Lawrence (Bud) Brown
by Lawrence Brown
(Transcribed by RB, with permission from the Mellette County Historical Society, from "Mellette County 1911-1986" published by the Mellette County Historical Society)
I, Lawrence (Bud) Brown, was born in Ringgold County, Iowa, between Elision and Tingley. I attended country school one mile from home and Elision High School east of our place. I worked at various jobs including carpentry, painting and trucking and spent some time in Kansas City.
My first visit to South Dakota was as a small boy with my parents. Then later I came and worked as a
farmhand. Helped harvest when threshing was the mode of harvesting grain.
In 1948, I came and operated a ranch on shares with Carol Chapin for two years, and when he decided to
sell, my brothers bought it and I operated with them until 1964, when I bought it from the V. E. Brown estate and operated it until 1974 when I sold out and moved to Winner, South Dakota.
My sister Pearl was the first of my family to move to South Dakota when her husband Glen Sherwood homesteaded in Bad Nation. Glen filed in 1912 on SE-4-42-26, returned to Iowa and married Pearl Brown, my sister, in June 1913 and returned to South Dakota. They had three children; Mary Evalyn was born in 1914. She married Wm. Rasmussen and they had two sons and two daughters.
Arthur Lee was born in 1920, died of diphtheria 1924, and then Glen Jr. was born 1922 and died 1971. He had four sons and one daughter—Roger, Robert (Bob), Gene, Justin and Melody. Glen Sr. was killed in a tractor accident in 1945, and Pearl stayed on the ranch with Glen Jr. Then she moved to Wood in 1952. She married Harry Larsen. He passed away in 1973. Pearl continued to live in Wood until she passed away in November of 1976 of a heart attack.
My brothers Vernon and Earl were the next family members to come to South Dakota in 1925. They bought Indian land when it was put up for bids, each one getting 160 acres ½ mile apart in "Bad Nation Twp." They stayed with Pearl and Glen until they built a granary, which they used to live in at first and started to break sod with Glen's Titan tractor. The first winter they went back to Iowa and worked at various jobs to get enough money to come back to South Dakota. They then built a 10 x 16 house and a straw barn, and dug a cave, which was a hole in the ground with poles across the top and covered with dirt.
The first tractor of their own was a Fordson that had a special plow gear between 1st and 3rd. They bought a rope drive that allowed one man to operate from binder seat. Threshing machines were scarce so
they dealt for a 22" International, and with Glen's Titan they started threshing. Later Glen traded for a 10-20 International. Grain was cheap and crops were poor, and they couldn't make a payment, but the dealer said next year would be better. But the next year was worse so they told the dealer to come and get the separator, but he didn't, and next year the same thing—so they tried to get him to take it back but he said he had no use for it.
Finally crops were better and prices, too, and they made a deal to keep it. Then they traded for a regular
Farmall tractor and pulled the separator with it.
They took some cattle of Glen's to winter, as Glen was short of feed, and ended up keeping on shares so
they started in cattle. They got started in horses by pasturing a number of head, and horses got cheap and
they ended up with horses on pasture bill. They were mostly broom tails but some were good horses. So we
started to break them to work and some to ride.
I brought a stallion, one year old, up from Iowa, a Percheron whose sire came from France, and we and Glen used it to improve the horse herds. But tractors were taking over and the market for horses hit bottom again.
Some winters were very hard on man and beast, causing losses of livestock—not only in winter, but also
the spring as they were in poor condition. I got initiated the first year, 1948-1949, which was a tough one, and we had operation bulldozer. One morning about daylight I heard a "cat" coming so got up and had the operator come in for breakfast. He had spent the night two and half miles north of my place broke down and couldn't raise the dozer, so had backed all the way to my place. He said if he ever get out this county he was never coming back. He was from Minnesota.
In the 1952 blizzard, I started to town to get the kids, snow and wind so bad you couldn't see to drive, but
roads had been plowed out so I stayed between banks by looking sideways. I nearly ran over Ralph Ryno, who had stalled and was walking with a blanket around his head. He said I wouldn't make it, but I said that I could, so he got in and we started on and met Raymond Kimball in a truck coming home and we met head on. It put both rigs out of commission and we started to walk. Ralph was hurt the worst, but could walk. We got to Luther Schaeffer's and stopped, doctored Ralph some, and borrowed a jeep and started to town with Raymond walking ahead. But I nearly ran over him, so we had him sit on the front and steer me with motions and we made it. Earl was stranded too, so we went to Pearl's house and "broke in." We got the kids and stayed out the storm there.
