BIOGRAPHY: James M. BROWN, Mifflin County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by P. S. Barr Copyright. All rights reserved. http://files.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://files.usgwarchives.net/pa/mifflin/ _______________________________________________ The Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of the Juniata Valley, Comprising the Counties of Huntingdon, Mifflin, Juniata, and Perry, Pennsylvania. Chambersburg, Pa.: J. M. Runk & Co., 1897, Volume I, pages 644-645. JAMES M. BROWN, deceased, formerly of Beloit, Kan., was born in Armagh township, March 21, 1818. He was a son of James and Nancy (McClure) Brown, of Scotch-Irish descent. His father was a farmer in Armagh township, and there reared his family, consisting of seven children: Mary; Martha; Margaret; Jane; Thomas; James M.; and Nancy. During his minority, James M. Brown worked upon his father's farm, receiving such elementary education as the common schools then afforded. But being of an active mind, he early became a wide and thoughtful reader, and to this habit of close and careful reading, must be attributed that large fund of general information that served him so well when, later in life, he was chosen to fill positions of honor and responsibility. He was twice elected to the legislature, serving both terms with distinction and credit to himself and the State. Besides being true and honest of purpose, he was a man of the warmest sympathies, one who ever regarded it a pleasant duty to lend financial support to a friend in need. But many thus helped failed to liquidate their obligations, thus causing the financial reverses that came upon him later in life. Mr. Brown was married January 24, 1844, to Elizabeth, daughter of William and Frances (Kenny) McManigal. In 1878 he removed with his family to Beloit, Kan., and was engaged in farming until his death, which occurred April 26, 1896. He will long be remembered by those whom he so often befriended while he was their neighbor in the Kishacoquillas valley. Mrs. Brown died August 10, 1869, aged fifty-one years. Mr. and Mrs. Brown had these children: Samuel McClay, married Maria Sterrett, six children; Frances Martha (Mrs. Frank McClure), four children; Sarah Jane (Mrs. William Cyrus Bunnell), whose husband is a native of Crawford county, Pa.; Mary Elizabeth, wife of Dr. A. S. Harshberger, of Lewistown, one child; Nancy Margaret, who died young; James Wilmont, married Agnes Morsey, of Lock Haven, Pa. Three or four years after the death of Mrs. Elizabeth Brown, Mr. Brown married Mrs. Alexander, of Milroy, Pa., a widow of high principles, and sterling worth. They removed to Kansas. Mr. W. C. Bunnell, son-in-law of Mr. Brown, is a son of Usnal and Harriet (McClure) Bunnell, of Crawford county, Pa. He married Sarah Jane Brown, November 11, 1868. They have had five children: James Brown; Harriet Elizabeth, wife of Dr. W. H. Kohler, of Milroy, Mifflin county, one child; Edna Della; Walter Irwin; and Fanny Cyrus. Mr. Bunnell resided with his family on a farm near Siglerville, Mifflin county, until the spring of 1892. They then removed to Milroy, where they still reside.