EVANSTON'S RICHEST WOMAN (68) ELOPES WITH CAR SALESMAN (29) - Part One - Sarah Vowell and Edwin Franklin Brown

Newspapers around the United States carried the following photo in their October 21, 1931 editions:

with the following caption:

RICH BRIDE 68, HUSBAND 29

Mrs. Sarah V. Browne Wils, 68, known as Evanston's richest woman, is honeymooning today with Harry C. Wils, 29, an automobile salesman, in her Wyndeknowe Castle on Lake Michigan near the Evanston, Ill.  Lighthouse.  Mr. Wils called on Mrs. Browne to sell her a car, and proposed instead.

The minute I saw this photo I realized that there must be an interesting story here, and boy, was I right.  The more research I did, the more interesting the story became.  Sarah Vowell Brown Deynzer Wils, an Evanston woman who lived in a reputed "castle" on Lake Michigan did not just marry one man significantly younger than she was, she married two.  In fact my research uncovered so much information about her that it became too much for one article.  So I decided to break her story into three parts, one for each of her husbands.  Sit back and get ready to enjoy the story of Evanston's very own cougar:   

When I was young, the word "cougar" meant two things:

1)  A large powerful wild cat (Puma concolor syn. Felis concolor) chiefly of mountainous regions of the Americas, having an unmarked tawny body and a long tail.

(Puma Concolor of the subfamily Felinae)

or

2)  The wonderful cars with the hidden headlights manufactured by the Lincoln-Mercury Division of the Ford Motor Company

 

The Very First Mercury Cougar

 

In more recent times, the word "cougar" has taken on an additional meaning:

A woman, especially one over 30, who romantically pursues or attracts younger men.

What would cause a young man to respond favorably to the attentions of a "cougar"?  One of the most common attractions is, of course, the attraction to money.  It has been said that "Money doesn't buy happiness, but it sure makes misery a lot easier to live with."

Before we take a look at Sarah's life with her young husbands, let's look at the first part of her life and her first marriage, which were by all accounts very conventional.

Sarah Vowell was born June 20, 1864 in Keokuk, Iowa to Stewart Brown Vowell (1836-1916) and Sarah C. Hazlett (1836-1886).  Stewart Vowell started his career as a druggist, but in later years became a dealer in marble.  Stewart and Sarah married in 1859 in Pennsylvania, and in addition to young Sarah they had two other children: Samuel H. Vowell (1860-1931) and Mary Stewart Vowell/Mrs. Charles R. Ayres (1868-1940). 

"Our" Sarah Vowell (sometimes nicknamed "Sadie" to differentiate her from her mother) makes her first appearance in the 1870 US Census.  The family was living at 478 N. LaSalle (now 1306 N. La Salle) in Chicago.  A high-rise apartment occupies that plot today.  The family consisted of Stewart Vowell (36 years old), his wife Sarah (also 36) and their children Samuel (10), Sarah (6), and Mary, called Marie (2).  The marble business must have been profitable, because the Vowell family also had a live-in servant, 22 year-old Anna Lawson, from Sweden.

The 1870 Directory for Chicago says that Stewart worked for Knapp, Vowell & Co. which manufactured and sold mantle-pieces made of marble. 

The Chicago (IL) Tribune of February 22, 1878 reported some bad luck for Stewart Vowell:

 

The 1880 US Census shows the Vowell family is still at 478 La Salle in Chicago.  The family consisted of: Stewart (47), Sarah (45), Samuel (18), Sarah (14), and Mary (10).   Stewart's change in status is noted as he now reports his occupation as "Clerk in a Marble Store."  No sign of any live-in servants.   

But it was not all bad news for the Vowell family.  On September 13, 1885 the Chicago (IL) Inter-Ocean reported the following:

Here's a photo of Sarah from about the time of her first marriage:

Let's see what we can dig up about Sarah's first husband.  

Edwin Franklin Brown was born January 26, 1861 in Milo, Maine to Edwin Lee Brown (1827-1891) and Mary Lapham (1832-1901).  The Browns were a very old New England family, being descendants of James Babcock of Taunton, Massachusetts who came to the US from Essex, England in July, 1623.  Edwin was brought to Evanston, Illinois as an infant and was educated in the Evanston public school system.  After his graduation from Evanston Township High School (my alma-mater) he attended the University of Illinois.

In 1880 he was employed by an agent of the Hartford Sewing Machine Company.  He then represented the bicycle department of the John Wilkerson Company until 1883 when he went into business for himself as northwestern agent for the Caligraph Typewriter Company, which he represented for a year.  In 1884 he entered his father's company, the Brown Brothers Manufacturing Company and upon the death of his father in 1891 he became president.  

In 1903, Brown sold his controlling interest in his father's former firm and organized the Brown Specialty Machinery Company for the manufacture of special machinery, and was president and owner. 

Due to his sterling reputation, in 1896 Edwin Brown was appointed national bank examiner and served in that role until 1900.  From 1900 to 1903 he was receiver for over twenty national banks, illustrating the high regard entertained for his business integrity.

