Brown, Alexander L. (1827-1900)

BROWN

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 9/16/2019 at 02:01:13

Alexander L. Brown
May 25, 1827 - Sep 19, 1900

From the 1891 Biographical History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, p.604)
Alexander L. BROWN came to his present location in Center Township, Pottawattamie County, in 1872, and was among the first settlers in this neighborhood. A brief resume of his life is herewith given.
Mr. Brown was born in Muskingum County, Ohio, May 25, 1827, the son of Benjamin Brown, a native of New York. His grandfather, Alexander Brown, was born in Scotland. His mother, Nancy (McKee) Brown, a native of New Jersey, was a daughter of a Protestant Irishman.
Our subject passed his youth on his father's farm in Muskingum County, and received his education in the public schools. He was married April 20, 1848, to Miss Elizabeth Catherine Mennefee, a native of Virginia. Her father, Charles Mennefee, was born in the Old Dominion, in 1782, the descendant of an old Virginia family. Her mother, nee Mary Madox, a daughter of Notley Madox, was also a native of Virginia, as was her father. Mr. Brown resided in Ohio until 1853, when the whole family removed to Mercer County, Illinois. There the parents spent the residue of their lives. The father died at the age of seventy years. In politics he was a Whig until the organization of the Republican Party, when he joined its ranks. A member of the Christian Church, he was an active and zealous worker in the cause of religion. The mother died at the age of ninety years.
Mr. Brown remained in Illinois until 1872, when he came to this county and bought his present farm, eighty acres, of J. Q. Rollins, who had broken the ground. Mr. Brown has since put the land under a good state of cultivation, and has substantial and convenient farm buildings.
He and his wife are the parents of seven children, viz.: Samantha, wife of Horace Bull, Rock Island, Illinois, has five children; Joanna, wife of Riley Duncan, of Wayne, Nebraska, is the mother of two children; Charles, a resident of Custer County, Nebraska, is married and has three children; L. W., at home; Hugh resides in Pottawattamie County, is married and has two children; George A., a successful teacher of Center Township, is married and has one child. Benjamin, the twin brother of Charles, died at the age of four years.
Politically Mr. Brown is a Republican. For many years he has been a member of the Baptist Church, and forty years a member of the Masonic fraternity. He is an intelligent man of broad and progressive views, and is regarded by all as a worthy and upright citizen.
In connection with Mrs. Brown's family history it should be further stated that her father died in Mercer County, Illinois, and her mother, now at the age of eighty eight years, makes her home in Mr. Brown's family.

(From the 1883 History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, by J. H. Keatley, p.84, Center Twp.)
Farmer, P. O. Oakland, was born in Muskingum County, Ohio, May 25, 1827. He is the son of Benjamin and Nancy (McKee) Brown. His father was a farmer, born in New York State about 1796. He was an early settler in Ohio. He was married near Newark, N. J., in 1818, to Miss McKee, a native of that State. They moved to Mercer County, Ill., in 1852, and the fether died there in 1862 and also the mother at the age of eighty-six. Our subject received a common school education, and lived with his father till the age of twenty-one. He began life for himself by getting married in Coshocton County, Ohio, April 20, 1845, to Elizabeth Catharine Menefee, born in Fauquier, now Culpepper County, Va., September 30, 1829. Her father, Charles William Menefee, was a farmer, and died in Mercer County, III, in 1856. Her mother, Mary Maddox, was born in Fauquier County, Va., August 5, 1807, and is still living with her son, Charles Menefee, in this county. After his marriage, the subject farmed in Ohio for four years, after which he went to Mercer County, Ill., where he lived and farmed for twenty years. In the spring of 1873, he came to this county, locating on his present place, which consists of 240 acres, but he farms considerable more. He has eighty acres in Section 10, and 160 acres in Section 15, Township 75, Range 39. Mr. and Mrs. Brown have had eight children, seven of whom are living - Samuutha J., born June 20, 1849; Johanna, born July 28, 1851; Charles, born October 28, 1853; Benjamin, twin brother to Charles, died May 16, 1858; Theodore D., born June 22, 1856; Thomas W., born October 8, 1858; Hugh J., born September 13, 1861, and George A., born August 10, 1864. Samantha married Horace Ball. They are now living in Rock Island, Ill.; Johanna married Austin R. Duncan, and they are living in Walnut, this county. The sons are all living at home. Mr. and Mrs. Brown are members of the Baptist Church, and two of the.sons are members of the M. E. Church. In politics, the family are Republican.