Alice May (Jan 1898-2 Feb 1952) — never married
Flora Hill (10 Aug 1899-7 Jan 1991) — m. Charles E. Luther II on 2 Jul 1920
Levi was born in Vershire, Orange County, Vermont, son of Jonathan Brown and Sarah C. Stevens. He was named for Levi Baker Vilas (25 Feb 1811-6 Feb 1879), an Orange County lawyer and politician for whom his mother had worked as a nanny prior to her marriage. In January 1856, his family moved the 60-odd miles north to Eden, Lamoille County, Vermont.
Flora was born in Chester, Penobscot County, Maine, the eldest child of Chester A. Hill and Mary Jane Tash.
Levi’s older brother Milton died on service during the Civil War. In 1874, his adopted little sister Ida May died, and in 1875, his father committed suicide. Levi took over running the family dairy farm in Eden. In the 1880 census, Levi (28) was head of house, living with his mother (58) and two servants from the Bailey family, who had previously had a farm next to the Browns.
Levi and Flora were half-first-cousins once removed: they were the grandson and great-grand-daughter respectively of Levi Stevens, Sr. of Exeter, Penobscot County, Maine, but were descended from different wives. Levi’s mother and Flora’s maternal grandmother were half-sisters. There’s a family story that Levi and Flora met by letter. They married on 25 Mar 1897 in Eden. Levi was 45 and Flora was 31, so it was a very late first marriage for both.
Flora died of meningitis in 1899 within a month of giving birth to her and Levi’s second daughter, also named Flora. The 1900 census for Eden listed Levi (48) and his mother Sarah (79) with 2-year-old “Alauce”, plus two servants and a boarder. Baby daughter Flora H. was living with her mother’s family in Chester, Penobscot County, Maine.
On 14 Oct 1902, Levi married Myrtie Ellen McCrillis Garvin (23 Nov 1873-17 Feb 1935) of Craftsbury, a widow with a son named Claude Curtis Garvin (28 Aug 1894-24 Jul 1950) by her first husband. Children by this second marriage were:
Frank Vilas (13 Feb 1904-19 Sep 1993) — m. Beryle E. Luther on 16 Jun 1923; m. Elsie M. Robie on 24 Apr 1936; m. Bunny ??? in 198x
Sarah Myrtie (27 May 1911-18 Sep 2001) — m. Malcolm E. “Mac” Mudgett on 13 Jun 1934
The 1910 census showed the family in Eden. The 1920 and 1930 census records showed them in Craftsbury, which is in Orleans County about 12 miles southeast of Eden. In 1930, they had four boarders in addition to Alice (32) and Sarah (19).
Levi died in 1936 at Copley Hospital in Morrisville, Vermont, slightly more than a year after Myrtie’s death. His daughter Sarah was the reporting name on the death certificate. He and both of his wives are buried in Craftsbury Common Cemetery, which is on the south side of the unincorporated village of Craftsbury Common, about a mile north of Craftsbury proper. Daughter Alice May Brown is buried there too.
Myrtie’s son Claude was the son of Charles W. Garvin (13 Sep 1864-1 May 1901) but took the last name Brown. He was a lumberjack. He married Lila Glee Lawson (8 Nov 1895-13 Nov 1985). They had six children:
Max Lawson (30 Nov 1914-7 Mar 1966) — m. Mary Elva Dunn on 19 Jun 1936
Paul Claude (24 May 1917-20 Jul 1994) — m. Margaret Ellen Morrison on 29 Jul 1939
Edgar Vilas (10 May 1920-23 Aug 1997) — m. Elsie Mary Butler on 21 Jun 1942
Dorothy Lois (21 Mar 1922-18 Nov 1995) — m. Edson Michael Reil on 7 Jul 1941
Ruth Pauline (4 Feb 1926-11 Jun 2006) — m. Raymond William Lamare
Phillip Merlin (27 May 1928-????) — m. Pauline Mae Lamare on 6 Sep 1946
The 1930 and 1940 censuses showed them in Eden. By 1950, they were in Wolcott, Lamoille County, with no children remaining at home.
Claude died of overexertion in 1950 while surveying land. He’s buried in Craftsbury Village Cemetery, which is not the same as Craftsbury Common Cemetery – it’s southwest of the town of Craftsbury, on the other side of Black River. Lila died in 1985 and is buried with him.
Alice lived with her father until his death in 1936, and never married. The Alice Brown who married in 1924 in Eden, Vermont was someone else. In 1940, Alice was sharing the house in Craftsbury with Mary Childs (84), who had been a boarder there since at least 1920.
In later years, Alice suffered a mental condition that made it very difficult for her to make even simple decisions. In 1950, she was living with her married half-sister Sarah in Johnson, Lamoille County. She died in 1952, and is buried in Craftsbury Common Cemetery with her parents.
