Brown Family   

THE BROWNS, OF SANDY LAKE.—The first to come to this county was Alexander Brown, a native of Cumberland County, Penn., the time of his arrival being about the year 1805. He settled at what was known as “The Falls” of Big Sandy Creek, and was the first to erect a mill in what is now Sandy Lake Township. He was a surveyor, and surveyed a considerable portion of Mercer County. Soon after the organization of the county he removed to Mercer for the purpose of educating his children. While there he was engaged in the mercantile business with Bevan Pearson. He was the first man to card wool in the county, which he did at Mercer, by the use of a horse-tread power. He and Pearson dealt some in stock, and the fall of the market caused them to fail in business at a time when they had a large amount invested in stock. He was first married, in Cumberland County, to Mary Jacobs, a native of that county, by whom he had the following children: Eliza, married Andrew Patterson; James F., Thomas J. and Alexander. James F. was a printer, and worked a short time in Madison, Ind., and was offered a lot in the newly laid town of Indianapolis for every day he would work on the paper at Madison. He finally came back to his home and joined his brother, Thomas J., in the construction of a stone dam across the stream where the mill-dam of the McClure brothers is now located. This was the first stone dam that was constructed in Mercer County. Thomas J. was born in Westmoreland County, Penn., May 2, 1801, and came to Sandy Lake in 1805, and in 1808 removed to Mercer. In 1818 or 1819 he was elected captain of a militia company, and subsequently was elected captain of an artillery company. In 1821 he married Caroline, daughter of Dr. Christopher Heydrick, and located on Sandy Creek, near Sandy Lake, where he subsequently laid out the town of Brownsville. He was the first postmaster of this town. He erected woolen mills, flax seed oil-mills, flouring-mills, turning lathes and manufactured lumber. In all of these he was assisted by his brother, James F. He was also engaged extensively in merchandising. In 1840 he was appointed a justice of the peace to fill a vacancy, and was elected to the same in 1845. In 1855 he was appointed associate judge to fill a vacancy, and was elected to that office in 1856. He was appointed justice of the peace in 1875 and elected in 1876, and re-elected in 1881, and filled the office up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1883. His wife died March 2, 1874, and was the mother of eight children: Alexander F., Harriet H., James, Charles, Christopher, Mary E., Benjamin F. and Albert G. Alexander, Sr., was one of the first associate judges of this county. At a time he and three other acquaintances were captured by the Indians while on a tour down the Ohio River, where they had established a trading post. Two of the company were killed by the red men, and while they were holding a consultation to determine what to do with Alexander and the other, an Indian squaw agreed to take them for her husband and adopted son. She finally helped them to get away, but they were soon captured by another tribe, which traded them to a Scotchman, who released them, and finally they reached home, dressed in Indian costumes. The original Alexander Brown was married a second time, his last wife being Mary Weekly, who bore him two children: Mary, married Alfred Norton, and Sydney, married James Moorehead. James F. Brown, whose portrait appears in this work, through the enterprise of his widow, was one of the respected and worthy citizens of the county, and is an excellent representative of the Brown family, which figures largely in the history of Sandy Lake.

History of Mercer County, Pennsylvania : its past and present : including its aboriginal history, its early settlement and development, a description of its historic and interesting localities, sketches of its boroughs, townships and villages, neighborhood and family histories, portraits and biographies of pioneers and representative citizens, statistics, etc. : also, a condensed history of Pennsylvania. Chicago, Ill.: Brown, Runk & Co., 1888, pages 1045-1046.  Read this book on line - Free Trial  Search Hundreds of 1880s-1890s Pennsylvania County History Books for biographies and historical information on your ancestors.  View the book page images on line and print them out for your genealogy file!  Free Access to the old history books - plus birth & death records, census images and ALL other records at ancestry.com

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