Thomas-Worth County GaArchives Biographies.....Brown, Fed & Rena 1895 - 1988 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Lanette Hill brightwellhill@earthlink.net July 27, 2004, 11:51 am Author: Lanette Hill Pioneers of Worth County – Doles Community And Thomas County, Georgia The Story of “Fed” & “Rena” Brown Years of 1895 - 1988 Thomas County, Thomasville, Georgia has had many early pioneers written up in books and newspapers. When someone thinks of important people in the community, why, they think about those individuals who held office, or rich families with lots of land holdings or property. Or, they think of those that are prominent in the town such as the Judges, Lawyers, or business owners. But what makes an individual important is not what they own, or what office they held or title they held. It does not matter if they owned a business or was rich or not. It is sometimes the average, day to day individuals who live their whole lives, being dependable, honest, and trustworthy in the community who helped build the character of its people and town. Such is the case of Fed & Rena Brown of Thomasville, Ga. This couple lived their whole lives together in Thomas County, Ga. Many of their descendants still live in Thomas County, Thomasville, Ga. This is the story of the BROWN family beginnings in Worth County and Thomas County, Georgia. JAMES FREDERICK (FED) WATSON3 BROWN was born June 03, 1895 in Worth County, Georgia. He was 84 years at death., and died November 01, 1979 in Thomas County, He was buried at Laura Hill Cemetery-10 St. -Lot 17;Thomasville, Ga.. He married RENA LOLA DOWNS March 04, 1914 in Turner County, Georgia, daughter of WILLIAM DOWNS and FRANCIS HALL. She was born January 22, 1897 in Turner Co. Georgia and she died at age 91 years., and died August 23, 1988 in Thomas County.Laura Hill-10th St.-Lot 17.Thomasville, Ga.. Fed was named after his grandfather: James Frederick "Jim" Watson. Everyone called him Fed; he grew up and lived in the Doles Community in Worth County, Georgia. While young, his family lived in the house that the Doctor Ford owned. Some of his younger siblings were born in that house, right in Doles, Community, Worth Co., Ga. Fed's mother and father purchased some farm land and the family moved and began to work the land. It was while living on the farm (near Red Oak Church), Doles Dist. that Fed’s father Joseph suddenly died of a heart attack. Fed then helped raise his younger brothers and sisters after his father died with his mother Leola [Watson] Brown. Once grown; Fed married and moved his family to Thomas County (Boston area) , Thomasville, Georgia and he lived there for the rest of his life on the farm he and his wife Rena; homesteaded and farmed. Fed's mother Leola moved to Moultrie, Georgia and lived with her daughter, in her later years. She died in Moultrie, Colquitt Co., and was buried beside her husband, Joe at Red Oak Baptist Church Cemetery, in Doles Community, Worth County, Georgia. Leola, went to live with Stella and her son, Nick in her later years in Moultrie, and worked at the sewing factory. Every family has a story and my aunt shared this story about her mother, Rena. This aunt states that she was told the story by her mother when she was a little girl. The story is that when Fed and Rena, were both very much in love and they wanted to get married. She relates that in order to get married; Rena left out one night through her window and rode horseback with Fed to get married. They eloped to get married. Rene was living with her parents at the time in Turner County, Georgia; just a few miles from Davis School (near Ashburn). Later we learn that the Downs family moved to Worth County. Rene still lived with her parents after getting married and they didn't tell them they were married for awhile. Fed knew he needed to find work and so he broke away from his family and he found a farm he could work and sharecrop just outside of Boston (near Thomasville, Ga.). Rene didn't move with him at first because her parents were getting older and sick. Rene didn't want to live so far away from them. Rene was just a young girl of 15 years, but very much in love. It took a long time to travel the distance from Ashburn to Thomasville/Boston area. The roads weren't paved, only two-rutted roadways between the cities. Rena didn't want to move to Thomasville, she wanted to be near her parents. So, Fed went to Thomasville, lived and farmed for a year before Rena finally moved to Thomasville for them to be together. It was only after her parents died, that she moved with him. They only had wagons and buggies in those days, so traveling was very hard and this is why Rena didn't want to live so far from her parents. In