Jephtha Brown

As printed in 1902

JEPHTHA BROWN.

The gentleman whose name opens this sketch and who now has his home in Sycamore township, Wyandot county, Ohio, was born in Canada, about seventeen miles north of Brockville. September 23, 1812. His parents, however, were natives of the state of New York and as that part of the Union was at that time the scene of war, many residents of the section crossed the line on the north in order to escape the British marauders who were devastating the country, and this was in all probability the case with the parents of the subject. It cannot be determined in what county Oliver Brown, father of subject, was born, but it is known that Sallie (Wilsey) Brown, the mother, had her nativity in Dutchess county.

Benjamin Brown, father of Oliver, was an old man when he entered the British army at the time of the American Revolution, and still living when the war of 1812 took place, when he went with the family to Canada, where his death occurred.

Oliver Brown, who had been a farmer by calling, died in Albion. Orleans county, X. Y., and there also his wife passed away in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which both were active workers. They had a family of nine children, namely: Benjamin and Hiram, deceased; Anthony, in Findlay. Ohio: Jephtha, the subject of this, sketch; Ezra, who was an attorney and died in Findlay; Alfred, who died in Wood county; Henry, also an attorney, died in Findlav: Sallie died young, and Franklin died in New York state.

Jephtha Brown, the subject, was reared a millwright, but had worked on the home place until twenty-one years old. and after havinglearned his trade still remained at; home until twenty-five years of age, when he started for Wyandot county, Ohio, coming partly by stage and partly on foot, and stopping on the way to act as miHman at Paw Paw, Mich., and in Seneca county, Ohio, and helping to build several mills. He had purchased one hundred and sixty acres of timber land in section 8, Sycamore county, on his wav here to visit his brother, Benjamin, in Wood county, where he remained about five years, so that it was not until 1842 that he settled on his present place, some of which he had cleared in the intermediate time. There was a log cabin; on the place, but this has long since been supplanted by a handsome modern dwelling.

The marriage of Mr. Brown took place to Miss Sallie Holmes, who was born in Seneca county, Ohio, and is a daughter of Ira and Hannah (Brown) Holmes, the former of whom was a native of New York and the latter of Canada, and were pioneers of Seneca county, Ohio. They came to Wyandot county and settled in the woods, with no neighbors within a radius of less than four miles. The father was also a tillman, and he and wife were highly respected wherever they resided, and both passed their latter years in Wyandot county.

To Mr. and Mrs. Jephtha Brown have been born six children, namely: Clarance, who died when seventeen years old: Adeline, who is married to Elias Jones, of Crawford county; Amelia, wife of Albert L. Flack, a merchant of Tiffin; Alfred J.. a farmer of Crawford county; Wirt, who; married Alice Van Gundy, and is farming, on the old homestead; and Loveta, who died young.

Mr. Broun still owns the old one-hundred-and-sixty-acre homestead, but the total number of his acres is four hundred, of which a part is in Crawford county. He carries on general farming and stock raising and is looked upon as one of the best and most skillful agriculturists in the township.

In politics Mr. Brown is a Republican, but in the old days was a W big, and cast his first presidential vote for William Henry Harrison.

As printed in Biographical memoirs of Wyandot County, Ohio : to which is appended a comprehensive compendium of national biography ... embellished with portraits of many national characters and well known residents (1902). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.