Browne.--The Rev. George W. Browne, the subject of this
notice, died February 17, 1887. His funeral sermon was preached,
the the writer, on the 18th, to one of the largest audiences that
ever assembled at King's Point, Mo. He was buried by the Masonic
Fraternity with the most appropriate and touching ceremonies,
led by Judge Hoyt, of Greenfield. Brother Browne was one of the
strong men of the Church, and his long and eventful career needs
something more than this brief notice. It is hoped that some one
who knew more of his life and labors will give the Church a more
extended notice of his history. The writer had known the deceased
only a few years, yet so intimate had been the associations, and
so tender the ties that bound them in their work for the Church
and the Master, that he feels more like taking a seat with the
bereaved and listening to others than he does like trying to speak
words of comfort in these sad, lone hours of bereavement. He was
born in Crawford county, Mo., December 13, 1833. He professed
faith in Christ as his Savior in 1843, while he was only ten years
old. He went to California at the age of twenty, where he remained
about six years. While he was there in the camps with the miners
he was convinced that it was his duty to preach the gospel. He
threw down his shovel and pick and gave up the idea of trying
to make a fortune when it was almost in his grasp, and returned
to his home in Missouri to prepare for his great lifework of preaching
the gospel. That his preparations were well made, none who knew
him could doubt, for, as a "defender of the faith,"
he stood in line with Rice and Collinsworth, and it is not probable
that he had a superior in the Church upon the doctrine of its
identity. His propositions were clear and to the point, his arguments
convincing, and his logic could hardly be resisted. An eminent
debater once said, after debating upon the subject of baptism
for two weeks, "Your little man, Browne, is the hardest man
to handle I have ever met." He had been in very feeble health
for a long time. He suffered very much, but through it all his
mind was active and clear until the end came. He leaves a wife
and seven children to mourn his loss. O that his mantle may fall
upon one of his own sons, and that he may "stand up for Jesus"
as his father has so nobly done! The family have the sympathy
of a large number of friends and acquaintances in their bereavement.
Sleep on, brother, until the last loud trump shall sound and call
thee forth to meet with loved ones around the throne, some of
whom are yet "toiling on" in the Master's vineyard,
waiting for the summons calling them to rest, sweet rest!
Thomas Toney.
[Source:
The Cumberland Presbyterian, March 24, 1887, page 8]
The religious debater belongs to a species that is practically extinct and if here or there a living specimen is discovered he is not properly regarded as an example of the survival of the fittest. And even in the eocene era to which he belonged the individual who could have a revival follow in the wake of his discussions was a rarity. Such an one was George W. Browne--probably the ablest--most aggressive contender for the faith as formulated by the C. P. Church who has labored in Southwest Missouri. Doubtless religious debates were at one time essential. They served the double purpose of indoctrinating the masses at a time when religious literature was not so plentiful, and they made the contending hosts careful in the formation and perpetuation of their tenets and no doubt in so doing lopped off some excrecences and brought the denominations in this indirect way into closer vital harmony. To George W. Browne was accorded the task of indoctrinating many of the people and churches in this section of the state. Himself the son of a manse he is survived by a ministerial son who is an ardent admirer of the union of the churches. Mr. Browne was of Scotch-Irish lineage--a son of one of the pioneer Cumberland preachers, and was born in Crawford county, Mo., Dec. 13, 1833. At ten years of age he professed a saving faith in Christ; and was ordained by the C. P. Presbytery of St. Louis in 1862. He served his country as a Union soldier, then as chaplain from '63 to the close of the war. Denied the privileges of a college education by dint of hard study he acquired a mastery of the English language, was skilled in dialectics and spoke with ease, fluency, persuasive and argumentative power. An ardent admirer says: "As a theologian he had no superior in his church." He was especially versed along controversial lines and declared that if the Bible were destroyed he could reproduce his part from memory. Mr. Browne came to Southwest Missouri in 1874 (1875 according to the Biography of A. A. Young, which speaks of him as a valuable accession to Ozark Presbytery, "a man of great intellectual ability both natural and acquired, and a profound theologian.") Here he located on a farm near Lockwood. From time to time he served as stated supply the churches of Greenfield, Mt. Zion, Ash Grove, Mt. Vernon and Verona. "But he was mostly an evangelist most all his life." He is characterized as "doctrinally evangelistic," and is said to have possessed great spiritual power.
He held public debates with debaters of the Christian church as follows: at Mt. Vernon with Caskey; at Aurora with Cunningham; at Walnut Grove with Clark Braden and at Greenfield with James Tennison.
In the language of his son: "The M. E. Church at Red Oak, Mo., had been ruined by the Campbellites. They secured G. W. Browne to deliver a series of lectures on The Church, Baptism, etc. A worldly farmer and stock feeder attending became intensely interested. His wife a bitter Campbellite refused to go until near the end and hearing that Browne would prove that Jesus was not immersed went to scoff at his attempts. * * * (I will give her own words about as she told them to do.) 'I had never met your father, but had heard he was always fighting our church. I just hated the ground on which he walked. I tried to keep my husband from going to hear him but could not. I saw he was intensely interested. I went the night he was to prove Jesus was not immersed to treat him with contempt and laugh at his failure. I saw a gentleman, humble, learned, profound, impressive and spiritual. My contempt soon turned to admiration, I was soon lost in something entirely new. I thought the church house was a wall of melting wax and heaven was coming down to earth. Soon I arose and said, Brother Browne, I have never been baptized. I want to be baptized. He baptized me.' Not long after this a C. P. Church was organized at this place." The son continues: "In October 1901, I * * * held a two week's meeting and organized a C. P. Church at Wetumka, I. T., * * * I met a Mr. Mackey there. * * * He and his wife went into the organization.* ** * He told me this story. 'Your father came to my father's house 29 years ago. * * * Near West Plains, Mo., held a meeting; organized a C. P. Church and out of that organization have grown five other C. P. Churches of which West Plains C. P. Church is one."
