William Henry Brownell, born in 1880, and Lelia McNear Dickson Price, born in 1884, belong to the generation before George. Family records give William's death year as 1951 and Lelia's as 1961. Cemetery-derived entries associate them with Whig Cemetery in Platteville and connect their family with George, Clinton William, and Josiah Harland Brownell. The precise history of Lelia's surname sequence remains unresolved. 1121316
The most substantial surviving evidence of their work begins with a house in Platteville. The Leonard and Caroline Coates House at 250 Southwest Road was already an older building when Leila acquired it. Built in 1867–1868, it is a brick Italianate residence with the scale and architectural detail of a substantial nineteenth-century home. Wisconsin's historic-property inventory records Leila Brownell's ownership from 1932 to 1935 and states that she used it as a nursing home. 5
Leila appears by name in that ownership sequence. Her place in the business history is therefore visible independently of William's name. The record does not give professional qualifications, the number of residents, or a description of daily routines. It establishes a property and a use: she had taken a substantial older residence and made it a place where other people were accommodated and cared for. 5
George was approximately ten to thirteen during the Coates House years. The enterprise belonged to his parents' working life during his childhood; his own residence or duties there are not specified. 35
Brownell Nursing Home in 1950
By April 21, 1950, William and Leila were enumerated in Galena. The census heading names the institution Brownell Nursing Home and identifies its type as a nursing home. William H. Brownell, seventy, was listed as head; Leila M. Brownell, sixty-six, as his wife. Both were recorded as born in Wisconsin. Seven other people followed as lodgers. 7
William was marked unable to work. Leila was marked keeping house. Their occupation and industry spaces were blank. They describe the recorded activities of the couple at that date; no medical condition or professional qualification is specified. 7
The census spelling Leila M. is also useful beside the family's Lelia McNear form. It provides a contemporary name and middle initial, while leaving the longer name history to family and other records. Her indexed death date is September 17, 1961. 1713
The earlier family horizon
A possible earlier chapter lies in California. A compiled FamilySearch profile for Beula May Brownell, 1908–2005, names William Henry Brownell and Lelia McNear Dickson as her parents and gives a Los Angeles birth. A separate compiled profile instead places her birth at Englewood in Humboldt County. The agreement on the parental names makes Beula a useful candidate within the wider household; the conflicting locality keeps the California episode provisional. An original birth record is needed before describing the family's route west or choosing between those places. 1415
William's and Lelia's own parents have not been established by the records presented here. The nursing-home years are much firmer than their earlier ancestry. Leaving that generation open preserves the distinction between a documented family enterprise and an attractive but unproved pedigree.