Miami County OhArchives Biographies.....William B. Brown September 19 1833 - 
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Nina Miles gideonm@adelphia.net November 4, 2003, 1:13 pm

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WILLIAM B. BROWN - A member of one of the old pioneer families of Miami county, 
William B. Brown was born September 19, 1833, in Lost Creek township, on the 
farm now owned by Andrew Ralston.  His grandfather, William Brown, was a native 
of the Emerald Isle, and about 1796 left his home near Belfast and emigrated to 
America.  He was then about eighteen years of age, his birht having occurred in 
1778.  The family was of Scotch-Irish ancestry and of Presbyterian faith.  It 
is supposed that his marriage to Ellen Kelly occurred in South Carolina, when 
ce she emigrate to Clark County where her parents died.  Some years after their 
marriage William Brown and his wife removed to Lost Creek township, Miami 
County, and in 1852 took up their abode in Flethcer.  He had entered the farm 
now owned and occupied by the subject of this review, William B. Brown on 
section 26, Brown township, while still living in Lost Creek township.  The old 
patent bearing date March 12, 1829, was signed by Andrew Jackson, then 
president of the United States.  The land had not then been divided into 
townships, and when the division was made, Brown township was named in his 
honor.  The farm has always remained in possession of the family.  It was 
inherited by his son, John Brown, and his widow and children, one of whom is 
Mrs. W. B. Brown.  Jane Brown married Joseph Van Horn, and ,dying without 
children, willed her interest to W. B. Brown, her nephew, who by marriage to 
his cousin, Louisa J. Brown, the only daughter of John Brown, united the two 
interests, so that the original farm is now owned by our subject and his wife.
     John Brown, the father of our subject, married Nancy Bigger, daughter of 
John and Margaret Bigger, the former came to Miami County in 1834, when his 
daughter Nancy was ten years old.  With his family he settled on the farm in 
1852, and there Louisa was born August 21, 1853.  She was reared and has always 
lived upon this farm.  Her father here died when about thirty-seven years of 
age, leaving a widow and four children.  The widow remained on the old 
homestead until her death, which occurred in her sixty-eighth year.  They had a 
family of four children: William W., who died in 1888 at the age of thirty-
seven years; Louisa J.; James Hearst, a practicing physician of Centralia, 
Kansas; and John Campbell, who is an attorney-at-law in Holton, Kansas, and 
dean in the university at that place.
     William Bronw, the original representative of the family in this country, 
came to the present farm with his son, John, dying August 21, 1864, at the age 
of eighty-six years.  He was a weaver by trade and operated a loom at his own 
home.  Of the Fletcher Presbyterian church he was a charter member and very 
strict on his views on religion.  He denied his children even the privilege of 
whistling or cracking nuts on Sunday, being very strict according to the old 
Puritan ideas of religion.  He had five sons and several daughters, namely: 
Solomon Kelly; Joseph, who was an Iowa pioneer and died in that state when 
about eighty-one years of age; James, who went south and was accidentally 
killed at Fayette, Mississippi; John, who was mentioned above, Archibald 
Steele, who removed to Iowa and died when about sixty-six years of age; 
Elizabeth and Jane, who were two of triplets, the third being Archibald Steele; 
Elizabeth who became the wife of Thomas Heston and died at Fletcher, at the age 
of twenty-eight years; and Jane, who became the wife of Joseph Van Horn and 
died on the family homestead October 8, 1893.
     Solomon Kelly Brown, having arrived at years of maturity, wedded Mary 
Ralston, an aunt of Andrew Ralston.  He was a farmer in Lost Creek Township for 
seven years, but after his wife's death he removed to Paulding County, Ohio, 
about 1844.  In 1847 he went to Oregon, becoming one of the pioneers of the 
Willamette Valley.  He established his home at Corvallis, where he remained 
until his death, which occurred when he was twenty-three years of age. (NOTE - 
this has to be incorrect... he was much older when he died.)  He had four 
children, two of whom died in early life, while William B. and Andrew R. went 
to Oregon with him.  At that time a large number of emigrants crossed the 
plains to the Pacific coast.  Their train was composed of forty-seven wagons, 
each drawn by from two to five yoke of oxen.  The journey consumed six months 
and sixteen days, and William B. Brown, the subject of this review, can recall 
many incidents of that journey.  His brother Andrew remained in Oregon, but in 
the spring of 1849 William Brown went with his father to the gold diggins on 
Feather river in California.  They spent one season there, taking out more than 
seven thousand dollars worth of gold.  In the fall of 1851 William Brown went 
from his home to California, where he worked for two years inthe mines, 
prospecting when he could and working for others when he had no stake.  He made 
but little progress, and, in consequence, hired out on a ranch at one hundred 
dollars per month.  He afterward returned to the mines, but was not very 
successful.  Prices were very high, he having to pay a dollar and ten cents a 
pound for four, while other products of consumption were proportionately high.  
After making several efforts at prospecting, his work being hindered by heavy 
snows and other difficulties, he finally left the diggings, where he had 
suffered many hardships.  For two days at a time he had to live on beef alone, 
as no flour could be secured.  On another occasion he lived for three days on 
dried apples and sugar.  He traveled from one mining camp to another, finally 
reaching Scott's river, where he did an immense amount of work for very little 
return.  However, after he had spent a few months upon a ranch, he again sought 
for gold, but with such poor success that he returned to Oregon, where he 
engaged in farm work with his father until the outbreak of the Cayuse Indian 
was at Walla Walla.  He there volunteered in the United States service, 
spending one winter in bringing the Indians into subjection.  About four 
hundred volunteers were engaged in battle at Walla Walla against five thousand 
Indians, during which the chief was killed.  The engagement was rather a 
running fight, and continued almost constantly for four days.
     During two summers Mr. Brown was connected with a government surveying 
party, and thus traveling saw much of the wild country of that state.  The hope 
of finding gold, which is ever before one in the mining regions, again decided 
him to make his way to the camps, and he worked in the mines both of Oregon and 
California.  In 1864 he prospected in Idaho and later became the owner of a 
large stock ranch there.  However, he sold that and soon afterward went to 
Helena, Montana.  In 1866 he determined to return to OHIO, and made his way 
home by way of the Missouri River.  Since that time he has been identified with 
the agricultural interests of Miami County.  On the 1st of October, 1884, Mr. 
Brown was united in marriage to his cousin.  Meanwhile he had spent some time 
in Iowa, and in 1872 he took charge of the farm for his Aunt Jane.  He operated 
it, his aunt acting as his housekeeper, and after his marriage he still carried 
on the farm for his aunt, who bequeathed it to him at her death.  Both Mr. and 
Mrs. Brown are consistent and faithful members of the Presbyterian church at 
Fletcher.  In his political views he is a Democrat, but does not seek or desire 
public office, preferring to give his attention to his agricultural pursuits.  
He built the present home during his aunt' lifetime.  He has two sets of 
buildings upon the farm, and has a very valuable and highly improved property.  
He has made two trips to Oregon since his return from the west, one in 1881 and 
the other in 1890, spending the summer on the Pacific slope.  His nephew, Ralph 
Otis Brown, son of Andrew Brown, is operating the farm, and he and our subject 
and his wife are now the only living representatives of the old Brown family 
once so numerous in Miami County.

Additional Comments:
This bio found in the estate of Alta Hazel Burnett.  The author of the bio is 
unknown... only a notation at the top of the page which says "Aunt Georgia".  
The date of its writing is also unknown, but a good guess would be the late 
1800's.  

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