Beaufort C. Brown

BEAUFORT C. BROWN is another one of the industrious and successful factors in Ness County's farming affairs. He has spent all his life in Western Kansas, and has been identified with the Bazine locality as a farmer and rancher since 1907.

He was born March 7, 1877, in Russell County, Kansas. His family for several generations lived in Ohio. The ancestry goes back to his great-grandfather, Amos Brown, who was a Scotchman, and spent the last years of his life in Geauga County, Ohio. William Brown, the grandfather, was reared in Ohio and some years after the war moved to Arkansas, and died in that state, but is buried at Wilson, Kansas. He married Harriet Miller, who is buried at Savonburg, Kansas. Their children were: William A., who died at Dorrance, Kansas; Phoebe, who married Will Covert and died at Bath, Michigan; Loretta, wife of Frank Lee, of Sylvan Grove, Kansas; James B.; and Mary, who married Merida Cravens, of Siloam Springs, Arkansas.

James B. Brown, father of Beaufort C., was born in Ohio, was brought up on a farm, and during the greater part of his active career did farming and dairying. In 1863 he enlisted in the Seventy-Seventh Ohio Infantry as a private, and was in active service until the end of the war. He served under General Slocum, and made the march to the sea with General Sherman's army. He escaped wounds or capture. He was a man of liberal education for his time, and for several terms taught school in Ohio and also near Siloam Springs, Arkansas. He also learned the blacksmith trade but this did not suit him, and the best years of his life were spent as a farmer and stock raiser. He came to Kansas during the decade of the '70s, and settled in Russell County. He was a republican in politics with prohibition sentiments, but never held any office. He was a member of the Free Methodist Church.

James B. Brown married Rhoda Ann Malone, who was reared at Des Moines, Iowa, where her father also spent his active years. Her father, George W. Malone, whose parents came from Ireland, was a blacksmith and wagon maker at Des Moines. He married Nancy Childs. Mrs. James B. Brown, who was the seventh in a family of eight children, died at Glen Elder, Kansas, in January, 1906. Her children were: Lewis, of Wilson, Kansas; Beaufort C.; Jennie, wife of John Yantis, of Glen Elder, Kansas; Myrtle, wife of Charles Elder, of Edgewater, Colorado; Ella, wife of Clarence Dean, of Glen Elder; and Harold C., of Beloit, Kansas.

Beaufort C. Brown received his common school training in Russell County, attended the high school at Wilson in Ellsworth, Kansas, and for some years before coming to Ness County lived in Jewel County. He was a practical and well trained farmer when he reached his majority. Once or twice he tried merchandising, but never liked that business, and his most successful efforts have been as a farmer. He began his career at Wilson, Kansas, as a renter, and bought his first land as a speculation in Gray County from money he had saved. For his permanent home he bought in Ness County near Bazine 320 acres, and his home place is on the northwest quarter of section 36, township 19, range 21. When he bought the land it had a stone house on it, some fencing had been done, and a small amount of acreage was under the plow. For this quarter section he paid $3,200, and he was the first man to pay $20 an acre for land in the county. It was a high price, but his judgment has been approved by the subsequent results. There he continued his former methods of farming, sowing wheat and corn, and raising cattle and hogs, and the returns have enabled him to acquire four quarter sections, all in one body and close to the Town of Bazine. He farms 600 acres and has lost three crops. He handles all kinds of cattle.

When he became old enough to vote he affiliated with the republican party and cast his first presidential ballot for McKinley. He has always been active in local politics in Ness County, served a term as justice of the peace, and in 1914 was elected a commissioner from the First District, succeeding W. A. Stull. His associate members on the board are S. H. Garrigues of Utica, and Ed Reinert of Riverside. The important work of this board has been the building and grading of county roads, building culverts and authorizing the dragging of the improved roads. The board also submitted to the people the question of building a courthouse in 1916. Mr. Brown is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, but has no church membership.

On September 28, 1904, at Wilson, Kansas, he married Miss Lottie B. Miller, who was born December 11, 1878, daughter of William S. and Lacey (Hale) Miller. Her parents came from Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, to Kansas in 1874, settling in Russell County, where her father spent the rest of his life as a farmer. Mr. Miller was a Pennsylvania soldier in the Civil war and was one of seven brothers to take places in the ranks, and this remarkable record of service from one family is perhaps unexcelled in the annals of that war. It is also remarkable that all the brothers returned home unwounded. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Miller were: Bertha, wife of William Wilson, of Scott City, Kansas; Hale, of Wilson, Kansas; Mrs. Brown; Thomas, of Wilson; Raymond, of Collier, Kansas; and Clinton, of Wilson. Mr. and Mrs. Brown have seven children in their home: Herschel L., Harry K., Morris M., Gale C., Marine, Leta, and an infant daughter named Gladys.