Sylvester Brees. 

The following sketch contains the important facts in the life and family 
record of a Newton County citizen whose name has always stood for all that is honest and of 
good report in this community, for successful thrift and business integrity, and for a 
position which all must respect. Sylvester Brees has lived in this county since early 
boyhood, for more than half a century, and as he knew some of the hardships of an earlier 
time, so he has enjoyed the ample prosperity of the twentieth century.
He was born in Clinton County, Indiana, January 4, 1856, a son of Moses and Catherine 
(Gibson) Brees. His father was born in Darke County, Ohio, moved from there to Tippecanoe 
County, Indiana, later to Clinton County, and on September 10, 1861, arrived in Newton 
County with his wife and four children. They lived only a little while in Kentland and 
then moved to a farm in Jefferson Township, where Moses Brees spent his last years. He was 
owner of 160 acres in Jefferson Township at the time of his death, and had succeeded in 
converting most of this from a wild tract into cultivated fields.
He was a Republican and a member of the Christian Church. Sylvester Brees was the oldest 
in a family of eight children. He lived with his parents until he was twenty-six years of 
age, and on January 10, 1882, married Miss Ettie E. Peterson. Her father, who was of Danish 
descent, was one of the early settlers of Washington Township in Newton County, and a 
sterling citizen, being a strong democrat in politics. Mr. and Mrs. Brees have seven 
children, all of whom are still living: Ethel I., Ivah L., Leslie A., Bernard W., Edith E., 
Velma and Florence C. Mr. Brees and family are active members of Mount Zion United Brethren 
Church. After his marriage he engaged in farming in Washington Township on the farm of his 
wife's father, and actively managed that until the death of Mr. Peterson. He and his wife 
have since acquired a large amount of land in Washington Township and also eighty acres in 
Iroquois County, Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Brees are people of eminent worth, are well known 
socially, and have one of the homes of culture and hospitality of Newton County. 


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