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Robert
Jarvis Brown
submitted by Martha
Thompson
Robert Jarvis Brown was born on May 14, 1876
at Mineral Point, Washington County, Missouri to Alexander Donathan
Brown and Rachel Sophia Boas Brown. The family came
to Texas in a covered wagon in 1880 and settled in Belknap Community in
Young County where they owned and operated a general merchandise store,
and A.D. Brown served as postmaster. A year later,
Rachel Sophia passed away, leaving her husband with a 5-year-old child.
A.D. later remarried, and stories are told that she was abusive
to Robert, so at the age of 15, he left home and traveled to Bellevue,
Clay County, Texas, where he was engaged in general merchandise business
with Sid Webb. Robert attended the former Trinity
University, Waxahachie, Texas, and the Metropolitan Business College in
Fort Worth. He was a successful cattleman for
25 years. During this time he met and married Martha
Elizabeth Thurmond of Rhome, Wise County, Texas on December 5, 1905.
They lived on their ranch in Bellevue, Texas.
In 1910 they moved to Henrietta where he served as
President of the Henrietta Schools Board of Education when the Junior
High School building was erected in 1928. He also
served as President of the Henrietta Chamber of Commerce and owned and
operated a Gulf Service Station in Henrietta for a number of years,
after the cattle business had failed during the Great Depression Era.
He was a member of the Clay County Historical Survey Committee,
the West Side Baptist Church, in Wichita Falls, and served as treasurer
of the Jobe Sunday school Class at the church for many years.
Robert
Jarvis Brown, a pioneer resident of Clay County, passed away on
Wednesday May 9, 1973 in a Wichita Falls nursing home at the age of 96.
The REV. L.J. (Scotty) Newton, pastor of West Side Baptist Church,
conducted his service. Burial was in the Bellevue Cemetery, placed
next to his wife, Martha. Pallbearers included Edgar Boddy,
William Burnside, Bryant Edwards, David Greer, Pete Moore, and Don
Slagle. Honorary pallbearers were the members of the Jobe Sunday
school Class. His advice to young married couples was to: ”Never put
all of your eggs in one basket”.
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