George H. Brown

GEORGE H. BROWN, who has lived in Ellis County since he was eight years old, has much official service to his credit. He is an ex-sheriff, and is now serving his second consecutive term as county clerk.

Mr. Brown is of English ancestry. His grandfather, Luke Brown, was born, reared and married in England and on coming to the United States settled in Pennsylvania. He was a stone mason by trade. George H. Brown, Sr., father of the county clerk, was born in Pennsylvania in 1834, grew up and married there, and learned the trade of blacksmith. When the Civil war came on he enlisted and served as drum major in the One Hundred and Thirty-Seventh Pennsylvania Infantry. In 1878 he came to Kansas and located in Hays, homesteading 160 acres, but later sold that and resumed his trade as a blacksmith, which he followed until his death October 8, 1898. In the early days of Kansas he was widely known as "Fifer Brown." As an old soldier and as a drummer he participated in many political campaigns, and was a stanch adherent of the republican cause. He served a time as trustee of Lookout Township in Ellis County. He was also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. George H. Brown, Sr., married Temperance M. Clark, who was born in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, in 1840 and is still living at Hays. She is the mother of two children, Ruth Ellen and George H. The former is the wife of S. E. Freshour, a farmer of Ellis Township. Mr. Brown, Sr., by a previous marriage had a daughter, Rebecca M., now the wife of R. M. Wilcox, a farmer at Salina, Kansas.

George H. Brown of this review was born in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, April 5, 1870, and obtained his education in the public schools of Hays. As a boy he went to work with his father in the blacksmith shop, and became an expert workman. After his father's death he continued the business until January, 1906. He was then elected and served four years, 1907-11, as sheriff of Ellis County. After that he resumed his trade four years, but in 1914 was elected county clerk, and has been re-elected in 1916. He has given a most capable administration to the affairs of his office by running them satisfactorily both to his own party and all concerned. He is a republican, is affiliated with Hays Camp, Modern Woodmen of America, with the Royal Neighbors and with the local lodge of Fraternal Order of Eagles.

In 1893, at Hays, he married Miss Margratha Madsen. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Madsen, are farmers in Ellis County. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Brown: George H., Jr., born September 15, 1898, a graduate of the Hays High School and now deputy county clerk under his father; J. Harold, born May 15, 1906; and Anna Marie, born June 15, 1916.

Page 2200.