BIO: William BROWN, Dauphin County, PA

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Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of Dauphin County, 
Containing Sketches of Representative Citizens, and Many of the 
Early Scotch-Irish and German Settlers.  Chambersburg, Pa.: 
J. M. Runk & Company, 1896, pages 167-168.
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  BROWN, WILLIAM, of Paxtang, thus designated in the act for the 
erection of the county of Dauphin to distinguish him from Capt. William 
Brown, of Hanover, a cousin.  Of the ancestry of this prominent man and 
citizen we have the following:  John Brown, "the pious carrier" of 
Muirkirk parish, Ayrshire, Scotland, was captured by Graham, of 
Claverhouse, and his troops the first of May, 1685, and ordered to take 
the oath of conformity, which he refused to do.  Claverhouse bid him go 
to his prayers, because he had but a few minutes to live.  He did pray 
with such power that when Claverhouse ordered his men to fire upon him 
they refused, and with a pistol and an oath he blew his brains out, and 
then turned to the widow and said, "What thinkest then of thy husband 
now?"  She answered, " I ever thought meikle of him, but never so 
meikle as I do this day."  He said, "It were but justice to lay thee 
beside him."  She answered, "If you were permitted, I doubt not but 
your cruelty would go that length; but how will you answer for this 
mornings work?"  "To man I can be answerable, and as for God I will 
take him into my own hand," he replied and rode away.  She laid down 
her child, tied up her husband's head with her apron, stretched out his 
limbs, covered him with her plaid, and sat down and wept long and 
bitterly.  Without means, without a friend to help, and liable to be 
persecuted, she was at her wit's end.  But God cared for her and 
removed her to Ireland, where she found friends, and where she married 
again.  From this second marriage sprung the Weir family of our county.  
John Brown's sons were James and John, both of whom came to America 
about 1720, the former settling on the Swatara, the latter in Paxtang.  
A son of John, born 30th of June, 1720 was William Brown, of Paxtang.  
He was a prominent actor in Provincial and Revolutionary times, a 
representative man on the frontier, and as might be supposed a zealous 
Covenanter.  At his own expense he visited Ireland and Scotland on 
behalf of his religious brethren to procure a supply of ministers, and 
brought over the celebrated divines Lind and Dobbins.  He was a member 
of the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1776, and during its sessions proposed 
the gradual emacipation of slaves within the Commonwealth, a measure 
not very favorably received at the time, but which four years 
afterwards was enacted into a law.  He served again in the Assembly in 
1784, and was a member of the Board of Property December 5, 1785.  He 
was afterwards, October 2, 1786, appointed one of the commissioners to 
superintend the drawing of the donation land lottery.  Mr. Brown died 
on the 10th of October, 1787, and is buried in Paxtang church 
graveyard.  He was not only an active, earnest and public-spirited 
Christian, of unquestioned piety of heart, but as a neighbor and 
citizen generous and kind-hearted, which insured respect and won 
friendship.  He had no children, but to his paternal and loving care 
are we indebted for the education of his distinguished nephew, Rev. 
Matthew Brown, LL. D., president of Washington and Jefferson College.
  There were the men who a century ago fulfilled the trust confided to 
them.  They were all Scotch-Irish Presbyterians - all save one born in 
the Paxtang of old - and all save one rest beneath the hallowed God's 
acre which lies within the shadow of that historic landmark, Paxtang 
church.  The founder and his friends (for they were his warm personal 
friends) lie within the same enclosure.  They were but human, it is 
true, yet they were men who never shrunk from the fulfillment of duty, 
and we of to-day in calling up their names and honoring their memories 
will do well to follow their example.