Biographical Sketch of Garrett Elwood BROWNBACK (1893); Chester County, PA Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by John Morris <jmcdmorris@comcast.net>. *********************************************************************** USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: Printing this file within by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. http://www.usgwarchives.net/ *********************************************************************** Source: "Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Chester County, Pennsyl- vania, comprising a historical sketch of the county," by Samuel T. Wiley and edited by Winfield Scott Garner, Gresham Publishing Company, Phila- delphia, PA, 1893, pp. 603-5. "GARRETT ELWOOD BROWNBACK, the largest retailer in the butter business in the United States, and probably the largest in the world, is a native of Chester county, Pennsylvania, and was born December 27, 1846, near Bethel church, East Vincent township, on land originally settled by his great- great-grandfather, Gerherd Brownbaugh, about 1716. He is a son of Jesse and Elizabeth (Christman) Brownback. "Gerherd Brownbaugh was a native of Wurtemburg, Germany, who came to America in 1685, and settled where Germantown now stands. He died in 1757. On coming to Chester county he purchased and settled on the land now occupied by Lazetta Garber, near Bethel church. He was the founder of Brownback's German Reformed church, was an extensive farmer, owning one thousand acres of land, and also kept the first hotel in that locality. His wife was Mary Pepen, a granddaughter of William Ritenhouse, and by her he had two sons, Benjamin and Henry, and five daughters. The sons both became Chester county farmers, and Benjamin succeeded his father in the hotel business, and served as a solider in the Revolutionary war. Henry Brownback (great-grandfather) was born, lived and died in East Coventry township, this county, and among his children was Peter Brownback (grand- father), who on March 29, 1803, married Susannah Deframe Brownback, widow of Edward Brownback, by whom he had a family of two sons: Jesse and John, only one of whom now survives. Jesse Brownback (father) was born in East Coventry township on March 18, 1807, where he still lives at the age of eighty- five years. He married Elizabeth Christman, of Chester county, and was the father of eleven children, ten of whom still survive: Penrose W., Clemantine, Anna, Garrett Elwood, subject of this sketch; Martha, Fred- erick, Jacob C., Edith, Margaret, and Lewis C., a sketch of whom appears elsewhere on these pages - which see for additional ancestral history of the Brownback family. "Garrett Elwood Brownback was educated in the State Normal school at Millersville, being graduated in 1865, and subsequently took a course in pharmacy under Professor Kimble, studying the analysis of milk. He then became a clerk for Jesse Rinehart at Brownback's store in Chester county, where he remained one year. In 1867 he formed a partnership with his brother, Penrose W., and embarked in the mercantile business on his own account, in the storeroom owned by George Davis, at Linfield. There they conducted the business successfully for a period of three years, at the end of which time they erected and removed to a store building of their own. The firm continued to prosper, and Garrett Elwood Brownback remained a member thereof until 1876, when he withdrew to engage in his present business, of which a writer in the 'Industrial and Commercial Growth of Montgomery County,' published in 1891, speaks as follows: " 'In referring to the vast commercial interests of Montgomery county the creamery industry is one of importance, and prominent among the largest representatives in this line is Mr. G. E. Brownback, a native of Chester county, and a gentleman named after old Garrett Brownback, one of the first settlers in Pennsylvania. The name of Brownback extends back sev- eral generations, and is substantially well known throughout this section of the State. Mr. Brownback originally established his enterprise here in October, 1877. He also operates two other creameries - one known as the Elgin and the other as the Limerick Square creamery. An extensive business is prosecuted and thousands of quarts of cream is weekly worked up into 'Famous Golden Butter,' which is believed to be unsurpassed in firmness of texture, flavor and general excellence. The output at present is from nine hundred to one thousand pounds of butter daily, besides some twenty- five hundred pounds purchased weekly from other reliable sources to supply an extensive trade which is all over Philadelphia. Mr. Brownback, to facilitate the demands of the business, has four stalls, two wholesale and two retail, in Ridge-avenue farmers' market, and from here are supplied ten thousand pounds of butter, besides a large amount of eggs, poultry, and other produce. Mr. Brownback now offers to his patrons and others the purest creamery products of the market, and delivers orders to any part of the city, and without a doubt sells more butter than any other retail dealer in Philadelphia. To cater to the demands of so vast a trade fifteen skilled men are employed in the creameries and four teams utilized. The creameries are fitted out with the DeLavalve separators, the finest in the market; Blanchard churns, and Babcock milk testers. The machinery is operated by four fifteen-horse-power-engines in all. Mr. Brownback is a thorough dairyman in every sense of the term. In 1888 he attended a course of lectures under Professor Trimble at Philadelphia, on the anal- ysis of milk, and is a practical analyst himself. He operates also an ice plant for his own use, and can make ten thousand pounds of ice a month. In the successful conduct of such an establishment every known trade im- provement is enjoyed. Hammond typewriter, telephone, fine large safe, and the office generally is fitted out in an attractive and perfect manner. Socially, the subject of this extensive review is well known for his per- sonal worth, energy and thrift. He owns about one-third of Linfield and is the most extensive real estate owner here. He is a director of the In- dustrial Savings bank and vice- president of the Home National bank of Roy- er's Ford, and commands the esteem of all with whom he comes in contact.' "Since the above was written Mr. Brownback's business has largely in- creased, so that his weekly sales amount from ten to twelve thousand pounds of butter per week. He is now proprietor of the Elgin creamery, at East Coventry, Chester county; the Linfield creamery, at Linfield, Mont- gomery county; the Limerick Square creamery, at Limerick Square, same county; and the Big Spring creamery, at Big Spring, Lebanon county. Beside selling the entire product of these four creameries, he buys for his trade about twenty-five hundred pounds of butter every week from the Excelsior creamery. Mr. Brownback has about twenty thousand dollars in- vested in the creamery business, and the aggregate of milk consumed every day is about thirty thousand pounds, producing nearly fourteen hundred pounds of butter. He resides at Linfield, Montgomery county, where he owns one third of the real estate in that beautifully situated and thriv- ing village, which contains about five hundred inhabitants, and is situ- ated on the Reading railroad, about thirty-four miles from the city of Philadelphia. Mr. Brownback is noted for his business tact and the urban- ity of his manners, and is said to be one of the best salesmen that ever stood behind a counter or in a market stall. His trade extends west to Chicago and east to New York city, and the reputation of his 'golden butter' is unsurpassed by that of any other on the face of the globe. He is regarded not only as a leader in his line of business, but as auth- ority on all questions connected with creameries or butter making. "On January 20, 1874, Mr. Brownback was united in marriage to Emma Evans, a daughter of Thomas B. Evans, an aged an prominent citizen of Linfield, Montgomery county, this State. To their union has been born a family of six children, three sons and three daughters: Mary Elizabeth, Carrie Grace, Lottie Evans, Garrett Arthur, Jesse Evans, and John Kenneth, all living at home with their parents, except the two oldest, who are (1893) at the Moravian school, Lititz, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. Mary Elizabeth Brownback graduated in 1892."