The Brown Families of Montgomery County, Ohio

His ancestors were Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, who emigrated to this country from the North of Ireland about the year 1740 and settled in “ Burin’s Grant.” which included a half-million acres of land on the Shenandoah id James Rivers, in the colony of Virginia.

Henry Brown was born near Lexington, Va., about the year 1770, and /ed there until 1793, at which time he came to the Northwestern Territory as Military Secretary for Col. Preston, who was in command of a regiment in Wayne’s army, then organizing at Cincinnati for the advance against the Indian tribes. Mr. Brown was afterward interested with others in forwarding, supplies to the army, and to the garrisons at Forts Hamilton. St. Clair, Greenville, Jefferson, Recovery. Defiance and Wayne.

From the nature of the roads and the difficulties and dangers of the service, all supplies were forwarded by pack-horse trains. This department was in charge of an officer who was designated as “Pack-Horse Master General.” The trains were divided into “pack-horse brigades,” of sixty to seventy horses each, with a Captain in charge, and men to load and unload, drive and care for the horses. Armed scouts necessarily accompanied these pack-horse brigades as guard against Indian attacks. Mr. Brown was thus employed with the army until, in the spring of 1795, he entered into partnership with Join Sutherland, at Hamilton, where, in a double log cabin that stood south of the stockade, they opened their first stock of goods. Their business was trading with the Indians.

Friendly tribes at that time occupied most of the country west ofWaynei road to the Maumee as hunting-grounds. Their camps were to be found along all of the streams from Fort Hamilton north to the Wabash and Maumee. This firm traded goods to the Indians for furs and peltries; and when white settlers began to locate on lands west of the Miami, the Indians gradually withdrew to the north, but Sutherland & Brown followed them up with agents, who carried the goods from point to point on pack-horses.

In 1799, Mr. Brown took a large stock of goods to Fort Loramie am opened a branch store there, from which he sent traders to the Indian village along the Wabash and Maumee Rivers.

In 1804. business had so increased that he changed his branch store to Dayton, and opened at the east side of Main street, south of Water street From here, traders were sent with goods among the settlers west and north j and to the Indian villages at Greenville and beyond to the Mississinawa, am around St. Mary’s and the Auglaize, and down through the Maumee Valley.

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At their stores in Dayton and Hamilton, the firm exchanged goods fo whisky, pork, flour and grain, which they shipped by river to the Cincinnat and New Orleans markets. Produce was shipped down the Ohio in pirogues! where the cargoes were transferred to larger flat-boats. When the Miami way low, cargoes were lightered over the ripples in dug-outs. Sometimes, to go! the dug-outs over, the crew would scrape out channels of sufficient with tk float the boats; then, having passed the ripple, would reload and float down toy the next, where the same work was performed. A crew was sometimes detained at the shallowest ripples for several days, and a week’s time was lost in getting a fleet across.

For two or three years prior to the dissolution of the firm, Messrs. ''Slither land & Brown were largely engaged in the purchase of cattle in the Mian Valley and over in Kentucky. The cattle were driven north to Fort Loramky across the portage to the Auglaize, down to the Maumee and the rapids, then to Detroit, where there was ready sale to the Government, to the Indians ad to farmers.

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The first brick residence in Dayton was built by Mr. Brown in 1808, on Lot ik 110, west side of Main street, north of the court house.

The hostile intentions of the Indians toward the United States began to clop in 1810, and from the increased danger to traders, Messrs. Sutherland Irown withdrew their agents and dissolved partnership. Mr. Brown rea ed his goods to the north room of his residence and continued business re. At that time, or possibly the nest year, he was made Government nt in charge of Indian supplies, that were distributed under direction of man Agent Col. John Johnston.

February 19, 1811, Henry Brown and Miss Kitty Patterson, daughter of - Kobert Patterson, were married at her father’s house, on the Rubicon an, south of Dayton, the Rev. James Welsh officiating. Catherine Patter

0 was born at Lexington, Ky., March 7, 1793.

Their son, R. P. Brown, born December 6, 1811, married Sarah Galloway at Xenia, Ohio, October 31, 1837; died in Kansas City, Mo., May 4, 1879 cih Brown was born in Xenia June 10, 1816.

Henry L. Brown, born December 3, 1814, married Sarah Belle Browning, Indianapolis, Ind., February 7, 1837; died in Dayton November 25, 1878.

1 wife was born at West Union, Ohio. February 18, 1819; died in Dayton ober 15, 1858.

