Stained Glass Windows Series: Elizabeth Brown

This is the fifth of a series of historical articles about the church on Grindstone Island. Over a period of months, we will introduce those families who are commemorated in beautiful stained-glass windows. Their history will live on, and hopefully many islanders will assist in ensuring that the Church will be rebuilt for future generations.

Elizabeth (Parker) Brown

Elizabeth (Parker) Brown was born in 1853 in Mochrum, Scotland, and was one of at least ten children born to the Parker family. In 1874, she married Robert Brown and they lived in the southwestern Scottish town of Dalbeattie.

In the fall of 1885, Elizabeth immigrated to America with her three children who were born in Scotland. She joined her husband, who had previously immigrated to Grindstone Island for work in the quarries.

On Grindstone Island, Elizabeth operated a boarding house and saloon in the small village of Thurso, mostly serving the quarry workers. According to Audrey Lashomb’s book, Going Home, Grindstone Island had five quarries on the island during this time. High quality granite was quarried on the island and shipped by boat to Toronto, Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, and New York City. It is known that the New York City Public Library was built with some of the granite from Grindstone Island. This bustling industry employed 250 men who moved from all over the United States, Canada, and Europe to work on the island.

In Stanley Norcom’s book, Grindstone, An Island World Remembered, he describes Elizabeth Brown as spotlessly neat with a strong Scottish burr. Although she was warm and affectionate, he claimed she could hold her own with the quarry roughnecks, if needed.

Elizabeth and Robert Brown had 12 children, six of whom lived to adulthood: David, Jessie, John, Alexander, Ernest, and Ella. Jessie and Ella married Robert and Les Carnegie, brothers from Grindstone Island. David, Jessie, Ernest, and Ella all have living descendants still connected to the island.

Mrs. Brown was widowed for many years before she died in November 1926 at the age of 73. She is buried on Grindstone Island.

An interesting fact about Elizabeth Brown, she is the only woman to have a memorial window in the Grindstone Island Church that was dedicated to just her alone and not to a spouse as well. She must have been quite a force of nature in her time.

[With appreciation to David Brown, Elizabeth Brown’s great-grandson, who provided information for this story.]

By Cindy Rusho Hagemann

Cindy Rusho Hagemann was born in Alexandria Bay, NY to Manley and Mary Lou Rusho - she is the third of their four daughters. The family moved to Sanford, Florida, in 1969, where she grew up, but she was still lucky to spend her summers on Grindstone Island with her grandparents. Cindy has been married to USN Commander (Ret) Jon Hagemann for 39 years, and they have four grown children and three grandchildren. They live in the mountains of Tennessee on a hobby farm with alpacas, goats, pigs, dogs, and chickens. Cindy is a marketing professional, serves on the board of the Grindstone Island Church and is a committee member of the Grindstone Island Heritage Museum.

Cindy helped her father, Manley Rusho, a long-time resident of Grindstone Island, write his many stories of growing up on Grindstone Island. We’re grateful to Cindy for encouraging her Dad to write these stories, to help him edit them, and then to send them to us to publish!

Important Notice:

Cindy has been writing these vignettes in support of the Grindstone Island capital campaign called Save our Sanctuary Campaign. Please consider a sending a donation to: https://www.giumc.org/donate/ or by mail: P.O. Box 411, Clayton, NY 13624. Together we can help repair this historic and community worship center for the next generation of islanders.