Wyandotte County Biographies
"Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas--Historical and Biographical"
Goodspeed Publishing Co., Chicago, 1890
Wilber J. Brouse, druggist, Armourdale, Kas. This prominent
druggist of Armourdale was born in Pottawatomie County, Kas., on
June 1, 1856, and comes of German ancestors, dating back to the
great-grandfather, who emigrated to the United States at an early
date and settled in Pennsylvania. The father of our subject, J. H.
Brouse, was a native of the Keystone State, and was a successful agriculturist. He emigrated to Ohio, thence to Chicago, Ill., and in
1855 to Manhattan, Kas., where he became the owner of a line tract
of land on which he now resides. He was married to Miss Josephine
Arnold, a native of Ohio, and by this union became the father of six
children, Wilber J., being third in order of birth. The children are
named as follows: Harry A., Alfred H. subject, Frank D., Florence
J. and L. P. Wilber J. Brouse was reared in Manhattan, Kas., and
received a thorough education in Kansas State Agricultural College.
After leaving school he was engaged in Government geological pursuits in scientific resources under the direction of Prof. E. D. Cope, of
Philadelphia, and in this he was engaged for about six years, traveling in different parts of the United States. He then was employed as
a drug clerk in Wyandotte, Kas. , and was there about two years. In
1884 he embarked in the drug business for himself at Armourdale,
where he still carries on business. He has been very successful, and
is one of the most popular and reliable druggists in the city. He carries everything in the drug line, and one has but to visit his place to
see his prosperity. He was married in 1887 to Miss Carrie E. Enochs and two children are the fruits of this union: Maude and Mildred.
Mr. Brouse is a member of the K. of P., also the A. O. U. W. He
has been city clerk of Armourdale, and a member of the Board of Education, of Kansas City.
William T. Brown has been a resident of Wyandotte County Kas.,
since May, 1879, and bis example of earnest and sincere endeavor to
succeed in life is well worthy the imitation of the rising generation.
He is one of the successful grocers of this section, and his establishment is admirably conducted. He was born in Pike County, Ill. , December 28, 1838, to William and Sarah (Quinby) Brown, the former of
whom was born in England, and the latter in Ohio. William Brown
came to America in early manhood, and was married in the Buckeye
State, in 1818, shortly after which he removed to the State of Illinois,
and after a brief residence in Morgan County, settled in Pike County,
where he entered some Government land, and farmed for more than
half a century. He was thoroughly honorable and upright, and had
the respect of the entire community in which he lived. Of nine children born to himself and wife, the subject of this sketch was the
eighth, and five are now living: Henry R., Mary A., Archibald
Quinby, Lucinda, Patience, Collins B., Jacob B., William T. and
Sarah J., of whom Henry, Archibald, Jacob, William and Sarah are
living. The parents of these children died in the same house in
Griggsville, Pike County, Ill., the former in 1879, and the latter in
1881. The subject of this sketch attained manhood in his native
county, and by turns labored on the farm and attended school until
twenty years of age, or in 1859, when he came to Kansas and entered
at the Fort Scott land office, eighty acres of land in Lynn County, which
he proved up and sold at the end of a year for double the sum he had
paid for it. He then returned to his old home in Illinois, and in the
town of New Salem he secured the position of clerk in a grocery store
owned by J. C. Curtis, and in this he remained until May, 1861,
when on the twenty-first of that month he entered the Union army in
Company K, Sixteenth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, in which he
served for three years. He entered as a private, but on July 3, 1861,
he was promoted to sergeant, and in that capacity served until the expiration of his term of service, participating in the battles of Shiloh,
Missionary Ridge, Chattanooga and Resaca, in all of which he discharged his duty in a manner becoming a loyal soldier. He accompanied Sherman on his march to the sea as far as Rome, Ga., by
which time his term of enlistment had expired, and he was sent
back to Chattanooga, where he was honorably discharged June 12,
1864. He then returned to Pike County, Ill. , and spent a short time
with his parents, but in the fall of 1864, went to Alton, Ill., where for
about six months he acted as a prison guard in the State Penitentiary
at that place. Returning to Pike County, he secured a position as
clerk in a dry goods store belonging J. D. Philbrick at Griggsville,
but at the end of six months returned to Alton, where he was employed in a foundry and machine shop until 1869. During this time
he was married, May 21, 1867, to Miss Sarah F. Merrill, who was born
in New York City, July 16, 1844, a daughter of John and Lucy
(Kellogg) Merrill. In 1869 Mr. Brown removed from Alton, Ill., to
Springfield, Mo., where he made his home for ten years, the first four
years being employed in the Springfield Iron Works. There was
manufactured by this establishment the grain thresher known as the
"Star of the West," which Mr. Brown and is brother Collins, had
patented in 1867. In 1872 he turned his attention to the grocery
business, becoming the partner of Peter Imler, but the firm of Brown
& Imler, lasted only one year, Mr. Brown then becoming sole proprietor. He continued that business in Springfield until May, 1879,
when he removed his family and stock of goods to Kansas City, Kas.
