| CLIMBING THE BROWN
FAMILY TREE
by: Brenda Brown Lasko Chapter 12 Robert Vernon Brown's Story Robert Vernon Brown was very well known in the Ohio Valley in his life time. As mentioned, he married Anna Trader and 7 children were born to them. Anna had died somewhere around 1931 as the result of a childish prank. Someone threw a firecracker at her feet as she walked down the street. The explosion injured her leg and and it became infected. She never recovered from the injury and ultimately died from blood poisoning. Bob was a deputy marshal and constable for many years in the Powhatan area but this is not what most people knew him for. His fame came from his collection of Indian artifacts and antiques. For years Bob had searched the area for arrowheads, tomahawks, and even the graves of the Indians. In time his collection grew into one of the largest in the state of Ohio. He had thousands of pieces in his collection including many rare ceremonial pieces and several complete skeletons. He also collected antique items such as guns and other weapons. It was the opening of the graves and disturbing the remains of the Indians that caused his sister Bessie great concern. She had said many times that nothing good could ever come from disturbing the dead and desecrating their graves. Bob didn't see it that way because he was fascinated by the American Indians and wanted to learn as much as he could of their life before they were driven out by the white settlers. The graves provided articles and information that couldn't be obtained any other way. It was common knowledge Indians buried their dead with the things they valued during their life and the only way to get these items was to open the graves. He was not alone in his quest and many others in his generation searched the Captina Valley for the same things. Bob seemed to have an instinct or real talent for finding the artifacts and built his collection into an attraction. He displayed his accumulation on a small scale but a chance meeting changed all of that. In August of 1933, Bob met a woman named Eva Timmer. She was from Michigan and came to Powhatan with a carnival, working as a fortune teller. She sojourned at the Powhatan Hotel and, at the end of her stay, was unable to pay her bill. Bob had made her acquaintance while she was living at the hotel. He stepped in and gave her the money to clear her debt. During this time they formed a business partnership. Eva was a salesman and knew how to work a crowd. She quickly realized Bob had something worth a great deal of money and people would pay to see. They concocted a plan to travel to all the local fairs and then tour the state with Bob's collection of artifacts. An old school bus was outfitted to transport the collection and would provide temporary living quarters while they were on the road. They traveled the area that Fall and bought and sold relics. The couple stopped at small schools in Ohio and West Virginia, gave lectures and showed the collection. They did a good business and were quite an attraction when they stopped at local gatherings. On one of these trips around October 12, 1933, Eva shot and killed Bob then threw his body out of the bus along the roadside near Carey, Ohio. Miss Timmer told several stories about the incident but eventually the truth was discovered and she was arrested for his murder. She was found guilty at her trial and sentenced to prison but escaped before serving her time and was never found, to the best of our knowledge. At the time of his death there were 4 of his seven children living. One son Maxwell had died at the age of 4 and two girls died shortly after their birth. His oldest son, Lee Brown then age 24, was living on a farm outside of Powhatan. Ross age 21 was in a forest conservation camp in California. The two younger boys, Russell age 14, and Junior age 10, were with the Donley family. (Junior was raised by my grandparents, Grover and Bessie Brown, after this tragic end to his father's life.) Bob's body was returned to Powhatan and was laid out in my grandmother's home for the wake and funeral. Robert Vernon Brown was buried on October 18, 1933, in the Powhatan Cemetery. Uncle Bob's collection would be priceless today, if it has remained together. Unfortunately, the collection was sold to settle the estate. A furnace company purchased most of the collection and used the arrowhead and spear tips as decorative garnishments on the fancy stoves they manufactured. Only a few pictures of this impressive aggregation of historical treasures remain in the family. Index 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Epilogue
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