Obituary of ELIZABETH BROWN

Elizabeth Brown was born at Cynthianna, Kentucky, Oct. 25th, 1815; died at Pleasanton, Kansas, Sept. 29th, 1901.

Since 1869 Elizabeth Brown has resided in Pleasanton and vicinity. Her early life was burdened with the hardships endured by the first settlers of a wild country. When she was two years of age, her parents, Isaac and Nancy Sellers, moved from their Kentucky home to Wayne county, Indiana, and built a cabin in the dense forest, which swarmed with hostile Indians. Her father bravely began the arduous task of converting a portion of this wilderness into a fruitful farm. But after a few years of unremitting toil, he died, leaving a widow and a large family of children to continue the struggle in the wild woods. With feeble hands, but strong wills, the children directed by their heroic mother continued the work of building a home; acre after acre was added to the cleared land, which produced wheat and corn sufficient for bread. Sugar they made by boiling the sap from the maple tree. From wool clipped from their sheep, and from flax grown on the farm, they manufactured their clothing and bedding. This required ceaseless labor; night after night the mournful hum of the spinning wheel and the clack of the shuttle, played an accompaniment to the howl of the wolves in the surrounding forest. Thrift was the reward of this industry; for after a few years a neat brick house supplanted the log cabin, and the family, surrounded by homely comforts, were happy and contented.

At the age of eighteen, Elizabeth was married to Granville Hastings of Richmond, Ind., and at the age of twenty three was left a widow with one son, Richard, who grew to manhood and died at Anderson Ind. Eight years later she was married to James Brown of Hagerstown, Ind. To this marriage were born two children, Mrs. Ellen Barrick and Miss Emma Brown. Since the death of her husband in 1894 she and her daughter Emma have lived alone in Pleasanton. Elizabeth Brown was a splendid type of the pioneer mother that will soon have passed this world. Her ambition was not personal; she took no thought of her own wants and needs; her only wish was to make her loved ones comfortable and happy.

Before she was disabled by infirmities of age, she was noted for her excellency in cooking, and her neatness in house keeping. She cared for the sick and afflicted throughout her neighborhood; was kind, generous and charitable. Her span of life almost covered the nineteenth century. She saw our country grow from a weak impoverished nation to a strong and wealthy one. We regard our statesmen and generals who have lead us to greatness as heroes, but we also owe a national debt of gratitude to our self denying, patriotic mothers; and it is cheering to believe that in the great beyond, where justice is meted by an impartial hand, that the Elizabeth Browns will receive rich rewards for the good deeds done on this earth.