and established a grocery on North James Street, but September 12.
1887, he removed to No. 415 La Fayette Avenue, in Edgerton Place,
where he had erected a good business building, 24x50 feet, in August,
1887, and here has conducted a first-class establishment ever since.
He still owns the property on North James Street, and a two story
brick building 24x50 feet, at No. 300, which he erected in 1883. Besides this he has an excellent frame residence at No. 2072 North Fifth
Street, which he had erected in the spring of 1887. His marriage
has resulted in the birth of four children: Charles E. (born November 23, 1868), Fred W. (born November 21, 1870), Martha H. (born
September 23, 1873), and Harry W. (born May 11, 1875). Mr. and
Mrs. Brown are worthy members of the Baptist Church, and also belong to the Equitable Aid Union of America, Mr. Brown being a
member of the G. A. K. He has been a lifelong Republican, and
the first year after the towns of Wyandotte, Armourdale and Kansas
City, Kas., were consolidated, he was a member of the city council.
He is an agreeable and social gentleman, and he and his family are
among the very best citizens of the place.
Joseph C. Brown has been a worthy citizen of Wyandotte County,
Kas., since 1877, and since locating here he has devoted his attention
to farming and small fruit-growing. He has half an acre in Concord grapes, one acre in raspberries, one acre in blackberries, one
acre in strawberries, 400 apple trees, besides numerous peach, plum
and cherry trees, forty acres in corn and besides this is the owner of
thirteen acres in Argentine, known as the Clinton Place, five acres in
Mount Auburn and five acres for his home place. He started out in
life for himself as a farm laborer with no means whatever, and first
rented land, saving enough money to purchase his present place in 1880,
paying for it $30 per acre. He is now worth nearly 150,000 and has a
fine, comfortable residence and admirable out-buildings. He was born
in West Virginia, December, 27, 1845, being the eighth of twelve children born to Joseph and Betsey (Steele) Brown, natives of Virginia,
the former a farmer by occupation. At the age of sixteen years
Joseph C. Brown enlisted in Company C, Sixteenth Regiment of Virginia Cavalry, under Capt. John Hankins, Col. Ferguson's brigade,
and the most of his service was in Virginia, where he with his company did some effective service. He did duty in Pennsylvania also
and although at one time captured and wounded, he managed to
escape. He always kept a good horse, and was looked upon by his
comrades and officers as a trustworthy and faithful soldier. He has
experienced a great many hardships and privations during his career,
but is now in a position to rest from his labors and enjoy the fruit of
his early toil. After the war he returned to his native county, and
there he made his home until his removal to Wyandotte County, Kas.,
in 1877. He was married in 1868, to Miss Mary Barrett, but she
died after three years of married life, and his second union took place
in 1872, the maiden name of his wife being Eveline Ball, a daughter
of Andrew Ball, a native of Russell County, Va. Mrs. Brown was born in
1854, and has borne her husband eight children: Marabel, Sarah,
Joseph, George, Emily, Roy, Lena, and an infant unnamed. Mr.
Brown is a Democrat, and he and Mrs. Brown are members of the
Baptist Church. Socially he belongs to the I. O. O. F., Argentine
Lodge No. 44.
Hon. Erastus D. Browne, farmer, Kansas City, Kas. Just at the
western border of the city limits lies the farm of E. D. Browne, embracing ninety acres in his home place. This tract of land was originally the farm of G. R. Clarke, chief of the Wyandottes, who, dying
left it to his two children, Dick and Millie, and Mr. Browne became
the owner of a portion of it in 1862. The old Indian house was the
only one on it, and but little of the land was cultivated. Clearing
it up, Mr. Browne began to turn his attention to horticulture, at one
time having eight acres in vineyard, besides raising a great many apples, peaches, etc. Clearing and cultivating has developed this farm
into one of the finest in the county. Erastus D. Browne was born on
July 26, 1828, in Granville, Washington County, N. Y., and is the
son of Jonathan and Abbie (Everts) Browne, both natives of the Empire State. Jonathan was a commissioned officer in the War of
1812, enlisting just one month after his marriage, and participated in
the battle of Plattsburg. He served out the term of his enlistment.
