1890 to —-
It is extremely difficult to reconstruct Family History and stories accurately from 120 years ago. That history is a combination of a few known facts, some pictures, and apocryphal stories and oral history passed down over the years. Since I can remember, I was told and led to believe that when Norman and Candis married, Norman was 19 years old, and Candis was 14. Since he was born December 15, 1871, and Candis’ birthday is February 25, 1874 ( a difference of only 2 years, 2 months ) that can’t be true. Since I do not know, at this time, their exact marriage date, I am going to make an educated guess that they married in 1890 when Norman was 18, and Candis was 16. This will change when we discover their exact marriage date.
Their first child, Florence S. Brown, was born July 19, l893. Their first house was located in Verona, Ohio, on the Northwest corner of Verona-Phillipsburg Road and Montgomery-Preble County Line Road. It was, therefore, officially in Preble County. If Florence was born when they lived in Verona, she then was born in Preble County. No place of birth was listed in the family Bible for Florence, while all other children were listed as being born in Montgomery County, so it is logical to assume Preble Co. (Verona) as her birthplace.
According to oral history, the Verona house was originally a log house built around the time of 1830-40’s. When it was torn down c.1914, they discovered a ‘tunnel’ in the basement leading to a back room in the basement, undoubtedly a way station along the Underground Railroad during the time of slavery. This is very ironic, since Norman was a member of the Western Ohio-Eastern Indiana Ku Klux Klan during its revisionist period in the 1920’s. Twenty years later, in the early 1940’s in West Virginia, his granddaughter, Carolyn Ruth (Joanne) Hunt, was extremely active in the incipient Civil Rights Movement to integrate Charleston, W. Va. schools. Norman’s daughter, Ruth, ended up with Norman’s KKK robe and Carolyn still has that robe in 2012.
Sometime during the 1890’s, Norman purchased the farm and house located about one mile east of Verona on the south side of Baltimore (or Verona) Phillipsburg Road. It has now been given the location # 11260 Baltimore-Phillipsburg Road. Since Franklin Brown, born January 14, 1895, was listed as being born in Montgomery County, it is likely that they had moved to that farm sometime before that date.
A picture of the dark clapboard house shows 2 giant evergreen trees in the front yard, Those trees were still in the front yard after the new house was built and Carolyn remembers they were still there in the 1930’s, as was the fence shown in the picture. Written on the back of the picture was: “ Norman Brown’s old house; torn down in 1915; New house built in same location.” The new house had an indoor toilet.
Even though the photo caption says the house was ‘torn down’, oral history says the old house was moved to the back of the vegetable garden about 100 feet or so behind the new house, and the entire family of Candis, Norman and 6 children lived in that house while the new house was being built. Once the family moved into the new house, the old one (or part of it) was turned into the “Chicken coop” where a large flock of chickens were kept for eggs and food. Carolyn remembers collecting eggs in that chicken coop, and also remembers Candis picking a chicken or rooster, bringing it up to the sidewalk at the back of house, chopping or wringing off the neck to kill it, then dipping it in boiling hot water to take off the feathers and prepare it for dinner.
Original farmhouse on Norman/Candis Brown farm east of Verona, Ohio. Farm purchased sometime between 1893 and 1895. The family lived here with up to 6 children until 1913-14, when the new house was built 1913-14 . The original new house had white clapboard siding. The gray asbestos siding was put on in 1937-38. Carolyn remembers Granddaddy Brown and the family talking about how proud they were of the new siding. The out-building to the left of house is the smokehouse.