ISHAM BROWDER
(1762-1830)

by Gertrude Thompson

Isham Browder, the only proven Revolutionary War soldier buried 
in Fulton County, was born Jan. 12, 1762, in Dinwiddie County, 
Virginia, near Petersburg.

His parents were Isham and Martha Browder, but we don't know if 
there were other children.  Four generations earlier his ancestors 
had fled France due to the persecution of the Huguenots.

He enlisted June 3, 1776, and served as a private in Captain William 
Taylor's company of Colonel Spotwood's Second Virginia Regiment.  
During the Battle of Monmouth, he received an arm wound.  After three 
years of service he received an honorable discharge in August 1779.

For his service he received a land grant.  June 3, 1786, for 100 acres 
in Hopkins County.  Also, his second wife received a veteran's pension.

Isham Browder first married Rachael Slaton of Goochland County, Virginia, 
and they had eleven children:  James, Andrew, Thomas, Pleasant, Josiah, 
John, Isham, Augustine, David, Martha, and Mary.

Following the death of Rachel in 1808. Isham married Elizabeth Sceare,
originally from Woodford County, Kentucky.  They had two children:  Kitty 
and Harbert.

Apparently Isham and Rachael did not arrive in Western Kentucky until the 
mid-1790's, as his daughter, Martha was born in Lincoln County, Kentucky 
in 1795.

By 1798 he had built a home on the original one-hundred acre land grant 
in Hopkins County on the Pond River.  He became very active in local 
government and in the Church.  

Isham was appointed to the first County Court in Hopkins County and also 
served as Justice of the Peace and as Sheriff.  For this service he received 
ten add ional land grants totaling over 2,000 acres in Christian, Hopkins, 
and Muhlenberg and Henderson counties.

His support of the Methodist Church was shown by his deeding the property 
for the Browder Methodist Church and cemetery, which is still in use today,
about six miles northwest of Madisonville.  Both of his wives are buried at
Browder Cemetery and two of his sons became Methodist preachers.

In 1828 he moved to what is now Fulton County, where two of his sons.  
Augustine and David had settled.  This land is three miles west of Fulton 
on the State Line Road and is still owned by his descendants.

On Feb. 2, 1830, he died and was buried in the front yard of his son's home.
His coffin was a seven -foot length from an oak tree, which was hollowed out 
and bound together with bark strips.

On Oct. 26, 1966, the Kentucky Historical Society erected a bronze marker
indicating the site of the burial palace of this west Kentucky pioneer.

Members of the local DAR chapter who are descendant of Isham Browder are Mrs.
W.S. Atkins, Mrs. Don Henry of Hickman, Mrs. James Green and Miss Gertrude
Thompson.