John Buford Brown was the third child and first son of Abraham Lincoln "Linc" BROWN and Mary Francis "Frankie" SAMPSON BROWN. Buford, as he was always called, was born on April 14, 1896 in Calhoun, Benton County, Missouri. He grew up in the Hickory Grove Community five miles south of Leeton, Mo., along with seven sisters and one brother. He broke young horses and helped with farming.
In July 1918 he went into the service doing his training at Camp Funston, Kansas until the war was over.
In 1919 he married Edna Odessa WILLARD. She was the daughter of John WILLARD and Effa "Effie" Mae HOSMAN WILLARD. Buford and Edna rented a farm south of Leeton where their first three sons were born. They kept busy in the Methodist Church where he was Sunday School Superintendent for several years and also taught a class. Edna played the organ.
In 1926, they surmised the grass must be greener in California, so they bought a Model T Ford Truck, built a box or house on it which was 7x10 feet behind the cab and having a top. They, with their three little sons, together with his sister, Zella, her husband, Gilbert WILSON and their son, Ellis, struck out for California, a trip which took a month, stopping in Okla. and Calif. to visit relatives.
They took the southern route as it was wintertime. They drove over the old plank road across the desert and reached California from Yuma, Arizona. Buford had changed some parts to rev up the motor and give him more speed on some long hills, but on hills the motor would not hold the truck in high gear, and with speed up, the gear would not go in mesh. Between Demming and Lordsburg the truck turned over, with women, children and the dog in a scramble in the back, a wheel broken, also. They also burned out brakes on some hills and were forced to run the wheel into the curb to get the truck stopped.
The fourth son was born in Calif., but after trying Calif. for about a year and a half, Buford's family traveled northward, stopping in Longview, Wash., where Buford worked in a lumber mill. They took the house off the truck and lived in that along with a double garage. Buford took the truck to work. Eventually they built a five room house and Buford was Scout Master for two years. The children were plagued with pneumonia, so after four and a half years, they traded their new house for sixty-three acres and a four room house near Gervais, Oregon and moved again. They built a house and a dairy. In 1950, they went into dairying on a larger scale and with their second oldest son, milking as many as 60 cows at times.
Buford and Edna bought a house in Gervais and their son and daughter-in-law lived on the farm. Buford continued helping on the farm.
In 1963 Edna was killed in a car-train accident and Buford spent 12 lonely years
batching.
In Jan., 1976, he married a nice little widow, Millie Bumgarner Horning. They had just under ten years together before Millie passed away. Buford joined his Lord and Savior and those who had gone on before on March 3, 1994. Both he and Edna are buried at Belle Passi Cemetery in Woodburn, Marion, Oregon.
At the time of Buford's death (1994) he left behind 4 sons, 1 sister, 14 grandchildren, 27 great-grandchildren and 4 great-great-grandchildren. His legacy continues to this day.