I, Ralph and Raymond walked home the third day. Ralph took my saddle horse and went home and Raymond walked. Earl's wife had stalled on her way home from Wood and had two kids with her. Dale Evans
heard her hollering and took the girl on horseback to their place. Mildred and son Dennis started walking, but missed the fence row where they were to turn. They kept walking and made it home, but they were frostbitten pretty bad. Vernon had been to White River and had his small son Pat with him. He stalled on the hill north and east of Yellow Eagle's. He sat in the car all night and next morning made it to Yellow Eagle's. He hired them to go back to the car and get Pat. He had wrapped him in tissue paper and what wraps were in
the car. Pat had awakened and scratched frost from the windows and froze his fingers pretty bad.
Earl had a narrow escape from lightning. He was riding a horse, checking cattle, when a storm came up.
He rode up to a straw stack and got off and backed up to the stack for protection when lightning struck. He was holding onto the bridle reins when it killed his horse and knocked him out. When he came to, he was between the horse's legs. He couldn't walk but started crawling, as he could see a light on at Gottlieb Bachmann's. He had to crawl through an old lake bed, but water was shallow. He kept hollering after he got
his voice back and aroused their dogs; they came out to see what the dogs were barking at and heard him.
They assisted him to their place and kept him until the next day. He had on rubber boots, and the doctor
thought that and crawling through the water had saved his life. He had sores on the tops of his feet for a long
time. He cussed more about it blowing holes in his boots.
He had another narrow escape while riding a snakey horse that belonged to Harry Larsen. He rode up to
a gate and swung off and his foot caught in the stirrup. The horse jerked away and dragged him. He had on four-buckle overshoes and it tore the bottom off and finally ripped the shoe up the back and turned him loose.
Earl married Mildred Burnham in 1933. They had no children of their own but adopted a baby boy and named him Dennis. Earl passed away in 1962 of cancer. Vernon married Esther Burnham, sister of Mildred, in 1936. They had six boys and four girls—Maysie, Veldon, Iva, Virgil, Victor, Irene, Patrick, Robert, Dale and Cora. Vernon passed away in 1959 of cancer.
I married Lois Creveling in 1936 and we had four children, Harlan, Bonnie, Mary Anna and Lee. Lee was killed in a tractor accident in Iowa in 1961. Harlan married Sharon Engel and they had one daughter, Nancy. Bonnie married Kencel Robinson; they had three children, Sheba, Shane and Shawn. Mary Anna married Eddie Blankenship; they have three children, Lee, Michelle and Bonnie.
Shawn Robinson married Gregg Ulmer, and they have a son. Derrick. So we are great-grandparents.
by Lawrence Brown
(Transcribed by RB, with permission from the Mellette County Historical Society, from "Mellette County 1911-1986" published by the Mellette County Historical Society)
I, Lawrence (Bud) Brown, was born in Ringgold County, Iowa, between Elision and Tingley. I attended country school one mile from home and Elision High School east of our place. I worked at various jobs including carpentry, painting and trucking and spent some time in Kansas City.
My first visit to South Dakota was as a small boy with my parents. Then later I came and worked as a
farmhand. Helped harvest when threshing was the mode of harvesting grain.
In 1948, I came and operated a ranch on shares with Carol Chapin for two years, and when he decided to
sell, my brothers bought it and I operated with them until 1964, when I bought it from the V. E. Brown estate and operated it until 1974 when I sold out and moved to Winner, South Dakota.
My sister Pearl was the first of my family to move to South Dakota when her husband Glen Sherwood homesteaded in Bad Nation. Glen filed in 1912 on SE-4-42-26, returned to Iowa and married Pearl Brown, my sister, in June 1913 and returned to South Dakota. They had three children; Mary Evalyn was born in 1914. She married Wm. Rasmussen and they had two sons and two daughters.
Arthur Lee was born in 1920, died of diphtheria 1924, and then Glen Jr. was born 1922 and died 1971. He had four sons and one daughter—Roger, Robert (Bob), Gene, Justin and Melody. Glen Sr. was killed in a tractor accident in 1945, and Pearl stayed on the ranch with Glen Jr. Then she moved to Wood in 1952. She married Harry Larsen. He passed away in 1973. Pearl continued to live in Wood until she passed away in November of 1976 of a heart attack.
My brothers Vernon and Earl were the next family members to come to South Dakota in 1925. They bought Indian land when it was put up for bids, each one getting 160 acres ½ mile apart in "Bad Nation Twp." They stayed with Pearl and Glen until they built a granary, which they used to live in at first and started to break sod with Glen's Titan tractor. The first winter they went back to Iowa and worked at various jobs to get enough money to come back to South Dakota. They then built a 10 x 16 house and a straw barn, and dug a cave, which was a hole in the ground with poles across the top and covered with dirt.
