Jesse Payton Brown Sr.

July 29, 1894 – November 25, 1977

Jess was born in Muscadine Alabama (Cleburne County) to James Edward Brown and his wife Martha. He used to say that the family came over to Quitman Texas in a covered wagon when he was a young boy.

When World War One broke out, he and his brother James (Luther) Brown enlisted in the US Army.

Jess in WW1 service uniform

Patch on upper left arm is the inaugural 7th Infantry Division patch, created on Oct. 23, 1918

Lower left sleeve is one overseas service chevron given for every 6 months of service in France. So picture taken after Feb 11, 1919. (he served 10 months in France).

He had no rank insignia on his upper arm, indicating he was a Private.

He does not have an honorable discharge chevron on his left upper sleeve (so this picture was taken before his honorable dc in June 27, 1919).

I wonder why he has a cane and those gloves.

Jess was assigned to Company A of the 20^th Machine Gun Battalion, 13^th Infantry Brigade, of the 7^th Infantry Division on June 27, 1918. His unit shipped off to France when he participated in battles in the Puvenelle Sector (Lorraine) during the final month of the Meuse-Argonne Campaign from 10 October – 11 November 1918.

This a narrative of his WW1 experience that obtained from available records. 80% of WW1 soldier records were destroyed in a massive fire in 1973. Amazingly, some of Jess Brown’s records survived!

Jess married Noba Victoria Buchanan on January 16, 1921 in Quitman Texas. They had two daughters in Quitman, Dorothy Lou and Clara Mae. The family moved to Nolan County Texas where they had four more children, Ansalee, Mary Jo, Arnold Mouzon, and Jesse Payton Jr.

BACK: Ansalee, Clara, Dorothy, Mary Jo

FRONT: Mouzon, Noba, Jess, Pete

Late 1930

BACK: Dorothy, Clara

FRONT: Mary Jo, Mouzon, AnsaLee

Jess and Noba lived and worked in Nolan County as farmers for the rest of their lives. For the last ~40 years, every year on the last weekend in July (their birth month), the descendants meet to honor the memory of these wonderful people.

Noba Victoria Buchanan

July 12, 1902 – August 30, 1977

Noba was born in Quitman Texas where she lived until she married Jess and moved to west Texas.

She was the eldest of the 12 children of William Hardee Buchanan and his second wife Louisa Idella.

Wedding Day: January 16, 1921

Noba’s Obituary

Nolan Woman Killed in Crash

Sweetwater - A 75-year-old Nolan woman was killed Tuesday afternoon in a two-vehicle, head-on collision 6.5 miles south of Sweetwater.

The woman was identified as Noba Buchanan Brown and was pronounced dead at the scene by Justice of the Peace Tom Greene of Sweetwater.

Department of Public Safety Trooper Doug Edins said that the victim was headed north on Texas 70 when the collision occurred. Edins identified the driver of the other vehicle as Ventura Garcia Torres of 5226 Burbank in Abilene. He was taken to Rolling Plains Memorial Hospital where he was listed in stable condition Tuesday night. Edins said that Torres' vehicle was headed south and that the collision occurred at about 2 p.m.

Services for Mrs. Brown are Thursday at 2 p.m. in the First United Methodist Church in Nolan.

Born July 12, 1902 in Quitman, she married Jessie P. Brown on January 17, 1921 in Quitman. They moved to Nolan 53 years ago, where they farmed until recent retirement. She was a member of First United Methodist Church in Nolan.

Survivors include her husband; four daughters, Dorothy Jarrett of Comanche, Mary Jo Egger of Nolan and Clara Mae Boyd and Ansa Lee Lane, both of Midland; two sons, Arnold M. of Levelland and J. P., Jr. of Memphis, Tenn.; six sisters, Tina Panky, Myrtie Robinson and Laura Robinson all of Quitman, Jewel Lister of Nolan, Iris Heller of Sweetwater and Cybil Lloyd of Mount Vernon; four brothers, Jordan Buchanan of Midland, Carson Buchanan of Nolan, Hardee Buchanan of May and Billy Buchanan of Dallas; 15 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.

A brother, J. C. Buchanan, died in 1937.

From THE ABILENE (TX) REPORTER, 8/31/1977 AND 9/01/1977

Slater Chapel Cemetery, Nolan County TX