a History book on Turner County, it had marriages listed. For the year 1914; it had him listed as Fred Brown and her listed as Rena Daniels (?); with J. S. Fillyaw, Justice Peace. Wrote and received a Certified Copy of Their Marriage Certificate. it shows March 4, 1914 and it clearly has Fed Brown marrying Rena Downs on the names being certified that are married. PaPa Fed was 21 years old when he married Rena Lola Downs and she was 15 years old. The year they were married as 1914. Life in THOMAS COUNTY, Thomasville, Georgia: Known to all as Fed Brown, he rented and homesteaded and Farmed the land of Pete DeSantis & Son Plantation all his life. This acreage was approximately 100 acres that he farmed. They lived on this property on Summerhill Road, outside of Thomasville, Ga for over 40 years. They first rented from the Powell's, who sold the Plantation to The DeSantis family, who later sold it to Love Family. They first HOMESTEADED the property from G. H. Love family and it was called the 'Love Plantation". They first rented from the Powell's, who sold the Plantation to The DeSantis family, who later sold it to Love Family. They lived in one of the oldest homes built in Thomas County, Georgia at the time. The house they lived in was over 100 years old, initially had no indoor plumbing until the 1970's when the children and grandchildren installed one. The family decided to turn the storage room into a new bathroom. There was a fireplace in the bedroom and livingroom. This house had two large rooms with smaller rooms built on it in the front and in back. There were large magestic steps leading up to a front porch with two doors which one led into either of the large rooms. There were several chicken coups and small storage sheds out back. They had a water pump and well of their own away from the house in the yard. Rena kept this yard grass free, because snakes were such a problem. The rooms of this house were gigantic and grandmother used one room for what was known as her formal living room; although it still had a bed and chest drawers in the room too. The other large room had two huge beds in it. The bedsteads were made of iron and were heavy. Rena had made several bed mattresses with feathers for one of the beds and she had layered the two beds with several mattresses to make them more confortable. Rena’s beautiful quilts were on her beds. Quilts that she had made by hand for her home. Her dollies and other dresser coverings, well she had embroidered them and sewed them by hand. This house was a sturdy, well built home. The central rooms were made of huge logs that were placed and interlocked together and because there were no painted walls in the house, one could see these magestic logs interlocked between each other. I loved the smoke stack of the fireplaces and when rounding the curve of the road and seeing the house at the top of the hill with smoke coming out of the fireplaces and stacks, a person knew they were coming home. At the end of the clearing was the barn, it was still standing in 1999 [at a visit to the site.] After Fed died, Rena didn't want to live by herself in the great big house; so the family moved her into Thomasville into a small apartment to be nearer to the family which was located in Thomasville, Ga. The farm property was sold to a Phil Henderson and renamed the Ocilla Plantation. Mr. Henderson rented the house to a black man named "Dude" until he later moved out. The house and yard became an eyesore, with old junk cars and trash. Then the house got vandalized by the youth in the area and so the owner decided to have surveyors to check the house to see if it was savageble or if it could be moved to a historical site for preservation. However, most the timbers by this time were rotten, too much damage had taken place by this time. So, Mr. Henderson decided to save what timbers he could and burned down the rest. Some of the oldest logs of pine timber were salvageable and he has reused this lumber in his buildings on the property. The good logs (which were over 100 years old) were shipped to a man who bought the timber and logs. This man lived in Atlanta, Ga. The barn is still standing today along with the well, pump. The land has now naturally reseeded on its own with beautiful pine trees. Most of the fields are still being farmed by the plantation; and peanuts, sugar cane, etc. is still being grown on the land that Fed farmed. Now; where this large grand white house had once stood, were rows of planted pine trees. There were some traces of the area the house was because many of Rena’s plants that were in her beautiful flowered front yard were still there. Fed liked to smoke his Prince Edward rolled cigarettes. He would sit by the