Isaac N. Brown

As printed in 1906

SAAC X. BROWN, one of Pickaway County's honored survivors of the great Civil War, to which he gave three years of his young manhood, is a well-known agriculturist of Muhlenberg township, owning a highly cultivated little farm in Muhlenberg township, consisting of 14 acres, which the word “garden” apply describes. Mr. Brown was born June 16, 1831, in Knox County, Ohio, on a farm 10 miles northeast of Mount Vernon, and is a son of Nathan and Elizabeth (Long) Brown.

The parents of Mr. Brown were born in the vicinity of Cove Mountain, Pennsylvania, and were brought to Ohio by their parents in childhood. They married in Ohio and when our subject was seven years old moved to Fairfield County, Ohio, where they resided on a farm for some seven years and then decided to seek a new home in the West. Nathan Brown started with his wife and ii children, but when he reached Circleville he was taken sick and died in 1848, aged 55 years. The family remained at Circleville until the death of the mother, which took place on July 5, 1855, when the family became scattered. The children were: Polly, Abraham and Susan, all deceased; Isaac N., of this sketch; Jacob, a resident of Illinois, who survived imprisonment at Anderson ville, during the Civil War, through a period of 11 months and 13 days; Barbara, now deceased, who married John W. Frost, a veteran of the Mexican War and moved with him to Missouri; John L., of Indiana; William, a member of an Illinois regiment in the Civil War, who died in 1862, at Memphis, Tennessee; Nancy J., a resident of Columbus; Solomon; and Mrs. Elizabeth Simmons, who died in Missouri.

In the spring of 1849 our subject proceeded to Muhlenberg township and sought and obtained work on a farm, by the month, lie continued to work in this way for nine years on the farm of James and Perry Dawson, receiving as wages the sum of $8 a month. After he married he continued to live there for two years longer, after which he moved to the James Abernathy farm, which he rented for two years and then removed to the Z. P. Adkins farm near Five Points.

Mr. Brown was living on this place when he enlisted for service in the Civil War, on August 30, 1861, entering Company C. 20th Reg., Ohio Vol. Inf., Third Brigade of the Third Division of the 17th Army Corps, under Capt. J. M. McCoy and Colonel Whittlesey. When Mr. Brown became a soldier, he entered upon a path of great hardship and constant danger as will be seen on recounting the many battles in which his life was risked. Not including minor engagements, Mr. Brown participated in these battles: Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Bolivar, Iuka, Big Hatchie River, Hankin’s Ferry, Raymond, Champion Hills, the whole siege of Vicksburg of 47 days duration, Jackson and Baker’s Creek. After three years and one month of service, he was honorably discharged. He was several times injured in the service. At Raymond he was slightly wounded in the left high by a bullet and had three ribs broken and a leg broken by being thrown down and run over by a wagon attached to a six-mule team. On April 1, 1864, this injury landed him in the Vicksburg hospital, where he remained for one month and then was sent to Louisville where he remained until he was mustered out.

Upon his return, Mr. Brown resumed farming and continued to live on his rented farm until the fall of 1888, when he purchased his present home of 14 acres which he has placed under a very fine state of cultivation and which yields handsomely. He has erected the buildings here and has made all the excellent improvements.

In 1852 Mr. Brown was married to Hester A. Starks, who was born in Maryland and died in Iowa. She had three children, viz.: Franklin P., of Iowa; John Wesley, deceased at the age of four years and Eliza Jane, deceased at the age of six years.

Mr. Brown was married (second) in November, 1868, to Mrs. Isabelle F. Nichell, who was the widow of Andrew J. Nichell, who died in the army during the Civil War, leaving four children, viz.: Elias D., of Illinois; Robert C, of Illinois; Mrs. Sarah E. Lyons, of Hardin County, Ohio; and Mrs. Augusta Smith, of Muhlenberg township. Mrs. Brown was born in Vinton County, Ohio, February 22, 1840, and is a daughter of Elias and Sarah (Gardner) Ramey, the former of whom was born in Belhiont County, Ohio, and the latter in Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Brown have had these children: Rose Ann; Mrs. Gertrude Kern, deceased; Hattie, wife of Daniel H. Crawford, of Hardin County, Ohio; John M., of Madison County; Etta, wife of Fletcher Graham, living near Derby; Loutie M., who has been a teacher for the past 10 years; and Myrtle, who is the wife of Albert Brown, of Illinois.

Mr. Brown has been a life-long Republican. He is one of the old and esteemed members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Darbyville.

As printed in History of Pickaway County, Ohio and Representative Citizens (1906). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.