My Genealogy Hound

GEORGE G. BROWN, by trade a ship-carpenter, but now devoting himself to the culture of the soil, and one of the prominent general agriculturists and stock-raisers of Weesaw Township, Berrien County, Mich., owns a valuable homestead of one hundred and twenty acres, finely improved and located three and a-half miles northeast of Three Oaks. Mr. Brown is a native of the German Empire and was born in Hesse-Cassel July 17, 1839. His parents, Andrew and Mary (Weifenbach) Brown, were both born in the Fatherland and were descendants of a long line of sturdy ancestry, who from remote generations had been true and faithful subjects of the reigning powers. The honest, hard-working and intelligent father and mother, however, appreciated the advantages offered by a Republican Government, and when our subject was only about six years of age, with their family and a few treasured possessions, emigrated to America. After a long voyage, in 1846, they landed safely in New York and thence proceeded without loss of time to Lorain County, Ohio.

The following year the father died, but his widow continued to make Ohio her home until May, 1893, when she too passed away at an advanced age, having outlived her husband forty-seven years. Eight children, five sons and three daughters, were born unto the parents, and two sons and one daughter yet survive. Our subject was the fourth child of the family and was but a little lad when he accompanied his parents to Ohio. He received a limited education in Lorain County, and remained there until he had reached mature age. He was obliged to assist in the support of the mother and younger children, and it was not until 1868 that he decided to remove to Michigan. He settled at that time in Berrien County, and bought forty acres of land, a part of the farm he now owns. With the exception of a small clearing of five acres the purchase was covered with a heavy growth of timber. To the original forty our subject has since added eighty acres, now all brought up to a high state of cultivation and containing substantial buildings. As Mr. Brown has gained his comfortable home and pleasant surroundings entirely through his self-reliant efforts and unremitting industry, the farm is indeed a monument to his success.

In the State of Ohio, in 1861, were united in marriage George G. Brown and Miss Elizabeth Clapp, who, with her parents, emigrated from Germany to Ohio in a very early day. Our subject and his estimable wife have six children all living. Mary was the eldest born; Louisa resides in Niles and is the wife of Joseph Etzzorn; Willie is the eldest son; Anna is the wife of Jacob Vite; and Frank and Elmer complete the list of brothers and sisters. Mr. Brown worked at his trade of a ship-carpenter ten years in Ohio, Lorain County, and since that time has successfully devoted his entire attention to farming duties. He and his good wife are valued members of the Evangelical Church and are liberal givers in behalf of religious work. Our subject takes a deep interest in the enterprises of the township and is a member of the Farmers’ Mutual Fire Insurance Co. Politically, a Republican, he cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln. Interested in educational advancement, Mr. Brown has aided and encouraged his sons and daughters to fit themselves well for the battle of life and, winning his way upward, has the satisfaction of seeing his family occupying positions of usefulness and commanding the respect of all who know them.