The first tractor of their own was a Fordson that had a special plow gear between 1st and 3rd. They bought a rope drive that allowed one man to operate from binder seat. Threshing machines were scarce so
they dealt for a 22" International, and with Glen's Titan they started threshing. Later Glen traded for a 10-20 International. Grain was cheap and crops were poor, and they couldn't make a payment, but the dealer said next year would be better. But the next year was worse so they told the dealer to come and get the separator, but he didn't, and next year the same thing—so they tried to get him to take it back but he said he had no use for it.
Finally crops were better and prices, too, and they made a deal to keep it. Then they traded for a regular
Farmall tractor and pulled the separator with it.
They took some cattle of Glen's to winter, as Glen was short of feed, and ended up keeping on shares so
they started in cattle. They got started in horses by pasturing a number of head, and horses got cheap and
they ended up with horses on pasture bill. They were mostly broom tails but some were good horses. So we
started to break them to work and some to ride.
I brought a stallion, one year old, up from Iowa, a Percheron whose sire came from France, and we and Glen used it to improve the horse herds. But tractors were taking over and the market for horses hit bottom again.
Some winters were very hard on man and beast, causing losses of livestock—not only in winter, but also
the spring as they were in poor condition. I got initiated the first year, 1948-1949, which was a tough one, and we had operation bulldozer. One morning about daylight I heard a "cat" coming so got up and had the operator come in for breakfast. He had spent the night two and half miles north of my place broke down and couldn't raise the dozer, so had backed all the way to my place. He said if he ever get out this county he was never coming back. He was from Minnesota.
In the 1952 blizzard, I started to town to get the kids, snow and wind so bad you couldn't see to drive, but
roads had been plowed out so I stayed between banks by looking sideways. I nearly ran over Ralph Ryno, who had stalled and was walking with a blanket around his head. He said I wouldn't make it, but I said that I could, so he got in and we started on and met Raymond Kimball in a truck coming home and we met head on. It put both rigs out of commission and we started to walk. Ralph was hurt the worst, but could walk. We got to Luther Schaeffer's and stopped, doctored Ralph some, and borrowed a jeep and started to town with Raymond walking ahead. But I nearly ran over him, so we had him sit on the front and steer me with motions and we made it. Earl was stranded too, so we went to Pearl's house and "broke in." We got the kids and stayed out the storm there.
I, Ralph and Raymond walked home the third day. Ralph took my saddle horse and went home and Raymond walked. Earl's wife had stalled on her way home from Wood and had two kids with her. Dale Evans
heard her hollering and took the girl on horseback to their place. Mildred and son Dennis started walking, but missed the fence row where they were to turn. They kept walking and made it home, but they were frostbitten pretty bad. Vernon had been to White River and had his small son Pat with him. He stalled on the hill north and east of Yellow Eagle's. He sat in the car all night and next morning made it to Yellow Eagle's. He hired them to go back to the car and get Pat. He had wrapped him in tissue paper and what wraps were in
the car. Pat had awakened and scratched frost from the windows and froze his fingers pretty bad.
Earl had a narrow escape from lightning. He was riding a horse, checking cattle, when a storm came up.
He rode up to a straw stack and got off and backed up to the stack for protection when lightning struck. He was holding onto the bridle reins when it killed his horse and knocked him out. When he came to, he was between the horse's legs. He couldn't walk but started crawling, as he could see a light on at Gottlieb Bachmann's. He had to crawl through an old lake bed, but water was shallow. He kept hollering after he got
his voice back and aroused their dogs; they came out to see what the dogs were barking at and heard him.
They assisted him to their place and kept him until the next day. He had on rubber boots, and the doctor
thought that and crawling through the water had saved his life. He had sores on the tops of his feet for a long
time. He cussed more about it blowing holes in his boots.
He had another narrow escape while riding a snakey horse that belonged to Harry Larsen. He rode up to
a gate and swung off and his foot caught in the stirrup. The horse jerked away and dragged him. He had on four-buckle overshoes and it tore the bottom off and finally ripped the shoe up the back and turned him loose.
Earl married Mildred Burnham in 1933. They had no children of their own but adopted a baby boy and named him Dennis. Earl passed away in 1962 of cancer. Vernon married Esther Burnham, sister of Mildred, in 1936. They had six boys and four girls—Maysie, Veldon, Iva, Virgil, Victor, Irene, Patrick, Robert, Dale and Cora. Vernon passed away in 1959 of cancer.
I married Lois Creveling in 1936 and we had four children, Harlan, Bonnie, Mary Anna and Lee. Lee was killed in a tractor accident in Iowa in 1961. Harlan married Sharon Engel and they had one daughter, Nancy. Bonnie married Kencel Robinson; they had three children, Sheba, Shane and Shawn. Mary Anna married Eddie Blankenship; they have three children, Lee, Michelle and Bonnie.
Shawn Robinson married Gregg Ulmer, and they have a son. Derrick. So we are great-grandparents.
Mellette County, South Dakota
Family Histories & Biographies - Brown Surname
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Brown Surname
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