Eliza J. Brown, born in Dayton October 20, 1816, married Charles Ander-

0 September 16, 1835. Col. Anderson wes born at Louisville, Ky., June 1,

The business life of Henry Brown was characterized by sound judgment, ness and energy: and, having faith in the good judgment shown in the

* tion of the site at the mouth of Mad River as the future business center 'lie valley, he invested largely in Dayton property. When prosperity came be little town during the war of 1812, he was one of the most prominent

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Mr. Brown was a devoted, loving husband and father, and his happiness

* in association with friends and family. Knowing that the home circle was a place for proper training, he and his wife were careful to keep it cheerful ! attractive for their three children.

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As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

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II 851. His brother, Henry M., established the hat store in 1837, and was succeeded 'Anthony in 1861. He is located on North Main street, where he keeps a full line hats of the very best quality and of the latest styles.

0. B. BROWN, attorney, Dayton, was born in Jeddo, Orleans Co.,N. Y., June-1853. His parents were Col. Edwin F. Brown, a native of New York, born April. -’1823, and Elizabeth (Britt) Brown, a native of the same place, who was born May: 1824, and died June 21, 1878. They were married September 25, 1844, and had ij children, all sons — Charles Lee, Will J., Oren B. and Edwin F., all surviving but. V J., who was lost in the West in 1874, and is supposed to be dead. Col. Brown, the cfer, is a farmer, merchant and soldier. He was Colonel of the 28th N. Y. V. I. 1£jug enlisted during the first year of the war and serving two years, that being the full 11 for which he enlisted. He lost his left arm at the battle of Cedar Mountain August ' 862. After the war, he was elected Clerk of the Courts for Orleans County, 1868, he was appointed Governor of the National Soldiers’ Home at Dayton, in Eh capacity he served until promoted to the office of Inspector General of National d >es for disabled volunteer soldiers in September, 1880. Our subject came to DaytoiApril 14, 1869, and attended a private school at the old military institute, and afterward at the city high school. He also attended Dennison University at Granville Ohio, until January 1, 1874, when he left the Sophomore class of that college and enter the same class in Princeton College, Princeton, N. J. From this latter he graduat June, 1876, and at once commenced reading law with Gunckle & Rowe, of Dayton. He was admitted to the bar September 1, 1878, and has since been in the practice of) profession. He was nominated for Clerk of the Court in September, 1881, and elect by 111 majority, being the only Republican county officer elected at that elect! He will take his seat on the 9th of March, 1882, and we can safely predict that ’ constituents will never regret putting him into this responsible position, as he is every way well qualified to fill it with credit to himself and party. Mr.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

OREN BRITT BROWN, attorney at law, Dayton, Ohio, is a native of the Empire state, having been born at Jeddo, Orleans county, N. Y., on the 2 2d of June, 1853, a son of Col. E. F. Brown, who held the commission as colonel of the Twenty-eighth New York regiment during the late war of the Rebellion, rendering valiant service in upholding the Union arms and preserving the integrity of the nation. Col. Brown removed to Dayton a few years after the close of the war, and was made the first governor of the soldiers' home, which important office he held from 1868 until 1 880, enjoying the respect and affection of the veterans over whose interests he was thus placed in charge, and proving a most able and conscientious executive in directing the affairs of this great national institution. That his services were held in high appreciation by the national government is manifest from the fact that he is now an inspector general of the national soldiers’ homes of the Union, maintaining his headquarters at Hartford, Conn. The maiden name of our subject’s mother was Elizabeth Britt.

Oren Britt Brown was born on a farm, and his early education was secured in the public schools at Medina, N. Y., where he remained until the time of his parents' removal to Dayton, in April, 1869. Here he was a student in the high school until 1871, when he entered Dennison university, at Granville, Ohio, where he continued his studies until January, 1874. Pie then entered Princeton college, N. J., graduating from this celebrated institution as a member of the class of the Centennial year, 1876, having completed a thorough classical course. Thus fortified in a theoretical way for the duties of life, he returned to his home in Dayton and began the work of practical and technical preparation. In September of the year mentioned he entered the office of Gunckel & Rowe, prominent attorneys of this city, and under their effective guidance continued the reading of law for two years, and was admitted to the bar in September, 1878. He remained with his preceptors for one year, after which he established an individual practice, conducting a successful business until 1881, when, as the candidate of the republican party, he was elected to the office of county clerk of Montgomery county, assuming the duties of this position in February, 1882. He served for one term of three years, having proved a most acceptable and efficient incumbent, and then declined to become a candidate for re-election, having determined to resume the practice of his profession, in which he was already enjoying a marked prestige. On the 9th of February, 1885, he entered into a professional alliance with Oscar M. Gottschall, under the firm title of Gottschall & Brown, and this association continued until January 1,

1895, when the firm was changed by the admission of Ira Crawford, Jr., to partnership, whereupon the title of Gottschall, Brown & Crawford was adopted. This firm holds a prominent place among the leading legal practitioners of the county, having been retained in much of the important litigation that has come before the courts of this and adjoining counties, as well as in the state courts.

