Brown, Lincoln Ellsworth

LINCOLN ELLSWORTH BROWN.—The time is now placed in the dark ages of ignorance when it was said that any one could make a successful farmer—any one who could hold a plow, put seeds in the furrows, work hard, and patiently wait for nature to do the rest. Today it is admitted that there is no occupation, no profession, which calls for the exercise of greater intelligence, more technical skill or broader business judgment, than that devoted to any one of the several departments of agriculture. This is especially true in considering the modern methods of dairying, involving both scientific care of the live stock and of their products. Lincoln E. Brown, of Hempfield township, Mercer county, entered this field with the thorough preparation of the practical man and has continued his work along such thorough and scientific lines that his success is as great as it is logical. He is a man of finely trained mind in every respect, and was well known as a teacher in the Buckeye state before he assumed his present calling.

Lincoln E. Brown is a native of this county, born May 28, 1861, son of Lucius and Mary Ann (Brown) Brown. The father was born at Vernon, Ohio, in 1812, and died in 1891: After completing the regular public-school curriculum in his native place, when sixteen years of age he commenced to teach and eventually reached the position of superintendent of public schools. Later he located in West Salem township, purchased a farm therein and resided upon it for some time, but died in Trumbull county, Ohio. In 1838 he married Miss Mary Ann Brown, daughter of Richard and Martha (Morgan) Brown, of that county, and the following children were born to them: Laura, who is deceased; Melissa, who died as Mrs. LaFayette Abbott; Hannah, who married Madison Brown, a farmer of West Salem township, and who is also dead ; Emerson, a Trumbull county farmer; Emeline, Mrs. J. D. Biggin, whose husband is engaged in farming near Vernon, Ohio; Amelia D., resident of Trumbull county, Ohio; and Lincoln E. Brown, of this biography.

Mr. Brown attended the district schools of his native locality until he was fourteen years of age, after which he was at the Edinboro school for four terms and at the Greenville High School for two years. He then assumed teaching as a profession and for ten years followed it with success in various localities in Ohio. Convinced, however, of the more permanent profit and satisfaction to be derived from agricultural pursuits, he followed them for some three years before making his home in Hempfield township, Mercer county. Here he has continued in that avocation with such fine results that the "Excelsior Dairy Farm" is widely known as one of the models of its kind in this part of the state. The property, which consists of fifty-two acres, was purchased in 1894, and is devoted not only to dairying but to horticulture, his orchard comprising four acres of land. In the equipment of his farm is employed every modern appliance of tried worth, and twenty-eight Jerseys and Guernseys furnish the dairy supplies.

Mr. Brown is a stanch but progressive Republican, and has largely participated in the public affairs of his locality, having served for years as secretary of the school board and for two terms as township treasurer. Both he and his wife are active in the work of the Presbyterian church. On March 5, 1899, he was wedded, in Perry township, to Miss Anna Brostmeyer, born May 8, 1864, daughter of Henry V. and Anna G. (Laver) Brostmeyer.

Mrs. Brown is a native of Mercer county and was educated in the common schools. She is one of a family of nine children, four sons and five daughters, eight of whom are living, namely: Anna. Mrs. Brown ; Josephine, wife of James Nicholson, a resident of Simons, Ohio; Frances, wife of Harvey Gachenbach, an agriculturist residing in Crawford county, Pennsylvania: Ernest, a resident of Alabama and engaged in railroading; Frederick, a farmer, residing in Perry township. Mercer county, wedded to Gertrude Braden; Harry, residing in Perry township, a farmer, married to Pearl Heckman ; Elda, wife of Cecil Swogger, an agriculturist of Warren county, Ohio; Elizabeth, at home with her parents. The father of this family is a native of Prussia, Germany, born October 30, 1833. He was reared until the age of sixteen in his native land and educated in his mother tongue. In 1849 his parents bade adieu to Germany and set out in a sailing vessel, the voyage crossing the Atlantic taking forty days. They first located in Ohio and then in Mercer county. Mr. Brostmeyer has been a successful man in life and had accumulated nearly five hundred acres of land. He is a Democrat. He and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church and he aided in its erection. Mrs. Brostmeyer was a native of Bavaria, Germany, born November 4, 1840, and is still living. She was a little maiden of twelve summers when she was brought to America. She is a kind Christian lady.

Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln E. Brown are the parents of the following: Gertrude, attending school; Paul, who is assisting his father on the farm; Bessie and Eva, also attending school; and Maitland Ellsworth Brown, the youngest of the family.