Waldo F. Brown

As printed in 1905

WALDO F. BROWN.

Among those who have honored and dignified the great basic art of agriculture through personal interposition and able contributions to the literature of the great science as touching theoretical and applied phases, is the subject of this review, who is one of the leading farmers and influential citizens of the county and the editor of that valuable little brochure, “Experiments in Farming,” which has reached its fourth edition and attained a circulation of thirteen thousand copies.

Waldo F. Brown is a native of the old Bay state, having been born in the city of Worcester. Massachusetts, on the 24th of October, 1832. He is a son of Lewis and Mary Elenor (Knowlton) Brown, both of whom were born and reared in Massachusetts, the former being of Scotch-Irish lineage and the latter of Welsh, while both families were represented in the early settlement of New England. The genealogy of the Knowlton family is clearly defined for more than four centuries, and the valuable and interesting family record covering this long period is in the possession of the subject of this sketch, three brothers of the name having come from Wales to America in the early colonial epoch of our national history, while their descendants are now disseminated throughout divers sections of the Union. Waldo F. Brown initiated his educational work at a very tender age, entering the infant class in the schools of his native city when but four years old, while at the age of five he could read with no little facility, being at this time appointed to read aloud to the school twice each week. In 1838 he accompanied his parents on their immigration to the West, and the family settled on a farm near Brownsville, Indiana, and here the educational advantages were limited and he was not able to avail himself to a full extent of the opportunities afforded, since he was needed at home, to assist in the work of the farm. When he was sixteen years of age his parents removed to Butler county, Ohio, and located near Oxford, in which vicinity he has ever since continued to make his home. Here he prosecuted his studies in the country schools for four years during the winter terms and supplemented this discipline by attending the graded school in Oxford for one term. That he made the best use of the advantages thus afforded is evident when we revert to the fact that he made himself eligible for pedagogic work, being a successful teacher in the district schools of the county for several terms, while in the fall of 1854 he entered Miami University, where he continued his studies for one term. Thereafter he was employed as a teacher in the Oxford schools for one term, at the expiration of which he took charge of the school at Millville, this county, retaining this position for part of one term. In 1859, at the age of twenty-seven years, Mr. Brown was united in marriage to Miss Hyla J. Sample, a cousin of the late David Sample, well-known in this county, and she died in 1868, after an illness of very brief duration. On the 13th of February, 1871, Mr. Brown wedded Miss Laura A. Cross. Of the first union were born five children and of the second, two, and all are living. For a number of years after giving up the work of teaching Mr. Brown devoted his attention to market gardening and general farming, and for more than half a century he has resided on his present fine farm, which has the best improvements and which is looked upon as a model in its line, the same comprising ninety acres and being located two miles northwest of the attractive village of Oxford. He has been very successful in connection with the horticultural industry, not depending upon the raising of grain and live stock, and his careful study and investigation and his progressive methods have not only brought him marked success but have also gained him a wide reputation, which has been greatly augmented by his many and valuable articles published in the newspaper press and issued in book and pamphlet form. In 1863 Mr. Brown began the propagation of various products for seed purposes, and in this line built up a satisfactory business. In this year, it may be appropriately noted, he secured a seed board and from the same grew some prodigious specimens, one ot the number holding eleven gallons and three pints. This was placed on exhibition at the fair of the American Agricultural Association, in New York, and attracted much attention, while there was a large concomitant demand for seeds from the stock. In connection with the raising of the various seed products Mr. Brown eventually built up a business amounting to an average of three thousand dollars a year. His success and prominence in this line led to his being chosen as editor of the agricultural department of the Cincinnati Enquirer, in 1872, five years later was offered much better salary and accepted the position as associate

Google editor ol the Ohio Farmer, which position he held for a number of years, and in the spring of 1897 became agricultural editor of the Cincinnati Gazette. He has thus been engaged in editorial work along this line for more than thirty years, and he has done much to further the interests and success of the farming community and has gained prestige as a vigorous and able writer, handling his subjects with marked discrimination and intelligence and presenting his views and the results of his experience and experiments in such a way as to prove of great practical value. He is one of the staff contributors of the New York Tribune, the Country Gentleman, and Home and Farm, while he has contributed for many other papers along the special line to which he has so long given his attention. Among his more notable published works may be mentioned the following: “Home on the Farm,” “Farm and Stock Encyclopedia,” and “Nineteenth Century Progress in Agriculture,” besides a number of smaller works which have been widely circulated. He is known as one of the most able and practical writers on agricultural topics in the Union, and his prestige has continued to increase from year to year. Realizing most fully the dignity and the possibilities offered by the farm industry, he is an enthusiastic advocate of its claims, and has advised many young men to “stick to the farm,” knowing that industry and wise management would here give as good returns as in any other field of business enterprise. In 1864 the militia company to which Mr. Brown belonged was ordered into active service and was attached to the One Hundred and Sixty-seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, the subject receiving an honorable discharge at the expiration of his term. He is a man of great public spirit and advanced ideas, and has wielded much influence in public affairs of a local nature. He has given a stanch allegiance to the Republican party, having voted for its first presidential candidate. John C. Fremont, but he has never sought official preferment. He became a member of the Presbyterian church at the age of eighteen years and has ever since been a zealous worker in the same, being now a ruling elder in the church at Millville, of which Mrs. Brown likewise is a member. He was one of the first to suggest the holding of farmers’ institutes, and was personally engaged as a lecturer in institute work for many years. In this connection he has traveled more than sixty-four thousand miles, having visited all the counties in Ohio except five. He is a man of inflexible integrity and is one of the valued and honored citizens of Butler county, where his friends are in number as his acquaintances. Mr. Brown is a member of Milligan Post, Grand Army of the Republic, at Oxford.

As printed in Centennial History of Butler County, Ohio (1905). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.