fireplace and roll up a cigarette and smoke sometimes. Rena dipped snuf. I used to think this was the most disgusting thing. Both of them did not have birth certificates. So before either of them could draw their social security, they had to have affidavits of those people who knew their ages to acknowledge legally of their statements and then social security numbers were issued to both of them. A lot of births back when they were born were not simply not required to have records kept. by the State of Georgia records. "Fed" and his wife, Rena Lola (Downs) Brown, lived and raised their family while living (near Boston, Ga.) outside of Thomasville, Georgia and lived in their home on Summerhill Road. There he leased and sharecropped a farm with over 100 acres of land on a plantation for many, many years after, even until his children, were grown, and this was where he lived until he died. Lots of family reunions were held in this home for many years. Christmas’s with all the family gathered were warm and wonderful, with lots of food and presents when available. However there was none of these celebrations more important than when Fed and Rena celebrated both their "25th Year Silver Wedding Anniversary" and "50th Golden Wedding Anniversary" while living in this home. In Today’s society this would be quite an accomplishment. Shelling of many, beans, peas. Shucked corn, blanched the vegetables and learning to can and jar the vegetables or freeze them in a freezer. Food in the grocery stores did not just magically appear, they were grown on farms and harvested. They raised and grew their own hogs [pigs] and that provided the meat Rena loved to grow and plant the "cherry tomatoes" bushes and every year she would plant many of them. Many a grandchild would be seen with a box of salt taken to the field and they would pick the tomatoes, lick them and pour salt on them and pop them into their mouth. This farm land had lots of Pecan trees and Rena would find herself harvesting the pecans for her best pecan pies in the county. For many years, Rena used a wringer-washer machine and the clothes had to be hung out in the yard on lines to dry. I can imagine the pain of the icy cold wind blowing on my wet hands, when hanging the clothing out. I wondered often, how on such cold days, the clothing would dry, but it did. Rena had her clothes line strung out all across the side yard and posts to keep the lines up from the weight of the wet clothing. Now, living in the city, families took great pride on having lawns of green, green grass. But, Rena had been taught from an early age that grass in the yard was not a good thing to have on a farm and so they didn't have any grass on their yard and would take great pains to keep the grass from growing. Rena would take a hoe and spent many hours in the yard, hoeing the weeds away that began to grow. She knew that this helped keep the snakes and other rodents from coming into the yard and house. In a picture of Rena at 14 years of age, standing with her siblings and her parents, Benjamin Downs and Francis Isley Hall Downs; the yard in this picture is also only ground, no grass. Now, Fed & Rena Brown had many chickens on this farm my grandmother gathered the eggs every day. They had several chicken houses built, for the chickens to coop at night and boxes with straw for them to lay their eggs Fed & Rena had some luxuries in their later years. They added a telephone, they had a black & white TV and later a small color set. Both of them lived to see the first cars, farm machinery, tractors, and many more items of machinery. They added electricity to their home. There was one light bulb hanging in the center of the rooms. They didn't add the bathroom on to the house until after it was too difficult for either of them to go outdoors anymore. Too many people were moving into the area and the road got paved, cars and all. It was simply not very smart to not have an indoor bathroom in the house anymore. So, the family (sons) converted the storageroom, canning room, into the new bathroom for them. Fed and Rena purchased some used gas stoves and owned two refrigerators and ice chests for storage of their food. Rena still owned her sewing machine which she truly loved. Life changed with the modernization of our homes, transportation, and food storage. Guitar, fiddles, drums and singing was a way of life. Pianos existed in a few homes. Mass communication with TV's, radio and ham radio brought this nation together. Many a night would find a family gathered around the radio to listen to the programs before TV came into existence. It wasn’t long after Fed died that the family lost Rena Brown too. She died of a Heart Attack. She was also heartsick after PaPa