Henry W. Brown

As printed in 1905

HENRY W. BROWN.

This old and highly esteemed citizen has been a lifelong resident of Butler county, having been born in Middletow'n in the year 1832. Paternally he is descended from

66o sturdy New England stock, his grandfather, John Brown, settling in Vermont in colonial times, and his father, who also bore the name of John, being born in that state as early as 1804. When eighteen years of age John Brown, Jr., came to Ohio, where he spent the remainder of his life as a merchant and it was in this state that he met and married Miss Sarah Bowen, a native of Pennsylvania and of German descent. The death of Mr. Brown occurred in 1854, that of his wife forty-five years later, she departing this life in

Until his twentieth year the subject lived with his parents, working a part of the time as a farm hand, but on attaining the age noted he took up the carpenter’s trade, in which he soon became proficient and to which he devoted his attention until the breaking out of the late Civil war. He served a short time in that struggle as a member of Company G, One Hundred and Sixty-seventh Ohio Infantry, and at the expiration of the period of enlistment (one hundred days) returned home and began learning the trade of shoemaking. After acquiring skill in this calling Mr. Brown opened a shop in Okeana, where in due time he secured a lucrative patronage and from that time to the present he has steadily followed the trade, his success the meanwhile being such as to enable him to provide comfortably for those dependent upon him and to accumulated competency for his declining years.

In the year 1855 Mr. Brown was united in marriage with Miss Caroline DeArmod, whose birth occurred in Morgan township, Butler county, Ohio, in 1834, being the daughter of Samuel and Sarah (Youmans)

DeArmod, both parents natives of the Keystone state. Mr. DeArmod, a descendant of one of Pennsylvania’s old French families, was born in 1809 and died a number of years ago, the exact date not known; his wife, who was born in 1810, departed this life in 1897, at the ripe old age of eighty-seven years. To Mr. and Mrs. Brown have been bom five children, three of whom died in early life, those living being L. V., and Mahala, wife of W. A. DeArmod.

Mr. Brown has lived a long, active and useful life and has the satisfaction of looking back over a past in which he finds little to criticise and much to commend. When a boy he acquired those correct habits of industry, perseverance and resoluteness of purpose which exercise such a powerful influence in the development of character, and by living as nearly as possible according to his ideal of manhood, his career, though uneventful, has been eminently honorable and his example at all times worthy of emulation. He has never aspired to high position nor sought the notice of the public, but in a quiet, unobtrusive manner pursued the even tenor of his way, unmindful of the applause of men, but ever intent upon discharging his duties and making the world better by his presence. Mr. Brown belongs to no church or religious organization, but has well-grounded opinions relative thereto, his own views being broad and liberal. He recognizes good wherever it may be found and perceive in every human being, however humble, the spark of divinity which indicates a heavenly origin and an immortal destiny. When the Republican party came into existence he was not long in giving it his support, but a number of years later he severed his allegiance and since about 1884 has affiliated with the Democracy. Mr. Brown is a gentleman of kindly nature, genial manners and large heart and has many warm friends who have ever entertained 'for him the highest personal regard. A continuous residence of nearly three-quarters of a century in Butler county has been the means of giving his name wide publicity and today few men are as well or favorably known and no one enjoys in a more marked degree the esteem of the public.

As printed in Centennial History of Butler County, Ohio (1905). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.