Brown, George A.
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B R 0 W N
GEORGE
1 8 6 5
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-oGeor ge Arthur Brown, a member of the
ichigan
Conference, was born November 3, 1865, in the village
of Saline,
ashtenaw County, Michigan.
His parents,
James R. and Rebecca (Parsons) Brown, were faithful
and devoted members of the Methodist Church; and
among his earliest memories are those of Church and
Sunday school, his mother's Bible stories and his
father's family altar.
Before he was ei ght years old, both father and
mother had passed to their heavenly home, leaving him,
their only child, to the care of relatives.
their influence remained.
But
He says of his youthful
experience: "I continued to attend church and Sunday
school with interest, prayed by myself, and purposed
when I should be grown to take my place among
Christians.
But it was not until I was eighteen,
after graduating from the high school in Saline, that
I definitely took Christ as my Saviour, and, in the
Methodist Church in Ann Arbor where I was then empl oyed, made my first pub lic confession of faith."
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A fe w months later, he decided to enter the
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University of Michigan, from which he graduated in
the class of 1888.
He had taken an active part in
the work of the Students' Christian Association, but
r
says that he then had no thought of entering the
ministry.
In his college course, he had spent much
time on science and mathematics, and began teaching
in those lines.
During the year following his
graduation from the University, however, the conviction came with growing force that God would have
him in the Christian ministry .
After some weeks of
mental stru ggle; he at length yielded; and on the
advice of his pastor, he went at once for training
to the Garnett Biblical Institute at Evanston, Ill.
During the summer vacations (there were no summer
terms then), he employed his time and gained experience by supplying, for the three summers, pulpits in
~ ackinaw
City, Constantine, and a rural circuit in
Oakland County.
May, 1892.
He graduated from the Institute in
Through the influence of a classmate,
Thomas Nicholson (afterwards Bishop) and of Presiding
l
Elder N. L. Bray, he was led to apply for admission
into the Michigan Conference.
At the session held
in Hillsdale that September, he was received on trial
and a ppointed to the Camden Charge in Hillsdale
C ount~
The y oung preacher purchased a horse and buggy
3
and p lunged into the work, preaching mornin g and evening at Camden, on Sundays, and afternoons at Montgomery four miles away.
Several we eks of revival meet-
in gs were hel d in the winter a t e a ch church.
The
Lord h onored his ministry with many additions to t he
church; and a children's meeting or j unior l e ague l e d
b y him we ekly is still remembered by many who were
then children.
He was ordained to Deacon in 1893
b y Bishop Bowman; a nd to Elder's orders i n 1896 by
Bishop Walden.
Aft e r Camden, his subsequent appoi ntm ents were
as follows, the conference year begi nnin g i n
Septe ~
(
ber in all cas e s: Wh ite Pi geon (and 1ottville ) , 1894
l
to l o98 ; Evart (a nd a school house), 1898 to 1905;
Alle gan (and
ill grove), 1905 to 1908; Upton Avenue,
Battle Creek, 1908 to 1911; Ea st Avenue, Kalamazoo,
1911 to 1915; Lyons ( and Pewamo), 191 5 to 1919;
Coloma and
~atervliet
(and Riverside), 1919 to 1922;
Ganges Parish (comprisin g Ganges, Glenn, Sau gatuck,
and later, Pearl), 1922 to 1927; Casso polis (Vanda lia
and Jones), 1927 to 1930; Paw Paw (and Almena), 19 30
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t o 1933.
His colle ge work i n science, not c hosen with the
thou ght of preaching, has nevertheless, h e believes,
been of value in giving him a sympat hetic und erstanding of this a ge of science.
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In his church at Camden, he found a young woman,
Miss Metta Alward, who became his wife on September
19, 1894; and went with him to grace the parsonage
home at White Pi ge on.
There they stayed four
yea~s.
To them were born three sons, Alward Embury and
lVe sley Laverne at White Pigeon and Beverly George at
Evart.
