Frank Brown who follows general farming on section 22, Hume township, was born in New York city, April 12, 1858, his parents being James and Catherine (Gaulropp) Brown. The father, whose birth occurred in Germany on the 7th of December, 1832, is still living on his farm on section 22, Hume township, having passed the seventy-fifth milestone on life's journey. His wife, who was born November 12, 1836, in Germany, died on the old homestead in this county, January 2, 1908.
The father was only five years of age when brought by his parents to America in 1837, the family home being established in New York city, where he acquired his education and learned the cabinet-maker's trade, which he followed in the metropolis for a number of years. It is rather unusual for a man city born and city bred to choose farm life but this course Mr. Brown pursued and it proved a wise one. In the year 1865 he came westward to Whiteside county and took up his abode upon a farm west of Rock Falls, which he rented. He continued to cultivate rented land until 1876, when with the money he had saved from his earnings he invested in eighty acres of land on section 22, Hume township. Not long afterward he bought eighty acres more and has since lived on that place, his labors transforming it into a productive and valuable farm upon which are now seen many substantial improvements. In his work he has been energetic and practical as well as progressive and has gained well merited success. His wife came to America with her parents in 1851 and they, too resided in New York city, where Catherine Gaulropp gave her hand in marriage to James Brown. Unto them were born ten children as follows: Henry, a resident of Hume township; Frank, whose name introduces this record; Mrs. Amelia Heckman, a resident of Sterling; Mrs. Lizzie Gaffey, who resides in Hume township; John, also of Hume township; Mrs. Mary Pettit, who makes her home in Cordova, Illinois; George, who resides in Sterling; Joseph, who died at the age of twenty-six years; and two, who died in infancy.
Frank Brown was a little lad of about seven years when brought by his parents from New York city to Whiteside county, where he has since lived. The public schools afforded him his educational privileges and under his father's direction he received ample training in the work of the farm, early becoming familiar with the best methods of carrying on the work of field and meadow. When twenty-five years of age he started out in life on his own account as an agriculturist and in 1900 he bought eighty acres from his father. This he at once began to improve and develop, erecting all of the buildings upon the place and making it largely a model farm. Here in connection with the raising of cereals best adapted to soil and climate he also raises shorthorn cattle and Poland China hogs of high grade and his business interests are materially advanced thereby.
On the 18th of October, 1882, Mr. Brown was united in marriage to Miss Annie Beck, who was born in Germany, August 14, 1861, and is a daughter of John and Rose (Haberer) Beck. The father, who was born in 1817, died in 1878, and his wife passed away the same year. Her birth occurred in 1830. Their family numbered six children: Mrs. Christina Wolber, who makes her home in Sterling; Mrs. Barbara Oberdorf, a resident of Carroll county, Illinois; Annie, now Mrs. Brown; Jacob, of Sterling township; Mrs. Rose Brown, a resident of Hume township; and Mrs. Sallie Stern, also of Sterling township. The home of Mr. and Mrs. Brown has been blessed with five children: William, born July 13, 1883; Frank, July 1, 1885; Mable, January 29, 1888; Roy, July 10, 1893; and Grace, September 9, 1902, all yet under the parental roof.
Mr. Brown has served as a school director for several years and the cause of education finds in him a stalwart and earnest champion. He gave his political allegiance to the democracy until 1905, when he became a supporter of the republican principles. He and his wife are members of the German Lutheran church and he belongs to the Modern Woodman Camp No. 12 of Sterling and to the Mystic Workers of the World at Rock Falls. Almost his entire life has been passed in this county and for more than four decades he has been closely associated with agricultural interests here. He stands as a high type of the progressive farmer, who utilizes his opportunities to good advantage and is quick to adopt any new method which his judgment sanctions as a valuable one in promoting farming interests.

SOURCE: History of Whiteside County, Illinois : from its earliest settlement to 1908. Chicago: Pioneer Pub. Co., 1908, 1493 pgs.