Mr. Brown is uncompromising in his advocacy of the principles and policies advanced by the republican party, and he has been prominent in the councils of the same in Montgomery county. He was a delegate from the Dayton district to the national republican convention at Chicago in 1888, when Harrison was nominated for the presidency. He was a member of the Dayton board of elections, having been one of the republican representatives thereon from the time of the formation of the board until he went upon the bench. He was nominated for judge of the third subdivision, Second district, in the spring of 1896, and after the death of Judge Henderson Elliott, in July,

1896, he was appointed his successor, having already been nominated by his party. He was elected in the fall of 1896, and entered upon his term of five years on the third Monday of November, 1897.

On the 1 2th of June, 1883, was celebrated the marriage of Judge Brown to Miss Jeannette Gebhart, daughter of Simon Gebhart, one of the old and honored citizens of Dayton. In his fraternal relations Judge Brown is prominently identified with the Masonic order, being a Knight Templar and having attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish rite. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias, the Royal Arcanum and the Dayton club, enjoying a marked popularity in professional, business and social circles.

As printed in the source². Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

OSEPH ALFRED BROWN, M. D., a successful physician and surgeon of Germantown, was born in Camden, Preble county, Ohio, January 19, 1855, a son of William and Mary A. (Beall) Brown, and comes of Quaker stock. On the paternal side he is of English extraction, his ancestors having settled in New Jersey prior to the Revolution. On the material side he is of Scotch- Irish decent, his ancestor, the Rev. Gideon Beall, a distinguished Covenanter, having left Scotland on account of religious persecution, and settled near Washington, D. C., in the adjacent suburb of Georgetown, which was named in honor of his son, George Beall,

Dr. Joseph A. Brown was reared and educated in his native county, and in 1873 began the study of medicine; he was graduated from the Medical college of Ohio at Cincinnati, in 1878, and at once located at Germantown, Ohio, where he has attained a large and lucrative practice. He married March 5, 1878, Mary L., daughter of Solomon and Sarah (Zitzer) Singer, of Lewisburg, Ohio, and has two children, Edna and Helen.

Dr. Brown is a member of the American Medical association, the Ohio state Medical society, the Mississippi valley Medical society, and the Montgomery county Medical society. He was a delegate from the state of Ohio to the American Medical association in 1892, is a Scottish rite Mason, a member of the I. O. O. F. encampment, patriarchs militant, and K. of P.. Politically, he is a republican.

The doctor has contributed many papers of value to the various medical fraternities to which he belongs, and some of his professional essays have met with decided approbation for their originality and strength.

As printed in the source². Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

J. A. BROWN, physician, Germantown. His father, William Brown, was a native of New Jersey, who came to Ohio with his parents in an early day, and located at Waynesville, Warren County. He learned the carpenter trade, and soon after reaching manhood, went to Preble County, where he married Miss Mary A. Beall, whose father, Charles, was a soldier in the war of 1812. They had four children by this union, viz., Francis A., Joseph A., Laura, the wife of Dr. Low, of Connersvilie, Ind., and Minnie. William Brown was quite successful in life, accumulated considerable property; was a Quaker in religious belief, and died in February, 1860, leaving a widow, who died January 24, 1882, and who was a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The subject of this sketch was born near Camden, Preble County, Ohio, January 19, 1855; had all the advantages of a good schooling, and at the age of eighteen began the study of medicine under Dr. W. H. Low, from whose preceptorship, he entered the Medical College of Ohio, at Cincinnati, from where he graduated in the class of 1877-78, and immediately commenced the practice of his profession at Germanown, where he has since continued the art of healing. He was married, March 5, 1875, to Miss Louisa Singer, daughter of Solomon Singer, who was born in Lewisburg, Preble County, Ohio, September 5, 1856, and has had one daughter, Edna. Dr. down is a member of the Montgomery County Medical Society, and being a well-read, tedious physician, his future is promising, and presages success in his profession.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected.

