JAMES WILSON BROWN,
deceased, was born in Fayette County, Penn., October 2, 1794, and died
in Greenville February 10, 1885, in his ninety-first year. His father,
Hugh Brown, was a native of County Down, Ireland, who immigrated to
Maryland, and there married Sarah Wilson, born near White Hall,
in that State. They afterward removed to Fayette County, Penn., and in
1799 came to what is now Mercer County, and located on a tract of 500
acres, immediately north of the site of Greenville. They reared a
family of four sons and five daughters, all of whom, excepting one,
became heads of families. Hugh Brown died on his homestead
November 25, 1845, aged eighty-three years, his wife having died June
15, 1838, aged sixty-eight. He was an elder of the Associate
Presbyterian Church, of Greenville, about thirty years. James W. was
nearly five years old when his parents settled in the Shenango Valley,
and his subsequent life was spent in the vicinity of Greenville. He was
married October 27, 1825, to Jane, daughter of Robert King, an early
settler of Kinsman, Ohio. The following children were born of that
union: H. Wilson and Robert K., of Cincinnati, Ohio; James C.,
editor of the Greenville Advance Argus; Mary A., wife of Conrad
Bittenbanner, of Greenville; Isabella, wife of Rufus Thompson, of Piper
City, Ill.; John E., of Greenville; William A., killed by a
runaway horse in 1848; Lizzie E., wife of John Annett, of Greenville,
and Maggie J., a teacher in the public schools of this borough.
Politically James W. Brown was originally a Democrat, subsequently
joined the anti-Masonic and Whig parties, and finally became a
Republican, being from early manhood a stanch opponent of slavery.
Source: History of Mercer County, 1888, page 779 |
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