Page:Historical and Biographical Annals of Columbia and Montour Counties, Pennsylvania, Containing a Concise History of the Two Counties and a Genealogical and Biographical Record of Representative Families.pdf/549

 COI.t'MUIA AND MONTOUR COUNTIES of the leading men o f his section in his day. He built a grist and saw mill along what was known as ihe T en -Slile run. and followed milling and fanning. F o r many years he was a justice of the jKrace, being elected in l8o8, and serving until his death. He w as treasurer of the Ncscopcck Bridge Company at Ber­ wick. I*a.. as is shown by a share o f stock, No. 105, dated A u g. 6. 18 14. which came into the issession o f his great-grandson. Hiram H. rown, o f Scott township, Columbia county. I lis five children were all bom to his first mar­ riage, nam ely: Jam es, bom Sept. 10, 1773 (died Ju n e 4. 1R 2 0 ); Sam u el; M ary and Klitabeth, twins, bom March 30, 1782. the fo m K r o f whom married J o s < ^ Otto and moved to M cKeaii county. Pa., where slie died .April 2 9 .18 6 2, while Elizabeih married George Hess and settled in Benton township, Colum­ bia county, where she died Ckrt. 2 1, 18 5 0; and .Sarah, born .April 13, 1787. w ife of Henry Bowman (she lived and died in .Mifflin town­ ship. Columbia county, passing aw ay Sept. 12, 1869). T h e early members of the Brown fam ily in this region were .Methodists, and were among the principal founders of the early Methodist congregation at Miniinville. the first Methodist church of this district being erected on part o f John Brow n's farm, he donating the land. M any o f his descendants arc associated with the same denomination. Samuel Brown, grandfather o f Jam es C. Brown, w as bom .April 2, 1778. in W arren county, N. J .. and came thence to Columbia county, Pa., with the rest of the family. Upon his father's death he inherited the homestead, a tr.act o f 13 0 acres which w.as in the family over one huinlrc3, 18 0 1. died Feb. 2 1. 18 5 5 : .Mary Margaret, bom March 13. 1803. married Samuel C re a sy; Sarah, bom .April 29. 1805. married George A. Bowman, and died Aug. 15, 18 5 6; W illiam N. w as the father o f Jam es C. B ro w n; Matthew, bom Ju n e j i, >809, died Ju n e 25, 18 5 4; Jam es, bom Ocl. 18, i 8 m. died Jan. 5, >833; Eliza­ beth, bom March 5. 18 14 . married Alexander Thompson, of Berw ick; George B.. bom Sept. 3, 18 16. died at D anville; Elisha B., to m .May 13, 18 19. died Sept. 23. 1885. T he par­ ents arc buried in the Brown cemetery in

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Mifflin township. Mrs. Brown w as to m Nov. 6. 1783. and d i ^ Feb. 2 3, 1847. She belonged to a family o f .N'ices living near the Delaware W ater Gap. William .N. Brown, father o f Jam es C.. was to m I'cb. 15, 1807. on the old homestead iu Mifflin township, Columbia county. H e be­ came a fam ier, and was successfully engaged in agricultural pursuits until 1870, when he moved to the village o f Mifflinville, renting his farm. He built a house and lived in peaceful retirement until his demise, Sept. 1 7, 1876. He is buricil in the family tot near Miminviltc. For many years Mr. Brown also conducted a grist and flouring mill. Religiously he w as an active member of the .Mcthodi.st Episcopal Church, holding various offices, .among them steward and trustee. .Mr. Brow n's first w ife, Nancy Frca.s, a daughter o f John Frcas. o f Centre township, Uolumbia county, died in 1845, the mother o f five children : George .A., deceased; .Albert, a farm er o f Ottawa county, Kans., now deceased; Jo h n F ., who lived on the old homestead in Slifflin township until 1898, when because o f ill health he retired from fanning and moved to Mifflinville. where he later d ie d; A lm ira, of Bloom sburg; and Dorcas, deceased. In 1847 .Mr. Brown married Loretta Yonkcr, a daughter o f Henry Yonkcr, a native o f G er­ many. who upon coming to this countr)- located at .Mifflinville, Pa., where I.orctla was boni Nov. 20, 18 17 . T o this marriage were bom : Jam es C .J M artha, deceased; Samuel C .. em­ ployed for sixteen years in the R ailw ay Postal Service between .N'ew Y o rk and Pittsburg, now deceased; .Melissa J ., deceased; and V ic­ toria. the w ife o f George W. Hess, o f Blooms­ burg. Pa. The mother died in Bloomsburg Ja n . 5. Kj02. Jam es C . Brown w as born .April 29, 1848, at Mifflinville, Columbia Co.. Pa., and lived at home on the farm until fifteen years o f age, meantime receiving his early education in the public and select schools and attending a semi­ nary at his native place. H e then entered Dickinson Sem inary, at Williamsport, P a., in 1864, took the classical course, and w as grad­ uated from that institution in i 8 6 8, with the highest honors o f his class. T ^ c same year he became a teacher in the bloomsburg Literary Institute (now known as the State normal school), and remained there until Ja n ­ uary, 1872. the last half year holding the posi­ tion o f principal. Resigning, he b ^ m e en­ gaged as a civil engineer in the spring o f that year, and in the work o f making original sur­ veys for the North & W est Branch railroad, and continued his association with that work