In the book's own words, not ours, with obvious scanning errors fixed. Families often supplied these stories to the publisher, so check key dates.
Born 1831, Carroll county
From History of Ray County, Mo. (1881)
CHARLES W. BROWN.
Was born in Carroll county, Missouri, on the 9th day of January, 1831. He received his education in the district schools of his native state, and early began the occupation of farming with his father, then a prominent farmer of Carroll county. This vocation he followed for some years. He removed to Breckenridge, Caldwell county, Missouri, in 1875, and engaged in merchandising with Messrs. McWilliams & Russell. Three years later he left Caldwell county, going to Kansas City, and entered the wholesale hat and cap business, with McWilliams, Crook & Co. He afterwards bought Defevers & Sons' dry goods store in the town of Morton, four miles north of the line of the Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railroad, and has ever since conducted that branch of business there. Mr. Brown was married on the 24th of February, 1881, to Miss Rosie E. Keyes, of Ray county, Missouri. Mr. Brown is doing a large and lucrative business at Morton, and is highly respected for the fair, honorable and impartial treatment he gives to all alike, and for his many good qualities as a man.
As printed in History of Ray County, Mo. (1881). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
The printed record stops around 1881. We trace your line from there down to you, with every source cited.