Welcome to OKGenWeb's
Biographies
The Elbert & Mary Brown Family
Elbert Bertram Brown was born Jan 18 1885 in Mountain Grove, Mo. His grandfather, John Willy Brown (1840-1919), was a Baptist preacher. His father, John Wesley Brown (1863-1915), was a farmer, who moved his family from Missouri to Britton, Okla. in 1897.
Elbert followed in his father's footsteps and became a farmer. On June 14, 1909 he married Mary Magdalene Bednar in Oklahoma City. They farmed near Bethany. Mary, born March 25, 1885 had come to America from Czechoslovakia with her parents in 1887. Her family settled first in Kansas and then in 1890 they moved by covered wagon to a farm near Britton, and lived in a dugout for several years.
The couple had 7 children. Gertrude Marie (1910-1984), Mary Evalena (1913), Joseph Raymond (1916), Rubye Mae (1920), Anna Belle (1922), Margaret Hettie (1925), and Betty Jean (1927).
The family was living in Bethany during the devastating tornado of 1930. In 1931 they bought 80 acres in Canadian County on Darlington Road, 1 mile west of US Highway 81. The 4 youngest daughters attended Reno School and graduated from El Reno High School, where Anna Belle was the football queen one year. The 3 youngest daughters are married and live in Arlington, Tex. Lena and Rubye each married Canadian County farmers, and still live in the county. Lena married Kenneth Goodman of Yukon, and Rubye married Ralph Royce of El Reno, Son Ray and his wife Irene live in El Reno. Gertrude married Frank Henderson, a naval officer, and following his retirement they returned to live in El Reno until Gertrude's death in 1984.
Elbert was a member of the IOOF and Rebekah lodges. Mary was a member of Sacred Heart Catholic Church, the Rebekah Lodge and was a charter member and past president of the Reno Valley Home Demonstration Club. The couple moved to a farm at Tuttle in 1945, and returned to El Reno in 1959 shortly before Mary's death, Sept 3. Elbert died March 13, 1969. They are buried in El Reno Cemetery.