Allen Brown

As printed in 1910

ALLEN BROWN.

One of the fine farm properties of Saltcreek and East Union townships, Wayne county. Ohio, is that owned by Allen Brown, who has here maintained his home for over three score and ten years and who is known as one of the progressive and successful business men of this section of the state, and as a citizen whose life has been dominated by high principles and a determination to achieve a success worthy of the name, so that he has not been denied the fullest measure of confidence and esteem. Such are the men who are particularly worthy of consideration in a publication of this nature, for though they have not stood in the great white light of publicity, they have been of the world’s workers and have played well their assigned part in the making of history.

The family history of Allen Brown, on the paternal side, is traced back to his grandfather, Caleb Brown, who was one of the earliest settlers in Wayne county, having entered government land in section 9. Saltcreek township, in 1816. He always followed farming and became prominent in the county’s early history. He was the father of seven children, five sons and two daughters. and all the sons attained to prominence in the county. The names of the children were Elizabeth. John, Bealy, Noah, Robert, Samuel and Sarah. Of these. Samuel, the subject’s father, was born in 1800 in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, and when he was sixteen years old he was brought by his parents to Wayne county, where he lived continuously until his death, which occurred in 1882. He had received a fair education in the schools of his native state and when he came to the new Ohio home his attention and energy were directed to the task of clearing the land and rendering it fit for cultivation, a task of considerable magnitude. He remained at home until his marriage, at which time he located where the subject of this sketch now lives, his home at that time ideing in the midst of a dense forest. He was at that time the possessor of the magnificent sum of fifty cents, which comprised his total cash capital, but, nothing daunted, he went bravely to work to care out a fortune. He was a great worker and, despite some severe losses and other drawbacks, he eventually succeeded in accumulating a handsome property. He was an active worker in the interest of the Democratic party and was a persistent and skillful debater on political questions. He was not an office seeker, however, though he did serve one term as constable. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and active in the work of the society, being one of the most prominent men in his church. Erom boyhood he was a licensed exhorter and class leader. He, with the assistance of the Armstrongs, founded the Methodist Episcopal church at Eredericksburg and always gave that society

ALLEN BROWN lOOI an earnest and liberal support. In addition to agriculture, he was a over of horses, being considered one of the best judges of horseflesh in the county, and he dealt very extensively in them. He married Sarah Armstrong, whose parents were natives of Ireland, and she was born on the Atlantic ocean while they were en route to the United States in one of the old-fashioned slow-going sailing vessels. The Armstrong family was one of the first to settle in this part of Wayne county. To Samuel and Sarah Brown nine children were born, namely: Jane, who is the wife of Mr. Bartol, of Wooster, Ohio; Roliert, Elizabeth, Christine, John, Rachael and Margaret are deceased; Allen, the subject of this sketch; Whiteman, deceased.

[This passage is too damaged in the scanned book to reproduce. See the original book.]

In politics Mr. Brown has always been a Democrat and supports that ticket on national elections, but in local elections he is independent, believing that the personal fitness of the candidates should be considered regardless of party lines. Religiously, he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church at Apple Creek, to which he gives an earnest and generous support.

On the 22d of February, 1866, Mr. Brown was married to Emily Musser, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Musser, natives of Switzerland and early settlers here, Mrs. Brown having been born INIarch 17, 1841. on what is now the Crosby farm. To this union have been born five children, namely: William C., at home; Louis, who is in the plumbing business at Loraine, Ohio, married Sophia Hofacre, and they have three children, Bessie, Nellie and Leonard; Anna, a twin of Louis, is the wife of L. C. Huguelet, of Akron, Ohio, and they have two children, Lyman and Grace; Mina became the wife of James Graber, of near Mount Eaton, this county, and they have one child, Harlan; Rosa became the wife of Lyman Critchfield, Jr., of Wooster, and they are the parents of three children, Robert, Henry and Dorothy. William C., who remains at home with his parents, and who has assumed the burden of looking after the farm, is an enterprising and progressive man and has evinced qualities which stamp him as a man of unusual calibre. He has received a good education and is a man of decided literary tastes, and has given effective and appreciated service at various times as the local correspondent for the Orrville and Wooster papers. He is a successful hog raiser and his up-to-date hog barn is well arranged and is equipped with a feed grinder, run by a gasoline engine, which has proven a great convenience, much corn being ground here for the neighboring farmers as well. Mr. Brown is unmarried and devotes himself to the best interests of his parents, to whom he is devoted. He is a over of the home life and is a close and critical reader of the best literature. Because of his sterling qualities of character he enjoys the high regard and the unbounded confidence of all who know him, his friends being in number as his acquaintances.

As printed in History of Wayne County, Ohio (1910). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.