The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1902-01-04
OBITUARY..
Death of Mrs. Brown at jamestown,
Minn., on Christmas Day.

Death of Mrs. Brown at Jamestown,
Minn., on Christmas Day.
Died in Jamestown, Blue Earth
county, Minnesota, on Wednesday,
Dec. 25th, 1901. Ester Farrell Brown,
aged IS years and months.
Almost full round century of
earthly existence was the time allot-
ted to Mrs. Brown, who was inferred
on Friday of last week at Marysburg
Minnesota. She was born in the parish
of Killcullen, county Kildare, Ireland,
on Easter Sunday 1914, and departed
this life on another great Church
Holiday, Christmas 1901. When still
but girl, in common with so many
of her fellow countrymen, she sought
the liberty-loving shores of America,
landing in New York, where within
a few years she met, loved and linked
her life with her late lamentcd hus-
band, Mr.. William Brown. After her
marriage she remained in the metro
polls Of the nation until 1857, when
they determined to try their fortunes
in what was then the outpost of civil
lization, the territory of Minnesota
This action was probably superin-
duced by her brother, Mr.. Michael B.
Farrell, so we'll and favorably known
as one of the pioneer residents of Blue
Earth county. This, therefore, was al
most half a century ago when Ester T..
Brown and husband settled in James
town on the north shore of Lake VAL
entine, where they have since resided
constantly, short intervals of absence
alone excepted. How stupendous
have been the changes wrought in the
North Star State during their resi-
dence: and what marvels throughout
the civilized world during her life; she
was destined to see the birth and death
Of one of the greatest queens of mod
ern or ancient times; likewise to see
introduced to the use and benefit of
mankind almost every invention Of
any special value or aid in the art of
civilization, among which are the sew
ing machine, reaping machine, tele-
graph, telephone, bicycle, automobile
and hundreds of others too numerous
to mention.
When we consider events during
her life, the retrospect is even greater;
Waterloo, at her birth was still un-
decided and unfought, and Napoleon
was rapidly changing the geography
of Europe; and the black serf was
destined to remain in human bondage
even i'll our own free America, nearly
half century awaiting the cloqucnce
of Philips and Sumner, and the life
blood Of her namesakc, "John Brown"
to influence the nation to proper ac-
ton, eliminating in the Emancipation.
Proclamation by the great Lincoln,
destined soon after to be martyr to
the cause
While individuals are as interesting
as cvcnts,-To illustrate the prince of
modern prose, Lord Macauley was
Just sufficiently advanced i'm years and
thought, to indite Il letter from school
to his mother; Gladstone was trying
to learn the alphabet. while O'Conncll
Burke. Webster, Pope Leo. Cardinals
Manning, Newman and Gibbons, and
like celebrities were still unborn, or in
their infancy and unknown.
But to return without too much
aggression from the subject of this
sketch, one cannot help in contemplate
ing the life and death Of the deceased,
but feel how beautiful are both when
the proper concepts of life are properly
fulfilled, as Burns has Said,-
Life is but a day at most,
Sprung from night in darkness lost.
And yet a life of so many noble
wOmanly attributes. so rich in the fruit
of honest industry not in vast ac-
emulation, but in cherished memories,
cannot be lost to this nor to the world
to come Ester Farrell Browns name
will be cherished for many, many
years in the vicinity of which she was
so long Il useful ana deserving mem
Der, especially noted for her kind
solicitations for all save herself.
Surrounded by her brother and his
family with all the care that Kindness
or skill could bcstow, like Il leaf
from the tree she quietly passed
away on the first Christmas of
the twentieth century. And two
days subsequent all that was
mortal Of her was borne by tender
hands of those that knew her long
and loved her well, up the long aisle
of the religious cdifice before the altar
Of which she had offered her humble
supplicatiOns scores of years, and
thereafter to her final resting place
in the cemetery.
Contemplating at the close of her
long pure life the vastness of her
deeds Of goodness and mercy, we feel