchased a place of eighty acres, going in debt for this. There he followed farming for ten years, within which time he cleared the place of all indebtedness and extended its boundaries until he had one hundred and twenty acres. In 1899 he sold that property and bought one hundred and sixty acres, where he now resides. He located upon this place, has fenced it, tiled it and made improvements. He has also bought forty acres more and now has an extensive and well developed farm. He has here a good house, barns and outbuildings, the latest improved farm machinery and in connection with the tilling of the soil he raises and feeds stock, fattening for the market. He makes a specialty of raising hogs. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Brown have been born eight children, Ollie, Bernice, Forest L., Effie, Floyd D., Georgia, Doris and Howard. In his political views Mr. Brown has been a lifelong democrat, casting his first presidential ballot for Grover Cleveland. He has served on the the school board and the cause of education finds in him a warm and helpful friend but otherwise he has held no public office. His wife is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Fremont. Mr. Brown has always lived in this county save for the brief period spent in Missouri, and his creditable position in agricultural circles is due to his close application and persistency of purpose. He is well known in Fremont and Oskaloosa and throughout Mahaska county as a thrifty, diligent and prosperous farmer and a man of genuine public spirit. Both he and his wife have many friends and have displayed many sterling traits of character which insure them a continuance of the warm regard that is given them.
Past and Present of Mahaska County, Iowa
Mahaska County, Iowa Genealogy