Biographical Sketch

Opal Lauretta as a young girl.

Opal Lauretta Claybourn (recorded in the family Bible as Etta Opal) was born 27 May 1895 at Kinmundy, Illinois. She married Herbert E. Brown (born 16 October 1893) on 9 January 1913. Herbert hailed from the area of Texico in Jefferson County, Illinois.

Opal attended school in Kinmundy, the Field (now Hall), Franklin and the Township High School in Mt. Vernon. She was considered pretty with blonde curls in childhood, light brown curls in maturity, blue to deep violet eyes set a bit closely with low brows, fine features, and in her younger years petite. Opal entertained people with readings, both dramatic and comic, and she loved to sketch. Before her marriage, she worked as a telephone operator. She was light hearted and loved to laugh, sing and dance. She had an excellent alto voice and could sing harmony to anything without reference to music.

Opal had many of her mother's stern religious attitudes (as well as her mother's fast temper). She was a member of the Park Avenue Baptist Church, although as a child she was a Methodist, and was active in Sunday School, the "Ladies Aid," and sang in the choir and in a church quartette.

She loved her family. Everyone had a special verse, and her's was "She hath done what she could." She did.

Opal's last years were shadowed with the hardships of the great depression and with failing health. Despite the declining health, her death came with shocking suddenness from a ruptured appendix on 25 July 1941 in Mt. Vernon, Illinois. Herbert would re-marry three years later on 29 May 1944 to Janet Rector. They had no children and, almost five years later, Herbert died on 29 March 1949. Opal and Herbert are both buried at Oakwood Cemetery in Mt. Vernon, Illinois. Additional information about Opal and Herbert, as well as their offspring, are available in a separate Brown Genealogy.

Pedigree Chart

						Ephraim Claybourn 1788 - 1850
				William Divine Claybourn 1819 - 1876
						Mary "Polly" Browning 1792 - 1874
		Reuben Cicero Claybourn 1854 - 1921
						Reuben Hawker b. 1794
				Frances Alla Hawker 1820 - 1863
						Nancy Hawker b. 1796
Opal Lauretta Claybourn 1895 - 1941
				Rev. James Jackson Williams
		Mary Ann Eldorado Williams 1857 - 1914
				Sophronia Jane Bryant

Descendants

1. Rose Marian Brown was born on 23 October 1913 in Mt. Vernon, Illinois. She married Harold L. Williams (born 26 March 1911 in Mt. Vernon) on 21 December 1935. They had no children. Harold was a Vice-President Griggs-Cooper (a big wholesale grocery and liquor company) of St. Paul, Minnesota. Rose was a significant collaborator in the initial compilation of the family's genealogy. Rose died on 1 November 1982.

2. James Claybourn Brown was born 1 August 1915 in Mt. Vernon, Illinois. He married Martha Ruth Bayne (born 2 August 1917) on 19 June 1937. They had two children:
   1. Marian Joyce Brown was born 19 February 1939 in Mt. Vernon, Illinois. She married Bobby Neal Nichols (born 13 June 1936) on 30 August 1957. Together they had twins:
      1. Marty Nichols, born 3 October 1966
      2. Tracy Nichols, born 3 October 1966
   2. James Steven Brown was born on 19 October 1955 in Mt. Vernon, Ill. He married Lisa Ann Lowry.

3. Betty Helen Brown was born 5 March 1928 in Mt. Vernon, Illinois. She married Edward Eugene Bolerjack (born 3 October 1925) on 9 March 1946. They had three children:
   1. Terry Eugene Bolerjack was born 27 August 1947 in East St. Louis, Ill. He married Jeannie C. Marlow and had a son, Ted, born in August of 1966.
   2. Thomas Bruce Bolerjack was born 25 September 1952 in Mt. Vernon, Ill. He married Leone Barry and together they had a daughter, Christine Elizabeth Bolerjack, born on 20 July 1978.
   3. Julie Beth Bolerjack was born 11 June 1961 in Mt. Vernon, Ill.
   4. Robert Scott Bolerjack was born 13 April 1966. Robert was born the same year as his nephew Ted.

4. Robert Alan Brown ("Bob") was born July 20, 1930 in Mt. Vernon, Illinois. He married Norma Jean Falz (born 17 July 1931) on 16 June 1953. Bob set up a Firestone Plant in Bethune and worked for that company for quite a while before eventually moving to Pennsylvania. They had at least four children:
   1. Carla Diane Brown was born 3 October 1958 in Des Moines, Iowa.
   2. Todd Alan Brown was born 12 December 1960 in Des Moines, Iowa.
   3. Scott Edwin Brown was born 13 December 1961 in Bethune, Pas de Calais, France.
   4. David Andrew Brown, born 25 July 1963