Isaac Horace Brown

1830s–1850s

Born in February or March 1830/31 in Richland, Oswego County, New York, to George Ellison Brown and Apema Seamans. Living with his brother George in Richland in 1850.

1860s

Farming in Linn, Walworth County, Wisconsin, with his mother in 1860. Married Isabella Elizabeth Brown there on 22 December 1861. Went to Iowa by covered wagon in 1863; daughter Annie was born in Jesup, Iowa, in 1864.

1870s

Farmed in Parish, Oswego County, New York, where son Jake was born in 1871; in Illinois by 1876, when son Bert was born. Bought a farm near Saint Paul, Howard County, Nebraska, about 1878.

1880s

A leading farmer and Republican in Saint Paul. Traded the farm in 1884 for a house and livery stable in town. Tried Colorado in 1887 and again from 1889.

1890s–1900s

Lost his son Bert in Colorado in 1890. Ran a livery stable in Saint Paul until it burned in 1893, and traded land and houses in Nebraska and Colorado. Moved to Washington in 1909.

1910s

Kept a small fruit and poultry ranch at Joe's Bay, Puget Sound, where he died on 27 April 1914.

From New York to Nebraska

Isaac Horace Brown was born in Richland, Oswego County, New York, in February or March of 1830 or 1831, the son of George Ellison Brown and Apema Seamans. His brothers and sisters included George, Thomas, Jacob, Lucretia, and Jennie. In 1850 he was living in his brother George's household in Richland, and by 1860 he was farming in Linn, Walworth County, Wisconsin, with his mother living with him. There, on December 22, 1861, he married Isabella Elizabeth Brown.

In June 1863 Isaac and Isabella set out for Iowa by covered wagon, and their daughter Annie (Meghan's 2x-great-grandmother) was born near Jesup in 1864. By 1870 they were back in Oswego County, farming in Parish, where their son Jake was born in 1871; that year the farm produced oats, buckwheat, potatoes, butter, and twenty tons of hay. Their son Bert was born in Cordova, Illinois, in 1876, and two others, Will and Turner, were also counted as part of the family. His granddaughter Fern Grahm said Isaac "had wanderlust and was always on the move westward. Grandfather was always ready to move on, and for some reason seemed to get his way. They traveled in a covered wagon with all of their belongings with them."

Saint Paul, Nebraska

About 1878 Isaac bought a farm on Turkey Creek, four or five miles southwest of Saint Paul, Howard County, Nebraska, and within a few years it was one of the most prominent in the district. In 1880 he had 105 tilled acres, six horses, and dozens of cattle, pigs, and chickens, and in 1881 the local paper called his home "a model residence, half hid in a little forest of cottonwoods." When rumor said the chinch bugs had ruined his wheat, he answered that he still had more than he could take care of. He was active in Republican politics, serving on convention committees and as an election judge and delegate, and he took the Saint Paul paper for thirty-four years running.

In 1884 Isaac rented out the farm and then traded it for a house, stable, and feed store on Howard Avenue in town, where he ran a livery stable with its distinctive checkered front. Restless, he went looking for property in Leadville, Colorado, in 1887 and moved the family to Colorado that March with several other Saint Paul families, only to come back for the winter. From 1889 he was in eastern Colorado again, at Arickaree and Cope, and there his son Bert died in March 1890, at fourteen. Isaac bought, fixed up, rented, and sold one Saint Paul house after another, and in 1895 he took a timber claim of 160 acres in Colorado.

From 1892 he ran a livery and feed stable in Saint Paul until it burned down around midnight on December 9, 1893. The barn held twenty-two horses, a cow, a buggy, a sleigh, and harness; he had insurance on the building but not on the animals or vehicles, and his losses beyond the insurance were put at $700 to $800. He talked of rebuilding in brick, and in 1894 he went into partnership to make sorghum. In February 1897 he was baptized in the river by an elder of the Church of God. In 1898 he considered opening a hotel in Dannebrog. He and Isabella spent the summer of 1900 with their daughter Annie Grahm in Fort Morgan, Colorado, and went back again and again.

Puget Sound

In April 1909, at about seventy-eight, Isaac and Isabella left Saint Paul on what was meant to be a summer trip to Colorado, Denver, and the Pacific coast. Isabella went on alone to Seattle while Isaac returned to Nebraska to sell their house and furniture, and that fall he joined her to make Washington their home. By 1910 they had a four-acre fruit and poultry ranch at Joe's Bay, near Lakebay on Puget Sound, and in 1910 their daughter Annie's family came from Colorado to live near them. Isaac died in his sleep at home on April 27, 1914, at about eighty-three. His body was taken by steamer to Sylvan, on Fox Island, where his funeral was held in the church, and he was buried in the Fox Island Cemetery.