The Best and Brownlee families were originally from Scotland and immigrated to Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. As a child, Robert James Best moved with his parents, Flora Brownlee Best and James Martin Best, from Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania to Dover, Kansas. Robert’s mother, Flora, also was from Scotland originally. James and Flora had met and married in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. They had 10 children between 1888 and 1919.
Their son, Robert, married Margaret McCoy of Dover, Kansas. Margaret’s father, John McCoy, came from Ireland. Family members believe that he came from Wexford in County Cork at the age of 19 and traveled with his brother, Will, while working their way over. However, those details can’t be verified. Eleven years after arriving, John married Sophia Jones, who was originally from Kentucky. They were married in Springfield, Illinois where their first two children were born. They then moved to the Bellvue, Kansas area and had 9 children.
Robert and Margaret met in Dover, Kansas, possibly at a dance because their father played the fiddle. They may have met at the grocery store in St. Mary’s, according to two of their children, Rosie Applehanz and Rita Best. They were married in 1902 and had had 14 children including Robert Austin Best and Irene Best Donnelly. During the family's early years, the Best family lived in northeast Kansas in Willard, St. Mary’s, Topeka, and Horton. Robert kept moving to find work. Eventually the family ended up moving to Topeka in the 1920s where Rita was born in 1923. Another child, Marguerite Best (Etzel), is the tie-in to the Etzel family. Marguerite married Henry Etzel on September 25, 1928 in Assumption Catholic Church in Topeka.
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