Veranus Brownell (1810 - 1874)

Title

Veranus Brownell (1810 - 1874)

Description

Veranus Brownell was from Pomfret, Vermont and became a well-known Methodist itinerant preacher in New York and Pennsylvania. In 1863 he sold most of his belongings to devote more time to his preaching, but according to published articles by the time of his death he once again owned a successful farm.

This correspondence and auction notice was sent to his friend Hiram Morse of Ascutneyville, VT. in 1863. It was found in the Rose family letters, which were donated to the Granville Library Historical Room.

It is believed but not confirmed that Edgar A. Brownell, Granville's Methodist pastor from 1906-1908 was related to Veranus Brownell.

Source of the following information: "Brownell Genealogy 1619-1930, The Ancestors and Descendants of Veranus Brownell Itinerant Methodist Preacher", By Lowell Lincoln Rogers, p. 28

"Veranus Brownell, at one time an itinerant preacher of this vicinity, died in 1874. He lived with his family at Castile Five Corners, on the reservation road, from 1858 to 1863, and built and conducted the little shoe shop there, that will be remembered by the older inhabitants of that vicinity.

Rev. Brownell was what in those days was called an itinerant preacher and was then stationed on what was known the Castile circuit. He would start from home on horseback, with his kit of shoemakers' tools, and preach at Castile, East Gainesville (now Silver Springs), Gainesville, Wethersfield and other places and be gone from home for weeks at a time. He would hold meetings on Sundays and during the week would "cobble" shoes or make new ones at the homes of some of the brethren and managed to make quite a good living for those days.

It is a fact worthy of mention that he would never accept any pay or "quarterage" from his parishioners for his duties as a minister of the gospel, but paid his own way by making and mending shoes. By industry and frugality he reared a large family and at the time of his death was the owner of a fine farm near Canaserage."

Published in The Silver Springs NY Signal, Thursday, 6 February 1908, p. 1, col. 5-6

Contributor

Photo of Veranus Brownell is from Ancestry.com

Citation

“Veranus Brownell (1810 - 1874),” Granville History Digital Collection, accessed December 6, 2024, https://granvillehistory.omeka.net/items/show/1141.

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