Also known as Clifford Ernst.

This memorial was created from John's death certificate which showed the following information
Father: Clifford Brown: Mother: unknown
Spouse: Elizabeth Hardebeck Brown
Date of birth: September 22, 1870
Date of death: November 13, 1924
Cause of death: lobar pneumonia/influenza.
Occupation: finisher. Employer: C.C. Paper Co.
Burial: November 17, 1924, Greenwood Cemetery
The certificate was signed by his wife Mrs. Lillian Brown.

However, after researching this individual and using multiple sources to confirm the details of his life, it has become apparent that he changed his name to John Brown from Clifford Ernst sometime between 1910 and 1917.

He was born under the name Clifford Ernst, the youngest child of Thomas Ernst and Elvira Cameron, in August or September 1870. In 1895 he married Ida Netter or Nutter in Hamilton County, Ohio, and they had one child, daughter Vera Ernst in 1898. The family was living in Cincinnati in the 1900 U. S. Census, and Clifford was a clerk for the railroad. Wife Ida died in June 1906.

He married second Lillian Elizabeth Hardebeck, née Schmerge, in Campbell County, Kentucky in 1909. Lillian had previously been married and had three known children: Cornelius, Frances Bernard and Olivia, with her first husband Frank Hardebeck, who died in September 1907.

Clifford and Lillian Ernst's blended family was living in Campbell County, Kentucky in the 1910 U.S. Census; Clifford was a yard master for the railroad. Wife Elizabeth, their four children by their previous marriages and their new daughter Florence were sharing their rented home.

By the 1920 U. S. Census, Clifford Ernst was using the name John Brown. John and Lillian were living in Hamilton, Butler County, Ohio in 1920, and John was working in a paper mill as a finisher. With the couple are 11 children and records show that they lost one daughter, Helen Brown, who was born and died in 1917 in Hamilton. It seems that several of the children that he shared with Elizabeth Lillian switched back and forth between using Ernst and Brown for their last names in available records.

The shared children of John and Lillian were: Florence, Ruth Mary, William, Latham Joseph, Evelyn Mary, Loraine Mary, Helen, Iola May and Arthur Clifford. Helen died as an infant, and all of the other children survived to adulthood.

Initially it appeared that John and Clifford were two different people, however finding his death record and his wife's application for his military pension - both attached here - indicate that he had changed his name.

His death record, which was used to create this memorial, showed his name as John Brown and provided his date of death as November 13, 1924 in Hamilton, Ohio. However, when his widow Lillian applied for a military pension in 1931 (he served in the U.S. Calvary in the Indian wars), she stated his name was Clifford Ernst with his date of death as November 13, 1924 - the same as the death certificate for John Brown, also in Hamilton, Ohio.

Further research may reveal a reason for his name change.