BIOGRAPHY: James W. Brown; Montgomery, Orange co., New York

transcribed by W. David Samuelsen for USGenWeb Archives

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Portrait and Biographical Record of Rockland and Orange Counties New York
Containing Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative
Citizens of the Counties.
Together with Biographies and Portraits of all the Presidents of the United
States.
New York and Chicago; Chapman Publishing Co., 1895

JAMES W. BROWN. Within the limits of the town of Montgomery there is probably
not a gentleman who stands higher in its social and business circles, or who
has been more upright and energetic as a farmer, than the subject of this
notice. A man of intelligence and wide information, he is one with whom an
hour may be spent in a pleasant and profitable manner. Some years ago he
retired from active participation in agricultural affairs, and now makes his
home with his daughter and son-in-law, who minister to his comfort and
surround his declining years with affection.

In Little Britain James W. Brown was born November 28, 1822, being the third
among the eleven children of John T. and Nancy (Lowers) Brown. He and a
sister, who lives in California, are the only survivors of six sons and five
daughters comprising the family. His father, a nativeof Ireland, was brought
by his parents to America in early boyhood, and settled with them in Sullivan
County, N. Y., where he was reared on a farm. When a young man, he came to
Orange County and purchased some farming land in this town, where he continued
to reside until 'his death, at the age of fourscore years. As a farmer he was
successful, his enterprises meeting with flattering success. He was a member
of the Covenanter Church, to which his wife also belonged. She was a native of
Ireland, and at the age of six years accompanied her parents to the United
States, remaining in Orange County until her death.

Such educational advantages as were common to his day our subject received in
the common schools of the home locality. In the spring of 1852, attracted by
the splendid opportunities of the West, he went to California, the voyage
thither being made via Cape Horn. For fifteen months he engaged in mining, but
the results not being as good as he had hoped, he transferred his attention to
agricultural pursuits, which he followed in the Calaveras Valley for fifteen
years. At the expiration of that time he returned East, disposing of his
property in California and purchasing a farm in the town of Blooming Grove,
Orange County.

In April, 1859, Mr. Brown was united in marriage with Miss Mary Jane Burnett,
who was born in the town of New Windsor, this county, in October, 1828, and
died in April, 1892. Their only daughter, Anna C., was married, January 22,
1891, to Jonathan N. Hawkins, who was born in this town, September 20, 1850.
He was the fourth among six children born to Lewis and Mary (Blake) Hawkins,
the former born in the town of Crawford in 1815, and died in 1885. The
grandparents were born on Long Island, the grand-father serving as a private
in the War of 1812. The family is of English extraction. The mother of Mr.
Hawkins was born in Orange County and is still living in Coldenham, at an
advanced age.

The family of Lewis and Mary Hawkins consisted of the following children:
Frances A., wife of S. V. Cooper, of North Dakota; Elizabeth, who married
James Twomley, and lives in Grand Forks, N. Dak.; William B., who died at the
age of forty-four; Pliny, a farmer of this county; Jonathan N. ; and Jonas,
who is engaged in agricultural pursuits in this county. Mr. Hawkins was reared
on a farm in this county, where he remained until twenty-eight years of age.
He then went to Dakota and was manager for a large real-estate man there for
four years, after which he was foreman on a stock and grain ranch of three
thousand acres, managing his own farm at the same time. After having spent
five years in that manner, he went to Johnstown, N. Dak., where he took charge
of an elevator, bought stock, and was also ticket agent for the Northern
Pacific Railroad at that place. A year later he went to Montana and bought
stock for the Prouty Live Stock Company for a short time. Returning to Orange
County, he purchased our subject's farm of one hundred acres, where he has
since carried on a general farming and stock business.

For about a quarter of a century Mr. Brown has been an Elder in the
Presbyterian Church, of which he is an earnest and consistent member. While he
has never been a politician in the ordinary acceptance of that term, he is,
nevertheless, an ardent champion of Republican principles, which he upholds
now with as much firmness as he did during the early years of the history of
the party.