Six Brides for Six Brothers

In back:  Hubert, Fred (Jack), Eugene (Gene), Walter; and in front: Herbert, Narcissa, and Joe

I’ve had a difficult time knowing how to write a final post for my grandfather, Walter Brown, with so much left to say; and I also wish I could tell a lengthy story about each of his brothers, as well as information about their descendants; and about all the houses that were built!!  But I guess I will just say a little about each of the brothers today, and perhaps come back to this subject and time period at a later date.

Another subject I had wanted to address was the Old Ranch!  I’ve previously created a number of pages of layouts about the Ranch, which can be found here:
The Old Ranch

If you click on the individual pages, most of them will enlarge, so that you can read about the Old Ranch.

I also created pages about the Canada Trip earlier, and you can see some of those here:
Canada Trip

Before I talk about the six brothers and their wives, I would like to mention their only sister.  Elizabeth “Lizzie” Brown was born in 1884, in Texas, so she was involved in a great deal of moving around.  As the oldest child and only girl, she must have been relied upon a great deal by her mother.  

She was in her late teens when the family made the move to California in 1902; and on December 22, 1903 she was married to David Roy Shrode (he went by “Roy”), who was two years her senior.  Both Lizzie’s husband Roy and her younger brother Walter were carpenters in the Highland Park area of California.  Their parents may have been in Arizona at the time of their marriage, because Lizzie’s brother Walter and their father’s adoptive mother, Elizabeth A. Baker, are named as witnesses on the marriage license:

When Lizzie’s father died less than a year later, November 21, 1904, the obituary indicated that his wife and six sons were there in Phoenix, Arizona, while his daughter was in Los Angeles.  Just seven months later, on June 24, 1905, Lizzie also died of tuberculosis, in Arizona.  At that time her brother Walter was listed as being in Los Angeles, while her other brothers were there in Phoenix with their mother.


The first Brown Brother, Walter, was married to May Ludwig on October 18, 1910, as we learned in the previous post.  (May told me that Walter had been named for a dear friend of his father.)  I would like to introduce the wives of the other brothers at this time:

George Eugene “Gene” Brown, Jr married Hulda Erickson on July 5, 1911.  (Gene was, of course, named for his father.)  They had three sons:  Robert E Brown, George Eugene Brown (III), and John Eric Brown.

I am thankful to Mac Brown (son of Herbert Brown) who provided this photo of Gene and Huldah:

Joseph Baker Brown was married to Leona Esther Seeley on October 30, 1911.  (He was named for his father’s adoptive father, Joseph T Baker.)  They had two children:  Joseph Burton “Burt” Brown, and Loreen Esther Brown.

When we visited their daughter, Loreen McKinnon, she and her son Dan shared photos with us; her niece Janice has also shared photos.  I’m including several photos of Joe, including one of him playing the piano.  The amount of musical talent among the brothers is amazing.

Frederick Morgan Brown (also named for a friend of his father) was married to Lizetta “Peg” Ludwig, May’s sister.  The two couples were very close, and enjoyed many activities together over the years; and their children were double cousins!  Fred served in WW I; this document (front & back) was filled out by May;

and the photo below was taken in France.  Fred is the one in the center of the photo, 3rd from left in the front.

 Fred went by ‘Jack’ in later years.  He is shown on the right in the following photo with his wife Peg, children Bubbles and Jiggs, and his in-laws, Delia and August Ludwig:

Herbert McMurrain Brown (one of the twins, with a middle name that was his mother’s maiden name) was married to Nancy Gookins, whose family members were neighbors to the Browns at the Old Ranch.  He continued to manage that property after it left the family; and he had a special interest in prospecting.  Their son Mac shared this photo of his parents, which was taken on their honeymoon:

Hubert Motley Brown (the other twin, with a middle name that was his maternal grandmother’s maiden name) and his wife, Mildred E Paterson, are featured in the following photos:

The first photo is one I received from cousins who descended from one of Hubert’s mother’s sisters!  They posted the photo on their Facebook site, and I was able to identify it for them, because of having a copy of the second photo.  Hubert was another known musician:

Hubert is in the back, on the left; he played trombone.

Another important part of the Brown brothers history involved construction of the Women’s Twentieth Century Club building in Eagle Rock, California.  I found an application which was made in order to place the building on the National Register of Historic Places; the building was listed there on July 30, 2013.  The 32 page application even included floor plans, which we found interesting, since we were able to tour the building in 2016.   Page 11 of the application is of greatest interest to our family, because it states that the master carpenter for the project was Walter B. Brown!  In September 1914 the contract to build the clubhouse was awarded to Edwards and Wildey Company, with a stipulation that the clubhouse would be erected on or before March 1, 1915.   The photo below was taken on January 8, 1915, when there was a ceremony to lay the cornerstone.  It’s obvious that our master carpenter was hard at work, to meet the deadline . . .

. . . but I wonder what OSHA would have to say about a set-up like this? Apparently all went well, and the caption on the photo below stated the club house was open to the public on February 25, 1915, so they beat the deadline!

Another interesting piece of history for the Brown brothers involves a mining operation in Arizona.  We really know very little about their involvement - only enough to make us want to know more!  In looking up Plomosa Placer Properties, I found that Plomosa, Arizona is adjacent to Quartzite, Yuma County, Arizona.  I also found an issue of Mining and Engineering World (No. 1, Vol. 45, July 1, 1916) which described in detail the technical aspects of dry placer operations at Plomosa, with a plant that was to be in operation about the first of August, 1916.  All we know for sure (from the card above that May filled in) is that Fred was working there when America entered World War I in April 1917, and that Herbert also worked there.  Fred was keeping in touch with his Snelling cousins; they had these photos of that operation, with his handwritten notes on back, and shared them with us:

"this is the gallows frame and hoisting engine which Herbert is in charge.  This is the P.P.P. mine." (Wonder how many Browns are there?)

Herbert at the mine.

"One of the heavy winds blew the house down which covers the 125 h.p. Besmer oil engine and the drag line hoist which I am in charge of at present."

"This was my first job driving this truck, a 'Quad' four wheel drive"

So, apparently riding 'quads' in Arizona is nothing new - Daddy's uncle was doing it over 100 years ago!  Concerning this final photo below, he wrote:  "A desert scene.  There are two mines in this picture.  The object to the left is the gallows frame of the 'King Consolidated'.  This is where Amous Sapp. works.  The Plomosa Placer Properties is at the right."

The first photo at the top of this post was one taken in July of 1918, before Fred (‘Jack’) went to France.  (It is the last photo of the seven of them together, because their mother died before Fred returned from France.)
At about that same time, the photo below was taken of their mother, Narcissa, with several of her Brown grandchildren.  I believe that the photo includes (left to right) these children:  Walt, Lorne, Kay, George, and Robert.

In 1934 Walter and May moved to Oregon; and the following photo was taken on February 17, 1934, prior to their move.  Does anyone know where this photo was taken?  I would love to know that little detail!  Here they all are, with names included:

Although there are still many stories to tell about our grandfathers, my next blog post will move on to sharing things I have learned about their father, George Eugene Brown Sr; I’ll be scrambling now to learn just a little more about his life!    😉