Flora has her own entry in the family tree.
Frank’s first wife was Beryle Edith Luther (14 Nov 1905-1934), daughter of Elbridge Burleigh Luther and Sarah E. Moulton, making her a first cousin of Charles Luther II. Her name was pronounced “Berl”. Family stories describe her as pretty but wild, although, given that Frank’s second wife was very strait-laced, this might not have meant much. Their first child, named for Beryle’s father, was born when they were both in their teens and unmarried. They married on 16 Jun 1923 in Eden. I have incomplete information on their children because none survived. One lived only a month, and the others not even that long:
Burleigh Elbridge (10 Nov 1922-1922)
unnamed (5 Jan 1927-5 Jan 1927)
3 others
Beryle died in 1934 of congenital heart trouble. She’s buried in Branch Cemetery, the same place as her parents, with her and Frank’s five infant children. Branch Cemetery is on Branch Road about a mile west of Craftsbury Common. Frank’s name is on the stone as well, but he’s not there.
On 24 Apr 1936 in Mexico, Maine, Frank married Elsie Myrtle Robie (7 Jun 1908-15 Mar 1983), who was born in Wolcott, the fourth child of Herbert Robie and Mary Luther, making her a niece of Charles Luther II. (The Browns and the Luthers liked one another.) In the 1940 census, they were living with Elsie’s parents, Herbert and Mary, in Mexico. They didn’t have children, another blow for Frank, who had very much wanted children. They settled in Mexico near Frank’s half-sister Flora.
After Elsie’s death in 1983, Frank married a third time, to Bunny Brown (maiden name and actual first name unknown), a childhood friend of Elsie’s who was also widowed. They lived near Rumford Center, Oxford County, Maine until Frank’s death in 1993. He’s buried with Elsie in Dixfield Cemetery, Dixfield, Maine.
Sarah married Malcolm Everett “Mac” Mudgett (19 Mar 1912-13 Oct 2007) on 13 Jun 1934. They lived in Lamoille County, Vermont. They had three children:
Lois May (18 May 1936-26 May 1936)
Everett Forrest (26 Jul 1936-16 May 1999)
Robert F. (1939-????)
Donna J. (1947-????)
Daughter Lois was born with hydrocephaly and spina bifida, which are bad enough in modern times and were reliably fatal in the 1930s. In the eight days between Lois’s birth and inevitable death, Sarah also lost her father. She and Mac adopted a baby boy (Everett) who was born just a couple months after Lois, although the birth record names Sarah and Mac as his parents, no qualifiers.
The 1940 census showed Sarah, Mac, and son Everett (3) in Johnson, Lamoille County. The household included a maid and three lodgers. The 1950 census, which managed to list Sarah as both widowed and married to head of household (Mac), showed them still there with three adopted children, Sarah’s half-sister Alice May Brown, a maid, and a hired hand. Son Robert was born in Massachusetts, and the other two children in Vermont.
Sarah died in 2001, and is buried with Lois in Lamoille View Cemetery, Johnson, Lamoille County. Mac died in 2007 and is buried with her. Their son Everett is buried there also.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F4QG-MML -- 1865 birth of Flora
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M8WD-7WH -- 1880 census, Levi
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XF91-7GJ -- 1897 wedding of Levi and Flora, names their parents
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XFQD-ZFJ -- 1899 death of Flora
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/82219158/flora-may-brown -- 1899 grave of Flora
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MMP9-649 -- 1900 census
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/86474707/charles-w-garvin -- 1901 grave of Charles Garvin
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XF61-66F -- 1902 wedding to Myrtie
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XF31-ZMZ -- 1904 birth of Frank
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MPF4-G8G -- 1910 census
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZY3-45S -- 1920 census
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KF5C-3VN -- 1923 wedding of Frank and Beryle
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XF2X-4VH -- 1927 birth and death of unnamed child
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XMZ4-PBK -- 1930 census
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XMZW-FR2 -- 1930 census, Claude
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/146077113/beryle-edith-brown -- 1934 grave of Beryle Luther Brown
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KCNK-D2Z -- 1936 wedding of Frank and Elsie
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/82219134/levi-vilas-brown -- 1936 grave of Levi
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VYHX-HMN -- 1940 census, Alice
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KMMK-D1Z -- 1940 census, Frank
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VYH6-S3G -- 1940 census, Sarah
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6XL4-JBQ1 -- 1950 census, Sarah
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/73152534/claude-curtis-brown -- 1950 grave of Claude Brown
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KCV2-3XR -- 1983 death of Elsie
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/122000106/frank-vilas-brown -- 1993 grave of Frank; links to his parents, and to Beryle and Elsie
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JPS9-QWT -- 2001 death of Sarah Brown Mudgett
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/41483467/sarah-h-mudgett -- 2001 grave of Sarah Brown Mudgett