IAHENRY-L Archives

From: Betsey Browning <>
Subject: [IAHENRY] William Brattain obit
Date: Tue, 24 Jun 2003 16:25:19 -0700

Oskoloosa Weekly Herald 1889
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE LATE REV. WILLIAM BRATTAIN, BY HIS OLD
FRIEND, REV. THOMAS BALLINGER

In writing this sketch, the object will be to present, not only an
outline of MR. BRATTAIN, but "whence, what and where," that will embrace
his early boyhood days, circumstances connected with his early manhood,
his wonderful ability to learn by both observation and books. Mr.
Brattain was born in the State of Indiana, October 13, 1810. Died, in
Jefferson township, Mahaska county, Iowa, at the home of his son-in-law
and daughter Mary, Mrs. Thomas Havener, of Bright's disease, after much
patient suffering, February 25, 1889, at the advanced age of 79 years.
Mr. Brattain was married in Van Buren county, Iowa, to Miss Martha A.
Croxil, in 1836. They had five children born to them-three boys and two
daughters, namely Humphrey, Lemuel and Charley. The daughters Mrs.
Thomas Havener lives in this County; May, now Mrs. Dr. G.N. Beechler,
lives in Oskaloosa. Mr. B.'s father moved from Indiana to Lake Peoria,
Illinois, about 1816, and settled on very near where the populous city
of Peoria now stands. That was several years before the Indians were
removed. At that time it was an Indian town and a French trading post.
The Brattain family had no neighbors by Indians; their children no
playmates but young Indians. They got acquainted, and from necessity,
soon, began to learn to talk together. There being no war with the
whites at that time, the Indians were very friendly to them. Mr.
Brattain told the writer that their children soon became attached to
their young neighbors, and they would unite in songs, children's plays,
and the boys in running footraces and other sports. Here he said, is
where I first learned by experience, that I could run fast. The short
races were from fifty to four hundred steps; said he smiling, "I have
run all the distances named hundreds of times, and never run with an
Indian but to beat him. Don't think me vain, Brother Ballinger; but I
have never been outrun by any boy or man." We believed every word of
it, knowing how strong and active he was for a man so slender. But,
brother, we asked how about getting along friendly with those young
Indians. "There was no trouble, never saw children get along better
together, they would join in with us to learn our plays; and we with
them, making our pleasures as mutual as possible." Mr. Brattain learned
to speak the Indian dialect here so well, that he said he never saw an
Indian of any tribe, but that he could talk without difficulty; but he
learned the art of hunting, and could as easily beat them at that as he
could outrun them. From Illinois the Brattain family moved to Iowa,
then a territory, and occupied by Indians; and M. B., being well
acquainted with the Indian tongue, soon made new acquaintances, got well
acquainted with the celebrated Chiefs, Black Hawk, Keokuk, and the
prophet Wabahespeck. He gave it as his opinion, that Black Hawk was the
greatest Indian he ever saw, equal to any mentioned in the past history
of the country. In the interval between his boyhood days at Lake Peoria
and his immigration to Iowa and for several years afterward, he was
employed at different things. He made several trips down the
Mississippi river to New Orleans, getting good wages for his services, a
portion of which he put into books, for further educating himself, in
order to be more useful to himself and others. He taught school for
some time, the better to prepare himself for a law student, read law and
was admitted to the bar, and practiced his profession for a year or two,
but was too reserved and diffident to be a lawyer. He told the writer
that all through these years from a boy his mind had been more or less
engaged in the study of religious subjects. He quit law and took up his
old trade, having worked at the carpenter business at intervals before.
There was not work enough to keep him employed all the time; and every
hour he had to spare, he put in reading the Bible until he read it
through and through. From its teaching he came to the conclusion, that
if God in infinite in wisdom, He must have clearly foreseen the results,
that would follow man's existence. A reasonable conclusion on the
supposition that his existence would turn out to be a source of endless
wretchedness. Mr. Brattain was a man who never arrived at a conclusion
without first carefully considering the premises. If God created
mankind for a good purpose, nothing but good will be the final result.
If any portion of mankind should suffer endless chastisement it would be
difficult to see how such could end in goos; and there being no
comparison between any man's transgressions and endless suffering, it is
safe to assume that such punishment can not, under God's government be
true. We must then, of course, interpret the Scriptures to correspond
and harmonize with infinite wisdom, love and good results Mercy would
ask all that and even more. It was this kind of reasoning that made Mr.
Brattain a believer in the final triumph of good over evil, light over
darkness, heaven over hell. The Scriptures say, "For as much then, as
the children are partaker of flesh and blood, he (Christ) likewise took
part of the same, that through death he might destroy him and hat the
power of death, that is the devil, and those who through fear of death
were all their lifetime subject to bondage." Then good cheer to the
world. T he devil, i.e., evil will be destroyed by Christ, and hell
overthrown; all sighing and sorrow shall flee away, and tears shall be
wiped from off all faces; "For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it."
With charity for all, and malice toward none, the writer has no object
in this sketch, in alluding to
the beliefs of others than to help all up to a higher doctrinal
standpoint, and broader view of our holy religion. "Behold how good and
pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity."
In conclusion, Mr. Brattain was a great student, and had the law
suited him would have made a great jurist. He never got credit for this
great ability. He wrote more than three thousand sermons, the greater
part of which are left with his daughter, Mrs. Havener. Some 600 of
them were never delivered. They would make thirty large volumes if
printed and bound that would be a valuable addition to the world's
knowledge of theology, by their advanced thoughts and deep scientific
research.
At One P.M. on the day of the funeral the friends in the city, who
had gathered at Dr. Beechler's joined the procession as it came from the
country, and proceeded to Forest cemetery, where he was laid to rest
beside his wife, whom he married over fifty years ago. Farewell, dear
brother, thou hast gone the way of all the earth.

This thread:

• [IAHENRY] William Brattain obit by Betsey Browning <>