Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Brown, Elisha 1836 - 
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Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com May 8, 2007, 11:31 pm

Author: Portrait & Bio Album, 1890

ELISHA BROWN, a retired farmer, is a good type of the noble volunteers of the 
late war, who fought in defense of our country's honor with intrepid valor, 
regardless of the hard-ships and privations that they had to endure, until the 
glorious. Stars and Stripes once more waved over a free and undivided Union. 
For many years he has been closely associated with the great agricultural 
interests of Will County, and though he has retired from the active and 
incessant cares inseparably connected with the management of a large farm, he 
still retains possession of his home-stead which is one of the finest in 
Illinois. Mr. Brown was born in Morristown, St. Lawrence County, N. Y., 
December 2, 1836, his father, Charles Brown, having been a pioneer of that 
place. The latter was a native of Thetford, Vt., where he was born in March, 
1800, and he was there reared and married. He remained among the green hills 
of his birthplace until his removal to Morristown. N. Y., where he associated 
himself with its pioneers and became one of its most useful citizens. He 
bought a tract of heavily timbered land about two miles from the village and 
after building thereon the log house in which our subject was born, he 
actively commenced the hard labor of clearing his land and preparing it for 
cultivation, and in the years that followed improved the fine farm which 
remained his home till death called him hence in 1865. The maiden name of the 
mother of our subject was Nancy Ames, and she was born in Hartford, Conn., in 
September, 1800. Her parents moved from that State to New York, and spent 
their last years in St. Lawrence County. She died on the home farm in 1888, at 
the advanced age of eighty-eight years. She was the mother of ten children, 
nine sons and one daughter, as follows: George, Charles, Sarah A., William, 
Willard, Willis, Joseph, David, Elisha and Daniel. Willard died when young, 
but four of the family are now living. Two of the sons, Willis and David, bore 
an honorable part in the late war, the former serving as First Lieutenant in 
the Seventeenth Iowa, and the latter as a scout in a New York Regiment of 
Sharpshooters. The early days of our subject were passed in attendance at 
school and in doing chores at home, and as soon as old enough he aided in the 
harder labors of the farm and gained a practical knowledge of agriculture. He 
remained an inmate of the parental home until he was eighteen years old and 
then, ambitious to take advantage of the many superior advantages for securing 
a competence and building up a comfortable home, offered to young men of 
enterprise and capability in the Mississippi Valley, he started westward. He 
first stopped for a while in this State, working two months on a farm, and 
then proceeded to Janesville, Iowa, where he remained one year. He then took 
up his abode in Algona, Kossuth County. At that time there were seven houses 
in that place and the surrounding country was in a wild condition with no 
railways, scarcely any good roads of communication with the outside world, and 
deer and elk roamed where are now fine farms and busy towns. Mr. Brown took up 
a tract of Government land there, built a small house, broke and fenced a part 
of his homestead. Two years later he returned to Illinois and farmed in this 
State till 1859, he went to Pike's Peak, he being one of party of six. They 
bought teams which they shipped by rail to St. Louis and there embarked on 
steamers; teams and all, and were taken to Leavenworth, Kan., whence they 
proceeded with their teams across the plains. They encountered buffaloes and 
antelope on the way, and saw many Indians. Our subject prospected and mined 
for a time, remaining there two months and then, disliking the wild life that 
he was obliged to lead in that part of the country, he returned eastward as 
far as Iowa and stayed a few months on his farm. After that he came back to 
Illinois and the first call for troops found him prepared to spring to the 
defense of his country, and in April, 1861, he joined the Plainfield Light 
Artillery, went to Cairo, and was there mustered into service. His company was 
attached to the Tenth Illinois and served three months, and was then mustered 
out at the expiration of its term of enlistment. Mr. Brown re-enlisted August 
1st, 1862, in Company D, One Hundredth Illinois Infantry, and served until 
after the close of the war. He was in the battles of Stone River and 
Chickamauga, was with Sherman in the Atlanta Campaign and bore an honorable 
part in the battle of that route and in the siege and capture of that city. He 
was with Thomas in the battles of Franklin and Nashville, and his regiment 
took an active part in all the battles and skirmishes under that general, and 
was discharged in July, 1865. Our subject went into the army as a private, and 
was promoted to the position of First Sergeant and on every occasion conducted 
himself as a true soldier should. He was twice wounded, first at Chickamauga, 
where he received a fragment of a shell, and in the battle of Franklin he had 
a gunshot wound and in consequence carried his arm in a sling in the battle of 
Nashville. After he left the army, Mr. Brown returned to Illinois and the 
following year bought the first land he ever owned in this State, that 
purchase of sixty acres now being included in his present farm. He has 
prospered greatly in his agricultural undertakings, and has procured other 
tracts of land from time to time, till he is now the owner of three hundred 
and eighty-six acres of land, constituting a farm that is in all respects one 
of the best in this part of the county. He erected a fine set of frame 
buildings on his first purchase and resided there until 1888, when he bought 
his present commodious home in Plainfield, and has since lived here while his 
son carries on the farm. Mr. Brown was married March 8, 1862, to Elva Keziah 
Smith, a native of Peoria, Ill. Their pleasant wedded life has been blessed by 
the birth of two sons—Ernest Elisha, and Clarence E.; the latter is deceased. 
Ernest was born February 12, 1863, and is now married, taking Miss Minnie 
McKanna for a wife, and is well settled in life. Mr. Brown is universally 
respected for those fine qualities of head and heart that make him a loyal 
citizen and a man of unswerving integrity, genial and helpful in his relations 
with others. He has had a varied experience as a pioneer, as a soldier, and as 
a practical farmer, and has profited by it, his native ability enabling him to 
gather together sufficient wealth to allow him to retire while scarcely past 
the meridian of life and in full possession of his powers. Mr. Brown is a 
useful member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, contributing liberally to its 
support and to all schemes for the moral and material advancement of the 
township that meet with his approval. In his politics he is in favor of the 
Republican platform.

Additional Comments:
Portrait and Biographical Album of Will County, Illinois, Containing Full Page 
Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens 
of the County; Chicago: Chapman Bros., 1890

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