died and missed him a great deal. She is buried in Thomasville, Georgia, Found on 10th Street, Lot 17 of Laura Hill Cemetery, Thomasville, Georgia Born: Jan. 22, 1897 and died Aug. 23, 1988. Rena kept a candy box in the house and at the days end, would go out to the backyard when the laborers would come in from working in the fields. Fed would pay them and Rena would sell her candies to any of them who wanted to buy candies. Many couldn't get into town very often so they loved getting to buy the candies. Rena always kept a box filled with cloth floor sacks and never threw any old clothing away. She would always but the cloth into squares for her quilting. Some of the most beautiful quilts were made by her. At night, when laying in our beds, if looking up one could see these quilts hanging down. Rena would sew pillow cases, aprons, pot holders, etc. from this cloth. Rena dad one of the peddle Singer Sewing machines. Lighting was bad, as there was only one light bulb which hung down from the ceiling in the middle of the room. Rena ‘s kitchen had large tin buckets with lids on them in which she kept her flour, lard and sugar. They always bought large bags of replacement for the buckets as trips to town were very few. Whenever she needed to fry a chicken; she would go out into the backyard and pick out one. She would wring its neck to kill it. Then, the chicken was placed into a boiling hot pan of water and feathers were picked off the chicken to clean it. Rena was a simple person, and so she kept all her "purties" as she called them in one large closet, room to the house. From time to time she would let us see those things she had collected over all the years. She once showed us a box filled with lots of silver dollars that she had collected since she was little. I don't know what became of them. Rena always kept her hair pulled back in a bun. She was a beautiful person and loved life. I never, ever heard Rena complain about her life and how hard she worked. She never spoke badly of anyone This grand lady really knew how to cook.. My grandmother married at age 15 and lived with my grandfather their entire life. They had a large family; two of the babies died at a young age. A Grand and Gracious lady. Going to town, for Fed and Rena was fun. Thomasville, Ga. still has the brick streets in the center of the town. There weren't malls at that time and so life in town centered on the main street. She would walk from store to store, looking in windows and looking at things too expensive to buy. The best times were the large parades downtown, like the Rose Parade in downtown Thomasville. Both Fed and Rena Brown would go to them every year as they loved all the excitement, balloons and fun food. Their marriage lasted many, many years. I have both the 25TH Wedding Anniversary picture of them and the 50TH Wedding Anniversary picture (which I took) of them. They never let any problems, financial or personal get in the way of being together. When you saw one of them, you saw the other. They were like two peas in a pod. They just went about their work daily knowing that it had to be done to survive. My grandparents were determined never to let any hardship of life get them down. They raised very successful children who went on to have families of their own and grand-children and great-great grand- children who are now successful in life. Many of the BROWN family descendants are still living in the Thomasville area today. Children of FED BROWN and RENA [DOWNS] BROWN are: 2. i. OLA MAE BROWN, b. May 03, 1915, Turner Co., Ashburn, Ga. 3. ii. WILLIAM (BUDDY) AARON BROWN, b. Mar 08, 1917, Worth County, Ga. d. Nov 03, 1952, 35 yrs old at death. Laura Hill Cemetery,Thomasville, Ga.. 4. iii. EMMA LOU BROWN, b. May 28, 1919, Turner Co., Ga. Ashburn Georgia d.Oct 22, 1999, Ashburn, Ga. 80 yrs Rose Hill Cemetery/Perry Funeral Home. 5. iv. ELLEN FRANCIS BROWN 6. v. DOWNS VIRGIL BROWN, b. May 20, 1924; d. Jan 03, 1990, Deceased - Thomasville, Laurel Hill Cemetery. vi. MARY LOUISE BROWN, b. January 27, 1927; d. March 07, 1927 Red Oak Cemetery, Doles, Ga. Row 13; 12 miles out of Sylvester, Ga. 7. vii. GRACE LOLA BROWN 8. viii. J. L. BROWN ix.BABY BOY BROWN b. Oct 12, 1935, Tombstone reads 'Infant Son of F. D. Brown." NOTES; d. Oct 12, 1935, Red Oak Cemetery, Doles, Ga. Row 13; 12 miles out of Sylvester, Ga.. Baby Boy Brown - The F stood for Frederick or fed (fathers nick name) and the D stood for Downs (Maiden name of Rena). He was born dead and so they never named him. He was buried as Baby Boy Brown. 9. x. MARGARET "MARGIE" BROWN File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/thomas/bios/bs238brown.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/gafiles/ File size: 19.9 Kb