Taylor County, TX - Biography - George Browne **************************************************************************** This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Dorman Holub Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm **************************************************************************** The Abilene Reporter News Sunday, April 8, 1956 George Browne Came Here Before 1881 Town Lot Sale It must have been the spirit of Abilene, certainly not its paved streets nor its drinking water. But George S. Browne finally hung up hit hat and decided to stay. Young Browne had come into Abilene before its town-lot sale, probably arriving in February 1881, along with Charlie Goldbery who was to open a dry goods store. Working here for two and a half years before leaving to help his brother-in-law, John Swenson, on his Jones County ranch. Browne was back again in 1890. So he married and made it his home. Browne recalled that first train ride, back in 1881. They rode flats Ð coaches were used later Ð and it was a lively crowd. Some staged badger fights at every stop. Tent Town He found Abilene a town of tents and upon wagon yards, and some 200 people. By March 14 there were 500. But in February there was only one hotel and it was a Òtent cot houseÓ with cots crowded close together. But even the cots were taken and he and Charlie slept on a mattress on the floor. The next morning they erected a portable house on N. 1st between Pine and Cypress. The house cost $120 and was financed by CharlieÕs brother in Fort Worth where they had both lived and worked. So they opened for business, and lived in the back of the new store. ÒWe cooked our own meals until one day Charlie started a prairie fire that spread hundreds of yards north and had nearly every man in town fighting it. The cowhands had Charlie so scared we quit cooking and took our meals at the hotel,Ó he recalled. When Major H.W. Stocking, the ticket agent or the railway, arrived with the terminal cars and opened the ticket and freight offices in Abilene on 28 February, the depot itself was but a tent on the Pine St. crossing. For 10 years, beginning about 1893, George Browne worked for the T&P railway, serving as check clerk for 18 months and as cashier for eight and a half years. But the hours were bad and he had no time to be with his family; he was almost a stranger to his little daughter Nan, now Mrs. Lester J. Gorsuch. So from 1903 to 1929 Browne was associated with the H.O. Wootten Grocery company, serving for many years as treasurer. In 1929 he returned. 1881 Fire Browne recalled another fire that swept away much of business Abilene during the first year of its life. It occurred late in August, 1881, across the tracks from CharlieÕs store and on S. 1st. In two hours time the entire block was in ashes. The fire began in the back of HornÕs saloon and in the middle of the night. Many firms carried no insurance. The plant of the Abilene Reporter was also destroyed and Browne recalled that Editor Gilbert used the press of the Baird paper to run off his own. When Browne returned to Abilene in 1890 to work for LapowskiÕs mercantile store water was still a problem for the town. But the next year, 1891, they quit drilling for artesian water and began to dam up Lytle creek. It was a success and from then on, man-made surface lakes served Abilene well. Mr. Browne was active in the work of the Methodist church and served as a steward in it continuously from 1892 and as church secretary for many years. In 1892 he and Nannie Ferguson Scott were married in Abilene. Charter Members Following her death and his marriage on 14 June 1904 to Ida Hailey of Rives, Tennessee, he continued his association with H.O. Wootten Grocers. Both he and Mrs. Browne were charter members of the St. Paul Methodist church at its organization in 1909 and helped to foster its growth. He was also member of the local Knights of Pythias lodge and became a member of the grand lodge in April 1911. George S. Browne died 25 May 1938 at the age of 76 years, but he is still remembered for his kindness and his thoughtful concern for others. His widow lives at the family home at 702 Victoria with her elders son, Gray Ð who was named for his grandfather, George W. Gray Browne, a Methodist minister who moved to Texas from Virginia with his wife in 1857. His other son, Lloyd, and his wife, the former Earlyne Sivley, with their two children Gayle and Jeffrey also live in Abilene as does his daughter, Mrs. Gorsuch. But Granddaughter Gayle is in medical school in Galveston at the present and three other grandchildren, Bonnie Browne, Lester J. Gorsuch and Mrs. Morris McDonald, also live away from here.