Wm. R. Brown

Funeral services for Wm. R. Brown, aged fifty-nine years, for many years a resident of Grand Ledge and Lansing, were held here Sunday at one o’clock at the Smith Chapel, Rev. E. R. Latham of the Congregational Church officiating. Burial was made at Oakwood Cemetery. Wm. R. Brown was born March 9, 1869, in Chesaning, Mich. His parents Matthew R. and Catherine Davis Brown came to Saginaw county from England in the early sixties, as pioneers, cutting their farm of forty acres out of the Michigan forest. As a young man, Mr. Brown came to Grand Ledge where he met and later married Dec. 5, 1894, Miss Mertie Durham, daughter of John H. Durham, long a resident of Clinton County. The couple removed to Lansing where both were active in lodge work. Fifteen years ago Mr. and Mrs. Brown took up their residence in Detroit and for the greater part of that time, Mr. Brown was an employee of the Packard Motor Co. For twenty-five years he was a member of Lansing Capital Lodge, No. 66, F. and A. M. and of Lansing Lodge No. 45, Ι. Ο. O. F. He died suddenly Friday morning at his home, 5692 Seminole Ave., Detroit. He had not been in good health since an automobile accident, nine months ago, in which he suffered lacerations of the scalp and fractured ribs. Funeral servcies in Detroit were held at the Eppens Chapel, 8346, Gratiot Ave., at 4 P. M. Saturday with Rev. Bertram W. Pullinger, rector of Grace Episcopal Church, officiating. Services in Grand Ledge were under the auspices of Grand Ledge Masonic Lodge, acting for the Lansing lodge. Charles Porter, who knew the deceased here as a young man, gave the Masonic burial ritual at the grave. Mr. Brown was buried beside his wife who passed away eleven years ago. He leaves one daughter, Vera Brown McKenzie, of Detroit, a member of the editorlal staff of the Detroit News, two sisters, Mrs. James Love and Mrs. Anna Harris of Flint, one brother, Jesse Brown of Owosso, his fatherin-law, John H. Durham and brother-in-law, Byron H. Durham, who reside at 1705 Donora St. Lansing.