Isabel Halsey Brown was born on 27. Oct. 1892 at Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. She was the daughter of
Edward Hurst Brown and
Sarah Barker Runk. Isabel Halsey Brown married
Edgar Boileau Grier Jr. on 13. Dec. 1917 at Elizabeth, Union County, New Jersey. Isabel Halsey Brown died on 6. Jul. 1979 at Lewiston, Androscoggin County, Maine, at age 86. She was buried at East Side Burying Ground, Woodbridge, New Haven County, Connecticut. Isabel Brown grew up in Elizabeth, NJ. Her first grandchild, Peter Trafton, called her 'Dowie' when he was small, and the name stuck. All of her grandchildren and even some of her friends called her by that name. She enjoyed nature and watching birds. She also enjoyed fishing. She had a strong interest in American history, and enjoyed taking her grandchildren to reconstructed villages like Old Sturbridge Village and Mystic Seaport. During her visits to Mystic Seaport and other places, she sometimes bought pieces of antique scrimshaw. She accumulated a fair-sized collection, including some very nice pieces. After her death many of her grandchildren received a piece from her collection, and there was enough left over to make it worthwhile to auction off. She was an avid reader, and accumulated a large collection of books during her life. She often gave books to her grandchildren for Christmas and birthdays. After her husband died, she did quite a bit of travelling. She took a trip around the world on a freighter which had some accomodations for passengers. She also took trips with some of her children and grandchildren. In the late 1960s she sold the house at 130 Davis Street and bought a condominium a few miles away. A few years later she moved in with her daughter, Fran Gebhard, in Winchester, Mass. Later she moved to a nursing home near the home of her oldest daughter, Jinny Trafton, in Auburn, Maine. She died there in 1979.