Having developed a liking for the banking business, he sold his remaining interest in the Brown Brothers Manufacturing Company and established a private bank in the spring of 1903, known as the Manufacturers Bank with capital of $25,000.00.  Within a few months its deposits had grown to $100,000.00.  On October 12, 1903 the bank was organized and incorporated as a state bank and the capital increased to $200,000.00.  Soon the institution had deposits amounting to $500,000.00,  In 1906 it was converted into the Monroe National Bank with deposits of $1,600,000.00. 

Edwin Brown was known as one of the most versatile men in the Chicagoland area.  He was said to be "a banker, a manufacturer, and expert on Navajo blankets, an art critic, a noted collector of rare ceramics, a famed automobilist, an inventor, a printer, a rhymester and an athlete."

As successful as he was as a banker and industrialist, his main avocation was in the mechanics of transportation.  Having had a love for mechanics his entire life, when just a boy, Brown built his own high wheel bicycle and later a safety bicycle.  This he followed with a water bike which used to skim the waters of the lake off Evanston.  Edwin Brown was also one of the pioneers in the invention and construction of self-propelling vehicles.  As early as 1884 and up to 1891 he built and operated three different machines operated by steam, all widely different in pattern.  

He was one of the first men in Chicagoland to own an automobile, or "devil wagon" as they were known back then.  After tinkering with his car built by others, he decided to design and build several automobiles of his own creation.  Brown was responsible for some of the most valuable inventions associated with the modern automobile.  Over the years he took out between twenty-five and thirty patents that were automobile-related.

With all of these interests, did Edwin Brown have time for a family life?  Yes and no.  As we noted above he married the lovely Sarah Vowell in 1885.  The newlyweds' first home was at 1720 Asbury in Evanston:

1720 Asbury, Evanston, Illinois

  

In 1890 they built and moved into this house, originally designated as 1640 Sheridan Road, it was later renumbered as 300 Church Street:

300 Church Street, Evanston, Illinois

Here's how it looks today:

300 Church Street, Evanston, Illinois - 2020

But the home the Browns were best known for was referred to in the article at the top of this story:  Windeknowe Castle on Lake Michigan near the Evanston, Illinois lighthouse:

569 Milburn Street, Evanston, Illinois

In March of 1892 Edwin and Sarah Brown bought property at the northwest corner of Sheridan Road and Milburn Street.  In 1894 they commissioned their brother-in-law Charles R. Ayres to design the new house they named "Windiknowe" which is Scottish for "Windy Knoll."  Completed in 1895 the house at 569 Milburn was finished in rough stucco painted cadmium yellow.  For those who are not familiar with it, this is cadmium yellow:

This is quite a bright color to paint a house.  Frankly it competed with the Evanston lighthouse as far as being able to be seen from a distance.

I would not have described Windiknowe as a "castle," especially with all the other castle-like homes in Evanston.  Here is the Evanston house I would describe as a "castle":

1232 Ridge Avenue, Evanston, Illinois

In the boathouse at Windiknowe, Edwin Brown established the Windiknowe Shop, an arts-and-crafts venture in the tradition of the Roycrafters.  Because of Brown's many interests, the shop contained not only lathes and furnaces, but also a printing room.  One of the few known artifacts to come from the shop was a little book, Glimpses Across the Sea by Samuel T. Clover:

  

Edwin and Sarah Brown were together often enough to have had two children: Edwin Vowell Brown (1886-1887) and Lucille Vowell Brown (1892-1974).  Edwin was born August 5, 1886 and died July 16, 1887.  He is buried in the Brown Family Plot at Chicago's Graceland Cemetery, Maplewood Section - Lot 63:

      

Sarah Vowell's first husband Edwin Franklin Brown died February 15, 1912 in Chicago and was buried the next day, February 16, 1912 in the Brown Plot @ Graceland:

Edwin Brown's death was not without some controversy.  It seems that Edwin and Sarah Brown had been estranged for five years until just before he died.  Here is the scoop from the Chicago Examiner of  February 3, 1912:

Sarah Vowell Brown was many things, but she was no fool.  When Edwin Brown's will was submitted for probate, it was noted that the will was dated February 13, 1912 - just two days prior to his death - when Sarah had taken up her "deathbed watch."  The estate, estimated to have been $4.5 million, of which 2/3 ($3 million) was left to the grieving widow, and the remainder ($1.5 million) in trust to his daughter Lucille, until she reached the age of thirty-five.  But remember, he had already given Sarah Windiknowe and $50,000.00 cash at the time of their separation.

Putting things into perspective, in today's funds, the estate would amount to $131.6 million.  Sarah's share would be $87.7 million; Lucille's share would be $43.9 million.

What did Sarah do with her sizable inheritance?  Come back next month and find out.

Husband #1, Edwin F. Brown

May he rest in peace.

Special thanks to researcher nonpareil Mike Kelly without whose research this article (and many others of mine) would not have happened.  The man is amazing.