Person:Percy Brown (4)

Contacted Ruth Kuhlmann of Charter Oaks, Iowa today 10/1/2006. Her phone number is 712-678-3708. She is the daughter of Percy Jay and Bertha Inez Munsey Brown. She is the only child now living. She is 79 years old. She was young when her mother died, 6 months old. Her mother's sister adopted her when she was little. She started doing some family research in the 1980's as she didn't want to do it while her adopted mother and father were still alive.

She told me that the two older boys knew more about their father than she did. She mentioned that Percy was a bootlegger. He was considered the "black sheep" of the family. Percy was working on building the Lincoln Highway which ran through Dow City, where he met Bertha Munsey.

Ruth mentioned that a letter was received by her uncle Jay (married to another Munsey girl) from her father Percy in 1932. The address was an Escondido, California address. Percy inquired about his two older boys, Dewey (Robert Dumond) and William LeRoy (Roy) but not about Ralph nor Ruth.

Ruth mentioned that she has a letter from her grandmother Hattie Brown written to her mother. She says that Hattie and Bertha maintained an active correspondence. She also has a postcard from Syracuse where Percy and Ruth must have went on their honeymoon.

Ruth also mentioned that she has a picture of her grandmother Hattie, plus a picture of Percy and Bertha together and one of just Bertha, her mother.

Ruth tells of a story about a family friend who knew Percy. Mr. Woodward was his name and he was a barber. He had gone to California and had seen Percy Brown. When he went up to Percy and asked him "Aren't you Percy Brown?", Percy replied "No, I'm Joe Brown." Supposedly he had a combination barber and beauty shop.

Sometime around 1945, Percy is said to have died of a heart attack.

As for her siblings, Ruth says that Roy died in 2004, Ralph died in 1995 and Dewey in 1991. I have found the social security index entries that bear that out.

1. ↑ WWI Draft Registration Card Percy Jay Brown. (Sept 12 1918).
2.   Obit: Henry A. Brown. (Syracuse Post Standard Mar 9, 1921).