ANTHONY BROWN, farmer, P. O. Miamisburg, was born in Schuylkill County, Penn., June 13, 1820. His parents were George and Elizabeth Brown, both natives of Pennsylvania, who emigrated to Ohio in 1822, settling in Greene County, where they resided till their decease. Our subject was educated in the common schools of that early period, but his principal education was got with the ax and grubbing hoe used in the clearing of the land for agricultural purposes. He married Miss Rebecca Lindenwood, daughter of John and Rosanna Lindenwood, who were natives of Virginia, in 1842, November 8. They resided in Greene County six years, when they removed to Montgomery County in 1848, where they have since resided. Their family consists of six children as follows, viz.: Rosanna E., born November 21, 1843; Rebecca A., April 26, 1845; Lydia A., November 13, 1847, died September 13, 1849; William, October 10, 1849; Leah P., born January 11, 1856; John A., June 13, 1858. Mr. Brown has a fine farm of 124 acres, finely located and well improved, two and one-quarter miles east of Miamisburg, on the Centerville Pike. Mr. Brown and wife are both members of the Reformed Church of Miamisburg.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

EDWIN J. BROWN.

Edwin J. Brown, superintendent of instruction in Dayton, his position being indicative of the high rank which he holds in educational circles, was born in this city, February 1, 1871, and his life record seems in contradistinction to the old adage that a prophet is never without honor save in his own country. His paternal grandfather, who was a native of Pennsylvania, spent his last days in Iowa. The family were connected with the Society of Friends or Quakers.

David G. Brown, the father of our subject, was born in Pennsylvania in 1827 and came to Dayton in 1868. For years he was engaged in the wholesale grocery business and later went upon the road as a commercial traveler. He served for a time as a member of the board of education and was also one of the workhouse trustees of Dayton, being recognized as a prominent and influential citizen during the period of his residence here. He died in Buffalo, New York, in 1887. His wife, Mrs. Sarah Elizabeth Brown, was a daughter of Dr. John D. Mills. She was a woman of real culture, of the happiest disposition and the highest nobility of character, and was in every sense “a mother to her boys.”

Professor E. J. Brown attended the first pay kindergarten in Dayton and also spent one term in a country school near town. At the usual age he entered the public schools, passing through consecutive grades to his graduation from the Central high school with special honors with the class of 1890. He afterward attended the Dayton Normal School and was the first male graduate of that institution, completing the course there in 1891. While a student and later, for ten years in all, he did correspondent work on the Dayton News. He also spent several summers at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

Entering upon the profession of teaching, Mr. Brown was assigned to a position in the Patterson school of Dayton in September, 1891, and there taught for a year. He was then transferred to the Willard school, while two and a half years later he was made assistant principal of the Irving school. Further advancement came to him when he was appointed principal of the Weaver school, which under his management became a model district school. He continued his work there until January 6, 1908, when he became a member of the board of education, having been elected from the fifth ward the preceding November. He filled that position until August, 1908, when he was chosen superintendent of instruction of the Dayton schools. Thus he made continuous advancement, his ability winning him recognition that has resulted in promotion from time to time until he now occupies a position of much more than local distinction in the ranks of the representatives of public instruction in Ohio.

On the 3d of July, 1892, in Dayton Professor Brown was united in marriage to Miss Minnie A. Miller, a daughter of Dr. J. W. Miller, deceased. They now have four children: Lincoln M., D. Grant, Martha E. and Elizabeth J.

In his political views Professor Brown is a republican, interested in the success of the party because of a belief in its principles and yet without desire for political preferment. His fraternal relations have brought him into connection with various societies. He is now a chapter and Scottish Rite Mason, belongs to the subordinate lodge, the encampment and the Rebekah lodge of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Tribe of Ben Hur. He is a trustee of the Broadway Methodist Episcopal church and is interested in all those movements, measures and influences which are for the betterment of his city and its people. He not only holds to high ideals in his profession but in citizenship as well, and his honorable, upright manhood has gained him an enviable position in the regard of his fellow townsmen.

As printed in the source³. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

F. P. BROWN.

The growth and prosperity of a city does not depend upon a single enterprise but upon the aggregate effort of various business concerns capable managed and well directed. At the head of such a business is F. P. Brown of the firm of Brown Brothers Parcel Delivery. His labors are in accord with modern business ideas and what he has accomplished represents the fit utilization of his innate powers and talents. He was born at Sugar Grove, Ohio, December 5, 1861, a son of Peter Brown, who died in Dayton in 1894 at the advanced age of seventy-eight years. He was a valiant soldier of the Mexican war and when the country again became involved in warfare he joined an Ohio regiment of infantry, serving with the rank of captain. In days of peace he devoted his attention to farming and milling and was an industrious, energetic business man. His family numbered four sons and two daughters, who yet survive.

