Born ‎31 Mar 1854 Wakefield Township, Outaouais, Quebec, Canada, died ‎30 Aug 1936 Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minnesota‎, age 82 years
Baptismal sponsors: Nicholas McGary and Maria McGary

A WPA Interview

BROWN, ELIZA (ROONEY)

Eliza (Rooney) Brown was born in the Gatineau River district in Ontario, Canada in the year 1854, a daughter of Patrick and Elenor (Tracy) Rooney. As a little girl she saw her father, a lumber contractor, clear the timber for their home on the Gatineau River on what is today part of the city of Ottawa.

In 1862, Patrick and Eleanor (Tracy) Rooney migrated to Minnesota by ox team, taking up a homestead in Raymond township, Stearns county. The Padua church of today is located on part of this original homestead and she herself planted some of the trees that now adorn the church yard. The old Red River Trail passed their home and here the young lady for years saw the ox teams, freight laden, plod their weary way toward the Red River Valley and the Dakotas.

On September 10, 1872, Eliza Rooney was married to John A Brown, a young man who had seen service on Mississippi River packets, transporting supplies for the Union soldiers during the civil war. The young couple settled on what is now known as the "Old Brown Farm", fourteen miles south of Sauk Centre. On this farm ten children were born. They are John A. Jr. who died in 1925; William A.; Henry H.; George F.; Thomas A.; Emily;

Eliza (Rooney) Brown's life might stand out as a beacon light to people of successive generations, to those who know only the trials of their own times. It was her pioneer spirit, the spirit of the ox-team and covered wagon days, that prompter her to carry on, when in 1893 her husband died, leaving her with ten small children, the oldest 18 and the youngest 2 years old, with their living to be made from the farm .

Eliza Brown went into the fields with her boys and carved out for her family their living and education. Eliza Brown carried on, doing a man's work on the farm, driving a team of horses fourteen miles to Sauk Centre each week to do her shopping, doing a mother's work in her home, raising a family. She was of the Catholic faith.

The last few years Eliza Brown made her home with her children in Sauk Centre. She died August 15, 1936 at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Robert Malloy.

OBITUARY:

Sept. 10, 1936 Herald
Mrs. Eliza T. Brown Buried
Services Held At St. Paul's Church
Thursday Morning Largely Attended

Funeral services for Mrs. Eliza Brown, pioneer resident of Stearns County who passed away in this city on August 30th, were held in St. Paul's Catholic Church Thursday, September 3, and the thronged church together with the hundreds of people who viewed the remains at her home at tested to the love and esteem in which the lady was held.

A Solemn Requiem High Mass was celebrated. Rt. Rev. Monsignor August Plachta, Rector Mayer, of Our Lady of Angels Catholic Church was Deacon of the Mass and Reverend Vincent Fettgather, of Brooten, Minn. was Subdeacon of the Mass. the funeral sermon was preached by Rt. Rev. Monsignor Plachta.

The three priests accompanied the remains to Calvary Cemetery where the Ritual for the Dead was recited.
Mrs. Eliza T. Brown was born near Ottawa, Canada, March 21st, 1856. Her father was John Rooney. Her mother's maiden name was Eleanor Tracy . More than 70 years ago, she came with her parents to what is now the Padua district in this county. Here later the young lady was married to John A. Brown and with him built up the farm known today as the Old Brown Farm. On this farm their ten children were born.

Besides the ten children the deceased is survived by one sister, Mrs. Catherine McKenna, Seattle,Wa., and by thirty-one grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.

The active pall bearers were Mr. Thomas Kinsella and the following nephews of the deceased: George and Frank Brown, William Riley, Joseph Egan and Frank Hoffman.

Honorary pall bearers were Dr. J.A. Dubois, J.F. Cooper, O.W. Winslow, William M. P., Henry Borgmann all of Sauk Centre and Mr. Charles Riley, Sedan. Minnesota.

Born ‎7 Dec 1839 Pennsylvania, died ‎20 Aug 1893 Raymond Township, Stearns County, Minnesota‎, age 53 years
His gravestone in the Padua Cemetery says he was born November 3rd of 1839.

Died:
Brown- At his residence in the town of Raymond, on Sunday, August 20th , John Brown, aged 54 years.

While not altogether unexpected, the announcement of the death of John Brown was received with expressions of sincere sorrow in this city, where he has been well and favorably known for many years. He was highly esteemed for those sterling qualities which stamped him as a man moving upon an exalted plane. High ideals were lofty and he lived to them with rare fidelity. Honorable, honest and charitable, he was wondrously free from the petty foibles and inconsistencies which are blemishes upon human character. Frank and open as the day, with well-defined opinions of his aim, he always manifested that tolerance and regard for the beliefs and feelings or others, which characterize the true gentleman. In every relation of life he was above reproach, pure and noble in his life, he squared every act with the golden rule. As a citizen he was esteemed and trusted, as a friend true and generous, as a husband tender and loving and as a parent indulgent and just. He has raised a family of ten children who are an honor to his name and a credit to the community.

Mr. Brown was American born of Irish descent, removing from New England, where he was born, to Minnesota about twenty years ago, and for eighteen years he had been a resident of Raymond. He has filled a number of local offices, but never but once aspired to political preferment -in 1890 the nomination for the legislature was thrust upon him by the alliance party. While distasteful to him he made a gallant fight, but was narrowly defeated. He was a devout member of the Roman Catholic church, and he was buried by Father Bender in the cemetery in the Rooney settlement, his funeral being largely attended by sorrowing friends, who will long hold his memory in merited reverence. To his bereaved wife and children the sympathy of all is extended in the fullest measure.