If John Galloway Brown was the patriarch who anchored our family in New York and Wisconsin, his son—my great-grandfather Abraham Lincoln Brown (1864–1948)—was the true iron-willed homesteader who carved our family's living legacy directly out of the Montana timber.
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Born right as his presidential namesake was winning re-election near the close of the Civil War, Abe was a man built for hard country. He carried the blood of New England patriots and French-Canadian voyageurs, but his heart belonged entirely to the high pines and clear waters of the northern Rockies.
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Early Years & A Frontier Marriage
Abe came into the world on November 25, 1864, in Philadelphia, Jefferson County, New York. As a boy, he trailed west with his parents to Rock County, Wisconsin, where he learned the grueling dual trades that would define his youth: clearing timber and working the plow.
By the late 1880s, young Abe caught the western drift. Heading out onto the northern plains, he met a sharp-minded woman named Geneva "Neva" Plympton (1870–1939).
THE HOMESTEAD UNION
Abraham Lincoln Brown Geneva "Neva" Plympton
(1864–1948) (1870–1939)
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• S/o John Galloway Brown • D/o Charles Henry Plympton
• Grandson of Rev. War Stock • Daughter of Union Cav. Vet
• Logger, Hunter, Homesteader • Dairywoman, Butter & Cheesemaker
Neva brought a proud line of Union sacrifice to the family tree. Her father, Charles Henry Plympton, had enlisted at sixteen in Company K of the 97th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, fighting through some of the bloodiest campaigns in the Western Theater.
On March 1, 1888, Abe and Neva were married in Roswell, Miner County, South Dakota. Over the next decade, as they moved between South Dakota, Iowa, Missouri, and back to New York, their home grew lively with five children: Stella May, Lydia Corinna (my grandmother), Olive Geneva, Emma Louise, and young Alonzo Earl "Lon".
Pushing West to Big Sky Country: The 1901 Expedition
In 1901, Abe, his two younger brothers (George and Henry), and their aging parents made the ultimate trek west to Flathead County, Montana.
Shortly after arriving in the valley, tragedy struck the young homesteading family. On August 31, 1901, Neva gave birth to a son, Raymond Brown, in Creston. But the harsh frontier took little Raymond just a few months later on December 20. Though heartbroken, Abe and Neva dug their boots in and kept building.
Abe filed on 150 acres of heavily timbered land near Creston under the Homestead Act—a tract known as Mountain Brook.
THE MOUNTAIN BROOK HOMESTEAD
[1901] Flathead Arrival ── Arrival in Creston with the Brown Clan
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[1901] Frontier Loss ── Infant son Raymond laid to rest
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[1912] Proving Up ── 150-Acre Homestead Patent Earned
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[1920s] Stump Ranch Life ── Logging, Cattle, Dairy, & Trading
To call it "farmland" when he started was a stretch; it was a rough stump ranch. Abe had to blow, pull, and burn massive ponderosa, Douglas fir and Lodgepole stumps just to clear a patch big enough for a garden and barn. Through sheer sweat and endurance, Abe proved up on his claim, earning his official homestead patent in 1912.
Life on the Creston Stump Ranch
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Abe’s stump ranch was a self-sustaining frontier kingdom. The Brown children attended the nearby one-room Cayuse Prairie School, walking through pine-scented mountain air that echoed with the sounds of sawmills and farm life.
Abe logged his acreage, farmed the cleared ground, and raised cattle and draft horses. To keep the cellar full, he harvested wild huckleberries on the mountain slopes, hunted elk and white-tailed deer, and pulled stringers of fat rainbow trout out of nearby Strawberry Lake.
DAILY LIFE & TRADE
[THE HUNT & TRAIL] [THE DAIRY & KITCHEN]
• Hunting Deer & Elk in the Swans • Neva's Fresh Milk & Butter
• Rainbow Trout from Strawberry Lk • Homemade Country Cheese
• Hide Trading with Local Tribes • Big Family Garden & Poultry
Abe held a deep, quiet respect for the local Kootenai and Salish people. He saved his deer and elk hides, tanning and trading them directly with local Indians who often visited the ranch—a fair-minded neighborly bond that endured for decades.
Meanwhile, Grandma Neva ran the homestead dairy with legendary efficiency. In her apron and sunbonnet, she worked the barn, producing fresh milk, rich butter, and country cheese that she traded with neighbors and folks down in Kalispell.
Sunset in the Shadow of the Swans
Through the boom of the 1910s, the hardships of winter, and the quiet years of the 1930s, Abe and Neva remained anchored to their Creston land.
Neva passed away on April 8, 1939, leaving behind a legacy as a true pioneer matriarch. Abe lived on at the ranch, surrounded by his grown children, grandchildren, and loyal cow dogs, Lady and Mugs.
On August 8, 1948—on what would have been his father’s 115th birthday—Abraham Lincoln Brown passed away at the age of 83 in Creston. He was laid to rest beside Neva in Conrad Cemetery in Kalispell, Montana.
He was a man who lived up to his name: plain-spoken, iron-willed, and devoted to the family that built America from the eastern timber all the way to Big Sky Country.
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Key Family Genealogy Notes
- Abraham Lincoln Brown: b. 25 Nov 1864, Philadelphia, NY – d. 8 Aug 1948, Creston, MT.
- Geneva "Neva" Plympton: b. 2 Jun 1870, Zanesville, OH – d. 8 Apr 1939, Creston, MT.
- Burial: Conrad Cemetery, Kalispell, Flathead County, Montana.
- Children of Abe & Neva:
- Stella May Brown (1888–1971) – m. Los Alamitos, CA.
- Lydia Corinna Brown (1891–1971) – Gateway ancestor; m. Franklin Jackson Bailey.
- Olive Geneva Brown (1893–1983) – m. Placer Co., CA.
- Emma Louise Brown (1896–1987) – m. Roseville, CA.
- Alonzo Earl "Lon" Brown (1898–1980) – Lifelong resident of Flathead Co., MT.
- Raymond Brown (1901–1901) – Died in infancy, Creston, MT.
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