NAME(S) ON TILE:                 CHARLES J. BROWN

DONOR NAME(S):                   SARA M. BROWN

Born in Summit Mines, Pennsylvania, on April 4, 1887, Charles, the youngest child of Mary Magdalena Christner and George A. Brown left school when only twelve to work in the coal mines with his father.  His family moved from one coal mining town to another following the jobs, ending up in Fayette City.  At age 25, he married Emma French and started his family.

During World War I, he left the mines to work as a carpenter for the Marine Ways in Brownsville.  After the war ended, he moved his family to Monessen where he found employment in the carpenter shop of the Pittsburgh Steel Company.  He retired in

1960 at the age of 73.  His retirement years were spent traveling with his wife to all parts of eastern United States, sorting the memorabilia he had collected over the years and pursuing his memberships in his church (United Methodist) and lodge (Odd Fellows).  He died in 1973 surrounded by his wife, four children and eight grandchildren.

Throughout his life, Charley, or Skipper, was a meticulous record keeper.  He kept track of his family’s growth, his jobs and wages.  He wrote of his early days in the coal mines and coke yards of southwestern Pennsylvania.  As his life neared its close, he sought out interested people and institutions and distributed to them, his books, papers and pictures.

Charley Brown is a fitting honoree of this History Center.