F. P. Brown was only about two years old when his parents removed to Canal Winchester. Ohio, where he remained for twenty-seven years, when he came to Dayton. At the usual age he had entered the public schools and had pursued his studies through consecutive grades until he was graduated from the high

MB school of Canal Winchester. Coming to Dayton in 1889, at the age of twenty-nine years, he secured a position as shipping clerk for the Farmer's Friend Manufacturing Company, remaining in active connection with that house for five years. He then entered his present business and in fact had established it a short time previous to giving up his place as shipping clerk. Associated with F. P. Brown was his brother S. A. Brown who however withdrew two years later leaving F. P. Brown as sole proprietor although the old firm style has been retained. He is doing an extensive business in parcel delivery, a constantly increasing patronage bringing to him a substantial financial return.

On the 29th of October 1885 Mr. Brown was married in Canal Winchester to Miss Mary Schrock and unto them have been born six children: Stanley W., Grace M., Plilda, Birch L., Frank E. and Carl H. The family are well known in Dayton, where they have many friends. Mr. Brown is a member of the Reformed church and gives his political support to the republican party, keeping well informed on the questions and issues of the day and manifesting at all times a public-spirited citizenship.

As printed in the source³. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

ORVON GRAFF BROWN, president of Twin Valley college and Miami Military institute, Germantown, Ohio, was, at the time of his election, the youngest college president in the country. He was born in Greensburg, Westmoreland county, Penn., July 1, 1863, within sound of the cannons at Gettysburg. His father, Rev. W. Kennedy Brown, D. D., of Fayette county, Penn., is a descendant of the Chester county (Penn.) George Brown (Gentleman), of colonial times. His grandmother Brown is a lineal descendant of Adam de Saltsburg, of Bavaria, who joined with William the Conqueror at the battle of Hastings. His mother, Martha Mc- Clellan Brown, LL. D., of Baltimore, Md., is a direct descendant of the Scotch Clan Mc- Clellan. She founded the National Woman’s

Christian Temperance union at Chautauqua, in August, 1874 — a movement of historic interest and moment. Orvon Graff Brown was well taught at an early age, although he was not placed in school until nine years old. At thirteen he began to evince a decided talent for scientific experiment, and to take great interest in collecting in his own room practical appliances in chemistry, physics and electricity. His parents encouraged his tastes, giving him, in succession, the advantages of Mount Union college; special school, Pittsburg; university of Cincinnati; and Denver university, as well as private instructions under specialists in the east. At the age of nineteen he was elected professor of science in the Cincinnati Wesleyan college, where he made a successful record as instructor, and as inventor of apparatus for class experiments. He had always taken great interest in the sciences of geology and conchology, and made at this time a very large and valuable collection of specimens. When about twenty-two years of age he projected the Twin Valley college (so named from its location in the Twin valley, an arm of the Miami valley), and on February 4, 1886, five months after his twenty-third birthday, he was elected its president, which position he still holds.

In January, 1894, Prof. Brown organized the Miami Military institute, as a preparatory school of Twin Valley college. This school practically demonstrates his theory that individual instruction is essential to the building of manhood. Class-work and group instructions are necessarily mechanical and inefficient. No two students’ powers are alike and like results should not be sought from diverse powers or gifts. He recognizes four sides to every many structure, the moral, physician, mental and social; and erecting these according to their original strength, he develops a scientific manhood. Like a scientific work, his method appeals to common sense. Hence his experiment, which has been so successful, is now being adopted by other teachers and schools. This method, however, cannot be applied in very large schools, as in them it is manifestly impossible to study each student separately and to cultivate him personally — and the ultimate personality is the measure of his individual manhood.

Prof. Brown married, April 5, 1887, Miss Lulu Reed, of Germantown, Ohio. She is a granddaughter of the late Samuel Reed, a pioneer of Montgomery county, and through her mother (Martha Zeller) she is a lineal descendant of Capt. John C. Negley, and also of Bishop Andrew Zeller (of the United Brethren church), both of whom have contributed to the history of Montgomery county. The children of Orvon Graff Brown and wife are Reed McClellan (born January 28, 1888), Samuel Kennedy (born December 2, 1890), and Mildred (born May 28, 1894).

Prof. Brown is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and has served as an official member and lay delegate to the annual and the lay conferences of his denomination ever since he has resided in the community.

As printed in the source². Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.