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EXTRACTED FROM: History of Minneapolis, Gateway to the Northwest; 
Chicago-Minneapolis, The S J Clarke Publishing Co, 1923; Edited by: Rev. 
Marion Daniel Shutter, D.D., LL.D.; Volume I - Shutter (Historical); 
volume II - Biographical; volume III - Biographical
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ANDREW D. BROWN - Vol III, pg 294-298
Quiet and unpretentious in manner and appearance, no one casually meeting Andrew
D. Brown would dream that so much of interest had been crowded into his life as
found its- place in his record, which covered travel to almost every known port
of the globe with varied experiences on sailing vessels, in the mines of
California and in the quiet of farm life in New England. His diversified
activities and varied experiences made him a most interesting companion and his
conversation was enriched by reminiscences of the various places to which he had
traveled and the many incidents in which he had participated. Moreover, he is
especially entitled to mention in any history of Minnesota, inasmuch as he was
one of the founders of the town of Browns-dale, arriving in this state as a
pioneer in the spring of 1856. He reached the venerable age of ninety-three
years, his birth having occurred at North Stonington, Connecticut, in 1818.
There stands the old homestead, which has been in possession of the family since
the seventeenth century and which was -occupied by his parents, Matthew and Lucy
(Denison) Brown, of whom Andrew D. Brown was the second son.
Being of a restless disposition, Andrew D. Brown could not content himself with
the quiet of New England farm life, so that after attending the district and
select schools near his father's home, working on the farm and teaching two
terms of school, he decided, at the age of eighteen years and without the
knowledge of his parents, to ship on board a sailing vessel at Stonington, a
seaport only five miles from his father's home. Through the succeeding fourteen
years he followed the sea, his first voyage taking him around the cape into
Behring sea on a two years' trip, searching for whales along the coast of Japan
and westward to the Sandwich Islands, now the Hawaiian Islands. While he shipped
before the mast he returned as third mate. He afterward sailed on a merchant
vessel to South America and made several trips to the coast of Europe. In the
Mexican war he took a load of United States stores and field ammunition to
General Scott and afterward a load of logwood to Marseilles, France, while his
ship carried a cargo of fruit from Sicily back to New York. Later he sailed from
San Francisco to Calcutta, bringing back a cargo of sugar, hemp and teas around
the Cape of Good Hope to New York, and on one whaling voyage he brought back
twenty-nine hundred barrels of prime oil. He finally became master of a ship
sailing in the East Indies and in the course of his voyages he twice rounded
Cape Horn and once made the trip around the Cape of Good Hope. He was on one
ship that took a thousand slaves from the coast of Africa to South America and
several times he visited Cuba and Newfoundland. In the spring of 1849 he decided
to make his way to the California gold fields, leaving New York on a sailing
vessel that carried one hundred and fifty passengers, and after a voyage around
Cape Horn, stopping at Valparaiso and Rio Janeiro, arrived at San Francisco
after one hundred and twenty days. He then went to Sacramento in company with
Captain Bowen, and there purchased a boat and established a trading point at
what is now Marysville, California, while in the following spring he made his
way to the mines on the Yuba and Feather rivers. During a part of his sojourn in
the west he was packing goods into Nevada with fifteen mules that he owned and
he also had a gang of Chinamen working in the mines for him. He prospered in his
efforts there and in 1854 returned to Con­necticut, where he engaged in farming
for two years.
It was during this period that Mr. Brown was married to Miss Adeline Portlo of
Deerfield, Massachusetts, and in the early spring of 1856 he came to Minnesota,
where his wife joined him the following year. In May following his arrival in
this state he journeyed to Red Rock with his brother, Hosmer, at which time
there was hardly a settler in the vicinity of what is now the village of
Brownsdale. Two Norwegians had built little huts of poplar poles, covered with
turf and straw and a little later other settlers came. In June, 1856, Mr. Brown
and his brother built a steam sawmill and manufactured the lumber used by the
settlers in building their homes. The brothers secured two quarter sections of
land, in company with J. L. Johnson, and laid out the town, while in the fall of
the year they began building the Brownsdale Hotel, which by reason of lack of
labor and material was not completed until the spring of 1857. John L. Johnson
became the first proprietor, but was after­ward succeeded by Andrew D. Brown,
and the building still serves the village for hotel purposes. During the Civil
war period Mr. Brown spent two years in the south raising cotton, leasing an
abandoned plantation below Vicksburg from the government and hiring a hundred
and fifty negroes of the Freedman's Bureau to work in the fields He then
returned to Minnesota and in various ways was connected with the business
development of Brownsdale and that section of the state. He was identified with
milling interests and one time engaged in wheat raising. In 1876 he became one
of the incorporators of Brownsdale and was elected its first justice of the
peace, while at another period he served as postmaster.
Having lost his first wife, Mr. Brown was married March 3, 1871, to Miss Melissa
E. Bacon of Brownsdale. In 1883 he removed to Nebraska, where he secured a large
tract of land in Holt county, owning twelve hundred acres there, his family
removing to that place in 1884. There they remained until May, 1887, when they
returned to Brownsdale, reoccupying their former home. By his first wife Mr.
Brown had two daughters, and the children of his second marriage are Winnifred
and Hosmer A.
The two daughters of the first marriage are Mrs. C. D. Holbrook of Brownsdale
and Mrs. T. E. Doolittle of North Platte, Nebraska. The daughter, Winnifred, is
the wife of L. W. Powers, who is in the automobile business in Minneapolis. The
family continued to reside at Brownsdale until 1904, when a removal was made to
Minneapolis, where Mr. Brown spent his remaining days. His large investments in
land brought to him a substantial income and as the years passed he prospered as
the result of his business acumen and the upbuilding of the west. His old family
residence at Brownsdale is still standing. It was erected in 1858 from lumber
cut from the timber which he sawed on his farm. The last years of his life were
passed in Minneapolis, where he took up his abode in 1904, his death occurring
on the 1st of May, 1911. He had long given his support to the democratic party
and he was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and a charter member
of the Masonic lodge at Austin, Minnesota. His religious faith was that of the
Baptist church and he served as one of the trustees of that church at
Brownsdale. There are few life records that contain so much that is picturesque
and interesting as does that of Andrew D. Brown. He had an inexhaustible fund of
general information gleaned from his own experiences as he traveled to all parts
of the world and in Minnesota he passed through all of the phases of pioneer
life from the time when Indians still occupied various portions of this state to
the present century, living to witness the marvelous development of Minnesota
and the great growth of Minneapolis into one of the most populous and beautiful
cities of the country. He saw the founding of tiny hamlets which were converted
into prosperous villages and cities, witnessed the building of churches and
schoolhouses and the utilization of all the natural resources of the state for
the benefit of man. He bore a large part in the work of general development and
progress as the years passed and came to an honored old age, having passed three
points beyond the ninetieth milestone on life's Journey ere he was called to his
final home.