Reverend Edward Brown
Rev. Brown was the new Congregational minister who had just come to town. - Little Town on the
Prairie
Edward
Brown was born in Colebrook, Connecticut,
November 1, 1814, the son of the Honorable
Frederick Brown and Chloe (Pettibone) Brown.
In Little Town on the Prairie (Chapter 17,
"The Sociable"), Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote that
Reverend Brown claimed to be a cousin of famed
abolitionist John Brown. The two were indeed first
cousins. Both John and Edward were grandsons
of Captain John Brown (born 1728) of Wintonbury,
Connecticut. Edward Brown's father, Frederick
(born 1769), was younger brother of John Brown's
father, Owen (born 1771). John Brown was born in
1800 in Torrington, Connecticut. Although this was
six miles from Colebrook, John Brown moved to
Ohio almost ten years before Edward was born. The
two later lived about forty miles apart, however,
south of Cleveland, Ohio.
Edward Brown was educated in Connecticut, Ohio,
and Indiana, and he was ordained to the
Congregational ministry in Green Bay, Wisconsin,
in January 1854. He served as Home Missionary in
Wisconsin and Minnesota through 1866.
Brown married Eliza Jane
Johnson in May 1844, in Indiana. They
had four children: Florence, Marian, Ellen, and Marcus. Eliza Brown died January 29, 1864.
November 2, 1867, Reverend Brown married
Laura Jane
Goodale in West Salem (La Crosse
County) Wisconsin. Laura was born October 8, 1828,
in Amherst, Massachusetts. Prior to June 1870,
they adopted a daughter, Ida Belle Wright. In
1880, the family moved to Kingsbury County, Dakota
Territory.
In August 1881, Reverend Brown filed on a
preemption claim southwest of De Smet. Laura
Ingalls Wilder wrote about visiting Ida here in
These Happy Golden Years (Chapter 18, "The
Perry School"), saying that they could see the
Wessington Hills from the hill on the property.
Today, "Brown's Hill" is a residential subdivision
in De Smet, with homes covering the same hill
Laura and Ida once roamed.
Laura Ingalls and Almanzo Wilder were married at
Reverend Brown's home on August 25, 1885 (see
These Happy Golden Years, Chapter 33,
"Little Gray Home in the West").
Laura Brown died in De Smet on September 9, 1889. Edward Brown died while visiting Ida at her home in Wisconsin on March 23, 1895. They are both buried in the De Smet Cemetery.
De Smet Congretational Church
Reverend Edwin Alden conducted the first religious
services in the Surveyors' House near the townsite
of De Smet, on Februrary 29, 1880. He was
appointed to have charge of the mission field by
Superintendent Stewart Sheldon, missionary in
charge of Dakota Territory. In May 1880, Reverend
Alden relinquished his mission field to Reverend
Brown.
In June 1880, Reverend Brown organized a
Congregational church, conducting services in the
railroad depot. The members were Mr. and Mrs. C.
P. Ingalls, Mary Ingalls, the Reverend and Mrs.
Edward Brown, Mr. and Mrs. S. N. Gilbert, and
Visscher V. Barnes. All joined by letter from
other churches. Barnes, Charles Ingalls, and S. N.
Gilbert were elected trustees. In November of that
year, a certificate of organization was issued to
the First Congregational Church of De Smet by the
Secretary of the Territory of Dakota.
In 1881, the Congregational Church moved to raise
$1000 for the building of a sanctuary. The
Congregational Church Building Society offered to
loan them $500 provided the same amount could be
raised. During January 1882, the shell of the
new church had been completed. One of the
fundraisers held in the new building was a "New
England Supper" sponsored by both the
Congregational Church and the Methodist Episcopal
Church; the two congregations shared the building
for services. The supper was held on Thursday,
January 10, 1882, and according to the De Smet
News and Leader, "a fine Dakota pig,
roasted whole, was the feature of the occasion."
Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote about this New England
Supper in Little Town on the Prairie
(Chapter 19, "The Whirl of Gaiety").
Reverend Brown resigned in August 1882, asking
that his resignation take place in six months. As
no replacement could be found, he was asked to
remain as pastor of the church for one year
following the January 1883 board meeting. In
August 1883, he was again asked to remain for the
following year. His resignation became official on
October 26, 1884.
In January 1885, Reverend Jonathan T. Otis took charge of the De Smet Congregational Church. Reverend Otis had been pastor of the Lake Preston Congregational Church for several years. Owing to ill health of his wife Rebecca, Otis had planned to leave Dakota and return to his home state of New York, but was persuaded to take charge of the De Smet church instead. The Otis's son, Arthur, taught the Lake Preston town school.
Mark A. Brown
Marcus Aurelius Brown was born in October 1853 in Wisconsin, the son of Edward and Eliza Brown. In 1882, Mark Brown settled in De Smet, homesteading west of the slough from Charles Ingalls. He was editor of the De Smet News and Leader from 1882 to 1884. Brown was elected to the De Smet Township School board in 1883. July 9, 1884, he married Laura M. Dudley from La Crosse County, Wisconsin, and the Browns remained in Wisconsin. A son was born in May 1885 (Reverend Brown's first grandchild). Because of his own ill health, Mark Brown moved his family to Texas in October 1885. He died there in August 1887.
Brown family
Copyright © 2009 by Nancy Cleaveland - All Rights Reserved.