At Evart, an enterprising town still surrounded
with pine stumps and other reminders of logging days,
A new parsonage
he served his longest pastorate.
was built, the membership increased, and they passed
several happy and useful years.
But in the sixth
summer the beloved wife and mother sickened and she
passed away October 6, 1904, leaving him alone to
ca rry on his work and care for his three boys, eight,
six, and five years ol d.
At Allegan he found a beautiful, new church
building, but with a heavy debt, an d a sadly divided
member ship.
lems.
Some progress was made with both prob-
In his last year there, on
~ ay
20, 1908, he
was married a gain, his bride being Miss Frances Ehle
of .Pulaski, New York.
She has served with h im ef-
ficiently in all his subsequent pastorates, and is
still with him in hi s retirement.
Upton
venue, Batt le Creek, and East Avenue,
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Kalamazoo, were suburban churc hes, t he first with a
deb ·_ and a fine group of youn g people, and the second
with a dif f icult situation due to previous divisions.
During these years, he served also for five ye a rs as
Secretary of t he Bichi gan State Holiness Campmeeting
Association, whic h h el d an a nnua l campme eting at
Eaton Rapids, Michigan.
Lyons a ga i n was a villa ge church with an outa ppointment, but each t y p e of church has its advantij ges, and its opportunities of workin g with fine
Christian people.
Durin g t his pastorate came the
exciting days of America's participation in the World
W
ar, the enlistm ent of the youngest
on and his ser-
vice i n France, and the other sene • enrollment in
training cor ps.
In this place c ame also the strenu-
ous work of the 1ethodist Centenary Campaign.
Coloma and Watervli et, t win to wns in the fruitbelt, Gan ges, a churc h in the open country
~rouped
with ot h er small churches into a so-called "Parish",
and t h e later a pp ointm ents at Cassopolis a n d Paw Paw,
all p resented a variety of opp ortunities and probl em s
which called for hi s best in preach ing and p astoral
service.
In t he work of the conference, he served three
I
\
y ears as Conference Treasurer.
For ten years he wa s
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on the Secret a ry's staff, and for six years he was
Conference Secretary.
He was also one of the del-
e gates from the conference to the General Conference
of 1920, which met in Des
~ oines,
Iowa.
At the close of his third year at Paw Paw,
recognizing the increasing limitations of advancing
age in hims elf and wife, and having given forty-one
years of continuous service, he decided to take the
retired relation and make way for younger men.
He
now is living at his home on Cambridge Drive, in the
suburbs of Kalamazoo, helpin g as he can in the local
church and occasionally as pulpit supply for pastors .
Written in September, 1938.
FRANCES
E H L E
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BRO \fN
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-o-
rs. Frances Ehle Brown was born in Sandy Creek
township, Oswego county, New York, on May
20~
1867.
Later the family lived in the neighboring village of
Pulaski,, New York, and there on May 20, 1908, she
was united in marriage with the Reverend George A.
Brown, who was then pastor of the Methodist Epigcopal
Church i n AlLegan, Michigan.
Mrs. Brown entered faithfully upon the work of
pastor's wife, and the care of his three growing
boys.
With him she served i n his pastorates at
Upton Avenue, Ba.t t.le Creek,, a.t East Avenue, Kalamazoq
and later at Lyons, Coloma,, Watervliet, Ganges,
Cas~opolis,
and Paw Paw.
In 1833, they retired and made their home in
KaJ. amazoo.
As
long as her strength permitted, she
was interested and active in the Church School a nd
~omen's
work of the Damon Methodist Church.
She passed away at Bronson Methodist Hospital,
Kalamazoo, January
8~
1944, at the age of seventy-
six.
Funeral services were held at the Damon Church
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on January ll, 1944, with the pastor, t he Rev. J. R.
Steele in charge, assisted by the Rev . R. D. Wearne,
the Rev. Frank Wright., and the District
Superintendent,Rev. Raymond B. Spurlock.
burial was at
Camden~
Michigan.
The