Columbia County PA Archives Biographies.....BROWN, Hiram H. 1837 - living in 1899
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  Author: Biographical Publishing Company
  
  HIRAM H. BROWN is one of the honored and prominent farmers of Scott township,
  Columbia County, Pa., and is also successfully engaged in raising and selling
  the Italian honey bee. He was born in Mifflin township, Columbia County, June
  29, 1837, and is a son of John and Jane (Hutchison) Brown.
  
    There is in the Brown family an old Bible and on a fly-leaf the following
  lines were written by James Brown, the great-great-great-grandfather of our
  subject: "England is my native land and Long Island my home," and dated 1716. He
  probably moved to Hainesburg, N. J., and there spent his remaining days, at
  least his son John, the great-great-grandfather of our subject, resided there
  and was the owner of considerable property. The latter built an old stone house
  and above the door appears the date 1789; this ancient building is still being
  used and is owned by a Mr. Brugler, one of his descendants. John Brown disposed
  of his property in the state of New Jersey and moved to Mifflin township,
  Columbia County, Pa., and purchased a large tract of land four miles east-of the
  town of Mifflin. Finding his purchase unsuitable for farming land he sold the
  property and bought what is now known as the Rosebud farm, which is in Mifflin
  township. In addition to farming he was a gunsmith and blacksmith by trade; he
  served throughout the Revolutionary War, and besides doing the duties of a
  regular soldier, he shod the horses in camp and repaired guns. He was treasurer
  of the Nescopeck Bridge Company at Berwick, Pa., as is shown by a share of
  stock, No. 105, now in possession of his great-grandson, the subject of this
  sketch, which share is dated August 6, 1814. He was twice married and was the
  father of five children, namely: James, Samuel, Mary, Elizabeth, and Sarah.
  
    Samuel Brown, the grandfather of our subject, was reared on his father's farm,
  and was a farmer and miller. He operated what is now known as the Brown Mills
  which were supposed to have been erected by his father. He was wedded to Dortha
  Nice of Philadelphia, and they reared the following children: John, the father
  of our subject; Mary Margaret, who was the wife of Samuel Creasy of Mifflin
  township, both now deceased; Sarah, deceased, was the wife of George A. Bowman,
  also of Scott township; William N., deceased, was formerly a farmer of Mifflin
  township, but later owned the Brown Mills,— he is the father of James C. Brown,
  editor of one of Bloomsburg's most flourishing papers; Mathew, late a farmer of
  Mifflin township; James, deceased, who was a boatman on the Schuylkill Canal;
  Elizabeth, who wedded Alexander Thompson of Berwick, Columbia County; George B.,
  deceased, who was a dentist and book and stationery dealer of Danville, Pa.; and
  Elisha, late a merchant of Mifflin.
  
    John Brown, the father of our subject, carried on farming and operated the
  Brown Mills during his early manhood, and was also engaged in the mercantile
  business at Mifflin. He was a very prominent member of his community and took
  much interest in public affairs. Politically he was an old line Whig. He passed
  from this life February 21, 1855. He was twice married and by his first wife,
  Mary Freas, a family of three children was reared, namely: Samuel, deceased, who
  was engaged in farming on the homestead; Freas, deceased, who started in life as
  a miller but later embarked in the mercantile business at Columbus, Pa.; and
  William, who died in his infancy. His second marriage was to Jane Hutchison,
  whose father was a well-to-do farmer of Center township, Columbia County. As a
  result of this union two sons andt two daughters were born, namely: Margaret M.,
  the wife of Hiram B. Freas, who reside in Chicago, Ill.; our subject; Elizabeth,
  wife of William Hill, a farmer of Center township, Columbia County; and Mark,
  who died in his boyhood days.
  
    Hiram H. Brown was reared upon the farm until he was eleven years of age, when
  his father moved to Mifflin. Our subject was educated in the public and select
  schools of Bloomsburg, commenced teaching at the age of seventeen years, and
  taught twelve winters; during the summers of 1855-56 he attended the Dickinson
  Seminary at Williamsport, Pa. In 1857 he located at Limeridge, Columbia County,
  where he was engaged in the lumber business until 1865. In the spring of 1866 he
  moved upon the old Britton homestead and has since been engaged in the
  cultivation of the soil; he also deals extensively in Italian bees, and in bee
  colonies, combs, foundations and extractors.
  
    Mr. Brown was one of the chief organizers of the Farmers' Mutual Insurance
  Company, which entered upon its business career December 29, 1874, and on
  January 11, 1875, he was elected vice-president of the company, and has held
  that office fourteen years. January 11, 1892, he was elected secretary, which
  office he still holds. During the time when the Farmers' Grange flourished in
  this section, he was one of its most active supporters; was deputy grand master
  of Columbia and Luzerne counties from 1873 to 1880, and during that period he
  assisted in organizing twenty-seven local Granges. In 1860 he joined Mountain
  Lodge, I. O. O. F., and in 1870 withdrew to become a charter member of the Espy
  Lodge, No. 681, of which he is now past grand master; in 1863 he was elected to
  membership in Washington Lodge, No. 265, F. & A. M., of Bloomsburg; is a charter
  member of Camp No. 17, P. O. S. of A., of Light Street, and was district
  president of the same in 1895. In religious views Mr. Brown is an active member
  of the Methodist Church. He was school director three years and assessor of the
  township eighteen years. On March 21, 1861, Mr. Brown and Elizabeth Conner were
  united in the bonds of matrimony, and they are the parents of three children,
  namely: Eber A., a mechanic of Light Street, who married Anna E. Beers of
  Bloomsburg, Pa., and they have a son, Claude C., born October 7, 1898; Morse,
  who died in infancy; and Hannah J., who married H. W. Black of White Hall, Pa.,
  and they have one child, Edith. The Conner family is of Irish descent. John
  Conner, the grandfather of Mrs. Hiram Brown, was a well known tanner and farmer
  of Center township, Columbia County, and was one of the wealthiest men in that
  section of the state. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Conner was
  twice married; his first wife was Miss Hill who bore him the following children:
  Mary; Thomas; Samuel; Isaiah; John; and Charles. His second wife was Elizabeth
  Nyer and two children resulted from this union, Joseph P. and Rebecca. Thomas
  Conner, the father of our subject's wife, was born in Center township where he
  was engaged in farming all his life. He died in September, 1862, at the age of
  fifty-four years. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church. He formed a
  matrimonial alliance with Hannah Laubach, a daughter of Frederick Laubach, a
  farmer of Benton township, Columbia County. To this union three sons and two
  daughters were born: John Freas, a farmer residing in Kansas; George, a farmer
  of Scott township; Elizabeth, the wife of our subject; Alfred, deceased, who
  worked in a supply house and furniture store at Cape May, N. J.; and Mary
  Catherine, wife of W. S. Conner, a resident of Trenton, N. J.
  
  
  
  Additional Comments:
  Extracted from:
  
  Book of Biographies of the Seventeenth Congressional District
  Published by 
  Biographical Publishing Company of Chicago, Ill. and Buffalo, NY (1899)
  
  
  
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