WILLIAM BROWN.

William Brown, well known in Pecatonica and other sections of Winnebago county, was born in Northampton county. England. May 22, 1831. His father, Richard Brown, worked for an English company for about sixty years and aided in building the Prince Albert canal. He cut big limbs from the trees in the Wittleboro forest about fifty miles from London and they were used in the construction of the canal. The forest was about six miles square and there were about three thou­ sand deer running wild there. These they caught in nets, and many of them were put in Queen's park, in London. In his old age Mr. Brown was a pensioner of the English government, having practically spent his entire life at work on the canal . in one position and another. Both he and his wife lived to be more than eighty years of age.

Their son, William Brown, had little opportunity to attend school and is practically a self educated as well as a self-made man. In his early youth he peddled fruit, worked in a brickyard and was also employed on the Prince Albert canal,, tending locks in the city of London, for the canal extended twelve miles through the city and on to the basin at the opening. His duty was to close and open the gates when the boats came in from the east at floodtide. Mr. Brown also worked at farming in England, but at length becoming convinced that he would have better business opportunities in the new world, he bade adieu .to friends and native land and completed his arrangements to seek a home in America.

Taking passage on a sailing vessel at Liverpool bound for New York city Mr. Brown was six. or seven weeks in crossing the Atlantic. He then went up the Hudson river by boat to Albany and from there made his way into the countrywhere he secured work as a farm hand. One of his early experiences, however, was being poisoned by ivy. Later he went to Utica, New York, by stage and on into the pine woods of Madison county, that state. He worked as a farm hand for thirteen dollars per month through the sum­mer season and in the following winter worked for his board. In the spring he was paid sixteen dollars per month in a hopyard but vet not content with his location, because he believed he could do better elsewhere, he came in the fall of that year to Winnebago county, going first to Rockford and later to Pecatonica, where he secured employment in a butcher shop. Soon afterward he began conducting a meat market of his own and for many years he has been one of the heaviest buyers and shippers of stock at this point—a fact which indicates a consecutive progress and success in his business career. He has bought and sold many hundred acres of land and at the present time he owns sixty-five acres within the city limits of Pecatonica and is also owner of the stockyards at this place.

Mr. Brown was united in marriage here to Miss Matilda Peterson, a native of Sweden. Her father. Charles Magnus Peterson. was born in Sweden, May 13, 1817. and was married in that country. With his wife. Johanna, he came to America in 1854. and they were therefore among the early settlers of the county. The father bought the land that he now owns at Twelve Mile Corner on the state road. Some of the farm has since been laid out in town lots and it was thought that a village would be built thereon, but this hope was not realized. The mother died October 8, 1891.

In the family were six children, who came with their parents to America. Mrs. Matilda Brown. who was born May 28, 1832. died in 1900: Orphia, born May 30, 1877. is the widow of Peter Lindolf, and resides in Minnesota. Emily is the wife of S. A. Johnson, of Rockford. Anna S. is the wife of L. Collins. Augusta Albertina, born November 2, 1847, is now caring for her father. She learned the millinery trade and conducted a store in Rockford for twenty-five years and employed from five to eight girls, during which time she bought most of her goods from D. B. Fisk. of Chicago, and she is now keeping house for her father. John, born August 3. 1850, died in Rockford August 24, 1854. Mr. and Mrs. Brown have become the parents of nine sons and three daughters. Six of the sons are yet living and are actively engaged in business. Charles R., a resident of Clark, Nebraska, is married and has one daughter, Florence. John is the owner of an extensive ranch in Colorado, on which he has about eight hundred head of cattle, mules and horses. He is also married. Fred, living in Clark, Nebraska, married Maud McClain and they have two children, William W. and Edwin. He is now buying and feeding stock and is also conducting a store at Clark. Alfred I., extensively engaged in buying and selling horses and also in merchandising in Clark, Nebraska, married Sophia Morgan, and has one daughter, Mildred. Joseph, engaged in buying, feeding and shipping cattle at Seward, Nebraska, shipped two hundred and fifty head from that place to New York city and thence by the Ohio steamship of the Wilson line. Mr. Wilson also shipped two hundred and twenty-five head at the same time and thus they sent out twenty- eight carloads from Seward on that occasion. William Henry, living at Seward, Nebraska, is conducting a meat market and is feeding cattle and horses. He was interested with his brother, Joseph, in the shipment of cattle to Deadford docks, at London, England.

Mr. Brown of this review went with that shipment of cattle from Seward to New York city, but there took passage on a steamer of the White Star line, from which he landed in Liverpool and thence made his way by train to London. He afterward went to Yadley, where he spent several days with his brothers and friends, returning thence to Deadford docks, where he remained until the cattle shipped by his sons had been sold. He left Seward, May 27, 1903. and returned home on the 2d of July. The daughters of the Brown family are all deceased and the mother has likewise passed away, her birth occurring March 28, 1832, and her death on the 12th of May, 1900. The daughter Hannah, born September 25. 1864, died May 1o, 1886. One son, George W., born March 8, 1866, died on the 29th of April, of that year. George 0., born May 16, 1867, died on the loth of September following. Cora M. and Nora M., twins, were born December 15, 1872, and the former died on the 23d and the latter on the 31st of the same month.

Mr. Brown has never sought or desired public office. His first presidential vote was cast for Abraham Lincoln and he has always supported the candidates whom he has believed best qualified for office.

History of Winnebago County-1877

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