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Submitted by Cheryl VanWormer 



				JOHN M. AND MARILDA (SKIDMORE) BROWN.

	John M. Brown, one of the earliest pioneers of Otisco, was born in Scott, Cortland Co., 
N. Y., July 11, 1816, son of timothy and Deborah (Marsh) Brown.  Her father was a soldier in the 
war of the Revolution, and received the land where the village of Cortland now stands for his 
services in that war.  Mr. Brown's grandfather was a captain in the Revolution, and of the same 
family of John Brown, of Ossawatomie, the martyr.
	The early life of John M. Brown was spent upon his father's farm in Cortland County until
he was twenty-one, when he started out for himself, working at such employment as he could get 
until 1844, when, thinking the chances for getting himself a farm were better in a new country, 
he came to Michigan, stopping in Oakland County, where he remained a few years.  Was married, 
March 5, 1848, to Marilda Skidmore, daughter of John and Sally (Bishop) Skidmore, among the early
settlers of Macomb County, and who came from Rose, Wayne Co., where she was born Dec. 17, 1828.  
The family were formerly from Saratoga Co., N. Y.  The following fall, after Mr. Brown was 
married, he moved to Otisco and purchased eighty acres of land, where he now lives, upon which 
there was a small log house and a small clearing made.  Here this pioneer couple have diligently 
worked for more than thirty years.  Soon after Mr. Brown came to Otisco he entered forty acres of
government land, and since then has added other lands, until he now has a large and well-
cultivated farm.  They have three children living (having buried two, who died in infancy):  
Franklin was born May 15, 1849, Mark H., born June 10, 1861, and Mary E., born Aug. 14, 1863.
	Politically, Mr. Brown was formerly an uncompromising Abolitionist, until the necessities
of that party were past, when he joined the Democratic party.  The business of his life has been 
that of a farmer.  Has taken a deep interest in all agricultural matters.  He and his wife are 
members of the grange.  He has served as Master and Overseer.  Mrs. Brown is the present Chaplain 
of the grange.



This biography is taken from "HISTORY OF IONIA AND MONTCALM COUNTIES, MICHIGAN" 
by John S. Schenck. Philadelphia:  D. W. Ensign & Co., 1881.  Pages 289-290.  Otisco.