Annie Oleana (Stickney), Elsie, and Cephas Hampton Brown ~1898.

The first information about Cephas and Annie’s whereabouts after marriage is in Sherwood, Texas, in 1904. Sherwood is about 30 miles southwest of San Angelo, Texas. This information is from a San Angelo Press newspaper dated August 4, 1904, which simply stated “Cephas Brown of Sherwood was in San Angelo Tuesday.” Cephas’ brother Creek Brown had a barber shop in Sherwood during this same time and continued to live there after Cephas and Annie relocated to New Mexico. Annie Brown’s obituary clipping from an unknown newspaper begins “Mrs. Annie Brown, 84, who with her husband and their daughter Elsie, came in a covered wagon from Sherwood, Tex., to Roswell in 1905 . . .”  The Roswell Daily Record, confirms this move in their October 5, 1905 issue under the heading of “The Deals in Realty” that “Sam Jones and wife to C. H. Brown for $1, lot 24, block 1, of Valley View addition to Roswell.” This would have been for their first home on South Lea Avenue, presently near Valley View Elementary School. The Tucumcari News reported on January 20, 1906 “Sephus [sic] Brown, a blacksmith, came in Wednesday from Dawson, and is going out to the Bell Ranch to take charge of their shop.”   

The local newspaper, Roswell Daily Record, gives insight into other family members living in and visiting Roswell during these early years. Annie’s sister, Mae Stickney, was attending Woolverton Practical Business College in the fall of 1906, and it was reported in the newspaper she had won a limited scholarship. The following year, the newspaper reported on her movements back and forth between Roswell and Kenna. Kenna is about sixty miles northeast of Roswell and, at the time, was the largest cattle shipping point in New Mexico. At Woolverton, Mae learned stenography and was working as such in Kenna for the U.S. land office. Mae was also teaching at Woolverton in September 1907 when she moved away apparently accepting a new position in Midland, Texas. The newspaper also tells us Annie and Mae’s brother, Alvin, had been living in Roswell since early 1906: “Alvin Stickney left last night for his home in Robert Lee, Texas having been making his home here for the past eighteen months.” Annie’s mother, Elvira, and two daughters, possibly Jessie and Clydine, the only unmarried children who would have been living with her in Robert Lee, visited during the summer of 1908.

The Roswell Daily Record, June 16, 1908 issue.

The 1910 census confirms Elsie was the only child born to Cephas and Annie during their thus far twelve-year marriage, with Cephas earning his livelihood as a blacksmith. Roswell City Directories reviewed on Ancestry reveals a consistent record of Cephas and his family from 1912 through 1935. Initially, they resided at 1001 S. Lea Avenue until at least 1916, when a relocation to 109 S. Pennsylvania Avenue positioned them closer to the town’s center and Cephas’s blacksmith shop at 212 N. Virginia Avenue. This move may have stemmed from Annie bringing her mother, Elvira, to live with them, a decision possibly made around the summer of 1915, coinciding with a family gathering celebrated in the header photograph on this website. This gathering likely honored Elvira’s youngest daughter, Clydine, as she graduated at the top of her high school class. Living with the Browns in Roswell, Elvira would also witness her granddaughter, Elsie, achieve the same academic heights of graduating first of her class from Roswell High School the following year. Sadly, Elvira’s presence with the family was short-lived, as she passed away on April 12, 1917, and was buried at South Park Cemetery in Roswell.

The following Roswell city directory listings show how Cephas’ blacksmith business progressed through the years. Cephas often worked with a partner as shown below.

Worley’s Directory of Roswell, New Mexico 1912

This ad shows Cephas was working with E. Luther Brown and though both are named Brown, do not believe them to be related. The next edition of the directory did not show them still in business together and subsequent listings showed E. Luther Brown working at the post office. The 1913 directory listing below shows Cephas working alone.

Worley’s Directory of Roswell, New Mexico 1913

In 1918 a new publisher listed trades together on the same page to reveal Cephas’ competition.

Hudspeth Directory Company’s Roswell City Directory 1918

Once again Cephas is working with a partner in 1920 and added woodworking to their skills.

Hudspeth Directory Company’s Roswell City Directory 1920

Cephas Brown’s Blacksmithing Shop in Roswell, New Mexico

In subsequent city directories after 1920, Cephas’ larger ads do not appear, but he is still listed as a blacksmith in the personal sections in the directories of 1922 and 1924. According to his obituary written many years later, his blacksmithing career ended in 1928 when he became “crippled”, evidently suffering an accident that caused paralysis.  The 1930 US Census shows Cephas and Annie living in Deming, New Mexico, renting a home at 315 S. Iron Street. The Roswell city directory of 1930 shows a Sigurd Hansen living at 109 S. Pennsylvania Avenue, evidently renting their home while they are in Deming. This move may have been the result of Cephas’ medical issues. A news item from the Deming Headlight of July 25, 1930, states “Miss Elsie Brown is here from Los Angeles to spend the summer with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Cephas H. Brown.” Another article from the same newspaper, dated July 7, 1933, states “Miss Elsie Brown of Los Angeles was the guest of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Latham Monday. She was enroute to Roswell.” Showing Cephas and Annie are once again living at 109 S. Pennsylvania Avenue in Roswell. Deming is located in southeast New Mexico and if Elsie were driving from her home in Los Angeles to Roswell, Deming would have been a convenient stop.

Cephas and Annie appear to be living in retirement for the rest of the 1930s; the only mention of their whereabouts is from items in Texas newspapers about family gatherings. In early September 1935, the Lubbock Morning Avalanche reported on a large family reunion hosted by Cephas’ brother and wife, Mr. & Mrs. Creek Brown in their new home in Lubbock. Creek, who worked as a barber in Sherwood, was now in law enforcement. Cephas, Annie and Elsie were in attendance along with Annie’s sisters Mae Witcher, Clydine, Emma Smelser, Hesta and her husband Harry Hall. Then again they gathered at Daniel and Mae (Stickney) Buchanan’s home in Colorado City for Easter in April 1938. This was probably the last time the eight siblings and their spouses were all gathered in one place.

Cephas and Annie in Colorado City, TX 1938

Cephas and Annie Brown had watched the seemingly independent single product of their union graduate high school and college and return home as a teacher, probably hoping Elsie would remain near them in Roswell, but that was not to be. They raised her to aspire to new heights and off she went with her teaching credentials to the west coast. While back in Roswell Cephas struggled with his health, Elsie returned during the summer months and often traveled with her parents to family gatherings in Texas. Cephas Hampton Brown died on May 2, 1939, and was buried at South Park Cemetery in Roswell. Not long after and just before the United States entered World War II, Annie traveled to her brother’s home in Midland, Texas in August 1941 and was joined by sisters Mae, Hesta, and Clydine from various places in Texas. Alvin and his wife, Bessie, and their three sons Frank, Billy and Francis, hosted the group at a cookout at Cloverdale Park as related in an August 4, 1941, Midland Reporter-Telegram article. Annie also attended Lula Belle and Joe Sauls’ fiftieth wedding anniversary at their home northwest of Hamlin, Texas on August 30, 1942. According to her obituary, Annie continued to live alone in their home in Roswell until 1948 when she moved to Los Angeles to live with Elsie. The 1950 US Census shows Annie and Elsie living in an apartment at 3384 Ben Lomond in Los Angeles. Annie Oleana (Stickney) Brown died on December 12, 1958, and was buried at South Park Cemetery in Roswell next to Cephas and her mother Elvira.

Annie O. (Stickney) Brown and daughter Elsie Brown 1955

Part 3 coming soon.