His father, Jonathan Browne, and the latter's brother, Solomon, were
soldiers in the Revolutionary War, and were captured. An officer of
the British army commanded Solomon, who was but a boy, to perform
some menial labor, but he refused, and the officer repeated the same
order, at the same time drawing his sword and threatening him with
instant death if another word was returned. Jonathan, knowing his
brother' s courage and independent spirit, thrust a handkerchief in his
mouth, and thus cut off further words. Gen. Browne, of Western
New York, is a brother of Jonathan and Solomon. Jonathan Browne,
the father of our subject, reared a family of eleven children, nine of
whom are living at the present time, and five of whom have lived out
their three-score years and ten. and are still living. These children
have adopted the custom of all meeting and celebrating the seventieth
birthday of each as they attain that age. On February 19, 1890, the
fifth gathering of this kind was celebrated at Evanston, Ill. Charles
E. Browne, an elder brother of E. D. , is ranked as one of the
pioneers of Chicago, having settled in that place fifty-five years
ago. He is now seventy-four years of age, and according to the Chicago Evening Post of May 28, 1890, his eyes are bright, his complexion florid and healthy, his hair and beard but slightly tinged with
gray, his figure erect and commanding, and he looks nearer thirty-five
than seventy- five. Hon. Erastus D. Browne, until seventeen years of
age, enjoyed the advantages of a good common-school education,
studying algebra and natural philosophy, the teacher only being able
to ask the printed questions at the bottom of the page, and trust to
the perspicuity of her pupil to answer correctly. In 1845 Mr. Browne
came west to his two older brothers, Jonathan and Charles, also Fayette S., who were in Milwaukee, and afterward his father came to that
town, and securing a farm near by, resided there until his death, in
1858. After studying law, Erastus was admitted to the bar in
1855, Judge Levi Hubbell presiding, and he then practiced there
with his younger brother, E. L. Browne, until 1858, when he came to
Wyandotte County. He had invested several thousand dollars in
Quindaro property, and here he practiced law three or four years. During the next few years the boom died out, many of the citizens left,
and Mr. Browne turned his attention to fruit-growing for a living.
About 1861 he was made township trustee, and shortly afterward he
served as probate judge. He was unanimously nominated for superintendent of public instruction by the State convention that nominated
Senator Ingalls for lieutenant-governor, but owing to a factional fight,
the entire ticket was beaten. Mr. Browne has the satisfaction of
knowing that but seventeen votes of his own county were cast against
him. He was always a bitter enemy of Jim Lane, and fought him on
all occasions. Though a Union man all the way through, he took no
active part in the war, except to repulse Gen. Price at Blue and Westport. This was the beginning and end of his military career in the
Civil War. He served in Col. Newly' s regiment of Illinois Volunteers, and his first lieutenant was Judge Murry F. Tuley, of Chicago. On August 2, 1879, he was united in marriage to Miss Jennie
Griswold, daughter of Hiram Griswold, from Columbia County, N. Y.,
a prosperous farmer and merchant. Mr. and Mrs. Browne are the
parents of two bright boys, Griswold and Erastus, aged ten and eight
years, respectively. Mr. and Mrs. Browne affiliate with the Presbyterians in religious matters. He joined the Odd Fellows in New York,
but has not attended lodge for a number of years, because it has not
been convenient to do so. In business Mr. Browne has been successful. When first coming to Quindaro he invested his all, several thousand dollars, in town lots there, and was left with town property on
hand, and with the probability that the town had vanished. Getting
enough loans together to purchase a farm, he engaged in the nursery
business, which proved more fortunate than his previous speculation.
His fruit-growing furnished a surplus, and he invested his savings
judiciously, until now he owns property in Kansas City, Wyandotte,
etc. He is also president of the West Side Railroad Company. The
plan was conceived in 1888, and securing a franchise it was incorporated the same year. The franchise changed hands, and under the
new regime the work will be actively pushed to completion. There
will be on the present road three and a half miles, and the powerhouse will be sufficient to run twenty five to twenty-eight acres covered
with timber.
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