Benjamin J. Brown

  Burns Township is settled with an intelligent, well-to-do class of farmers, prominent among whom is Benjamin J. Brown. His farm is on section 8, where he has 200 acres of land. In Westchester Co., N. Y., on the 14 th of October, 1836 , there was born to Coles J. and Sally M. (Cole) Brown, a son, to whom they gave the name of Benjamin J., and of whom this biography is written. His parents were also natives of the Empire State , but in 1855 came West and found a home in Burns Township , Henry County , were they reside at the present writing. Benjamin was the eldest of their three children. They sent him to the common schools and required his assistance at home. Early in life, however, he began to teach school, and about five years were spent in New York and Illinois in that profession. He came here a young man, and has since taken an active interest in the the affairs of the community where he has resided. For fifteen years he has served as Justice of the Peace, and has also been Town Treasurer. In politics he adheres to Republican principles.

   At Kewanee, on the 3d of May, 1866 , the wedding rites of Mr. Brown and Miss Drusilla A. Smith were observed. Miss Smith was a daughter of John and Hannah M. Smith, natives of Ohio and Pennsylvania respectively. They came to Henry County in 1856, and were well known pioneers here. Her father died at Cairo , Ill. , while a member of the 124 th Ill. Vol. Inf. His widow resides in Dakota. They had a family of ten children, of whom Drusilla was the fifth. She was born in Morrow County , Ohio , April 13, 1846 . The children of Mr. and Mrs. Brown bear the following names: Edward F., George H., Mary E., Laura I. , Lydia J., Benjamin C. and Maggie A.  Mary died when 22 months old.

 

 

1885 Portrait & Biographical Album of Henry Co., Illinois page 517

 

Transcribed by Jan Roggy

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