Mr. Brown's last and ablest discussion was on the subject of "Justification." The Syllogistic reasoning of this debate is so close and the various parts thereof so intimately associated that if one begins to quote he is liable to be betrayed into continuing at too great length. The discussion, it is hoped, will be given to the Christian public in printed form. The St. Louis Presbytery made Mr. Browne a life member of the Missionary Board of the Cumberland Church. Mr. Browne died February 17, 1887. The following March the Presbytery gave this token of esteem:
"Whereas, In the death of Rev. G. W. Browne this Presbytery
has lost one of its most honored and useful members and ministers,
and, whereas, we as a body desire to express our appreciation
for the labors of this very dear brother; Therefore, Resolved,
that Rev.
D. W. Cheek and Elders Isaac Preston and J. W. Leathers,
be appointed to solicit funds for the erection of a suitable monument
to place over the remains of our departed brother and when a sufficient
sum shall be provided to purchase the same, with suitable inscription,
approved by the widow of the deceased."
[Source: Stringfield, E. E. Presbyterianism in the
Ozarks: A History of the Work of the Various Branches of the Presbyterian
Church in Southwest Missouri 1834-1907. Presbytery of Ozark,
U.S.A., 1909, pages 355-357]
1858-1867
No Directory
or only partial directories.
1862
Ordained
by St.
Louis Presbytery in 1862.
1868
Brown, G.
W., Merrimack Iron Works, Mo.
Minister - St.
Louis Presbytery - Synod of Missouri
[Source: Minutes of the General Assembly of the
Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 1868, page 108]
1869
Brown, G.
W., Merrimack Iron Works, Mo.
Minister - St.
Louis Presbytery - Synod
of Missouri
[Source: Minutes
of the General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church,
1869, page 88]
1870
Brown, G.
W., Merrimac, Mo.
Minister - St.
Louis Presbytery - Synod
of Missouri
[Source: Minutes
of the General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church,
1870, page 83]
1871
Brown, G.
W., Maramec Iron Works, Mo.
Minister - St.
Louis Presbytery - Synod
of Missouri
[Source: Minutes
of the General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church,
1871, page 84]
1872
Browne, G.
W., Maramec Iron Works, Mo.
Minister - St.
Louis Presbytery - Synod
of Missouri
[Source: Minutes
of the General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church,
1872, page 120]
1873
Brown, G.
W., Maramee Iron Works, Mo.
Minister - St.
Louis Presbytery - Synod
of Missouri
[Source: Minutes
of the General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church,
1873, page 97]
1874
Brown, G.
W., Maramee Iron Works, Mo.
Minister - St.
Louis Presbytery - Synod
of Missouri
Commissioner to General Assembly
in Springfield, Missouri, May 21-29, 1874.
[Source: Minutes of the General Assembly of the
Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 1874, pages 6 & 96]
1875
Brown, G.
W., King's Point, Mo.
Minister - Ozark
Presbytery - Synod
of Ozark
[Source: Minutes
of the General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church,
1875, page 83]
1876
No 1876 Directory
for Ozark Presbytery.
1877
Brown, G.
W., King's Point, Mo.
Minister - Ozark
Presbytery - Synod
of Ozark
[Source: Minutes
of the General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church,
1877, page 88]
1878
Brown, G.
W., King's Point, Mo.
Minister - Ozark
Presbytery - Synod
of Ozark
[Source: Minutes
of the General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church,
1878, page 97]
1879
Brown, G.
W., King's Point, Mo.
Minister - Ozark
Presbytery - Synod
of Ozark
[Source: Minutes
of the General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church,
1879, page 93]
1880
Browne, G.
W., King's Point, Mo.
Minister - Ozark
Presbytery - Synod
of Ozark
[Source: Minutes
of the General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church,
1880, page 120]
1881
Browne, G.
W., King's Point, Mo.
Minister - Ozark
Presbytery - Synod
of Ozark
Commissioner to General Assembly,
May 19-25, 1881, in Austin, Texas.
Served on the
Committee on the Records of Alabama Synod.
[Source: Minutes of the General Assembly of the
Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 1881, pages 6, 9 & 91]
1882
Browne, G.
W., King's Point, Mo.
Minister - Ozark
Presbytery - Synod
of Ozark
[Source: Minutes
of the General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church,
1882, page 121]
1883
Brown, G.
W., King's Point, Mo.
Minister - Ozark
Presbytery - Synod
of Ozark
[Source: Minutes
of the General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church,
1883, page 130]
1884
Brown, G.
W., King's Point, Mo.
Minister - Ozark
Presbytery - Synod
of Ozark
[Source: Minutes
of the General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church,
1884, page 119]
1885
Brown, G.
W., Lockwood, Mo.
Minister - Ozark
Presbytery - Synod
of Ozark
[Source: Minutes
of the General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church,
1885, page 134]
1886
Brown, G.
W., King's Point, Mo.
Minister - Ozark
Presbytery - Synod
of Ozark
[Source: Minutes
of the General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church,
1886, page 163]
1887
Mortuary.
Gone Before. Ministers.
Browne, G. W. - Ozark
Presbytery
[Source: Minutes
of the General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church,
1887, page 15]