| CLIMBING THE BROWN
FAMILY TREE
by: Brenda Brown Lasko Chapter 11 Leander Brown's Story Leander Brown was the second oldest of the 16 children of George and Mary Brown, and was probably the most colorful character of the bunch. He was my father's grandfather and there are many stories of Leander in our family. He married Celesta Patterson and I feel that she should be given some attention in this story before I go much farther. Celesta was born in September of 1849, daughter of Dr. William T. Patterson and Lucinda Noffsinger. We have no positive documentation on Lucinda's parents at this time but I believe she was a descendant of Mathias Noffsinger and links back to the George Gates family. As I told you, all of these families seemed to intermarry for many generations. Dr. Patterson practiced medicine near Harrietsville in Monroe County around 1860. This portion of Monroe County later became Nobel County and there were several courthouse fires around the same time so information about him and his family is difficult to find. On the 1860 census, he stated he was born in New York and from the information in that census we can assume that he was married before his marriage to Lucinda. The oldest child listed as his daughter was too old to have belonged to Lucinda so I came to the conclusion his first wife had died, leaving him with a daughter. I hope to include more about him when the information becomes available. At some point Dr. Patterson took his family to Washington County where he continued to practice medicine for many years. It appears that Leander or "Lee" as he was called, met Celesta in Washington County and they were married on April 13, 1871. Celesta had a three year old son named Richard Cooper at the time she married Leander. Richard adopted the Brown name and lived as Richard Brown most of his life. Together, Leander and Celesta had 8 more known children and I will include their individual stories as we go along. Leander and Celesta lived in Washington County until after the birth of their first child, Celina, in 1872. By 1876 when their second daughter was born, they were living in York Township in Belmont County. For the next 8 or 10 years they continued to live in the Captina Valley and raise their family. Lee supported them by farming but I doubt that this simple life was much to his liking. This era was filled with the constant news of life in the West. In an article in the Belmont Chronicle Newspaper on March 5, 1885, it states, "One hundred persons left Guernsey County in the last 2 weeks for different points in the west." Almost everyday there was news of another family leaving the Ohio Valley heading for the new frontier. There were several factors that contributed to this huge western migration. In 1849 gold had been discovered in California and from time to time, the news of other gold finds in western states reached the folks in the East. The dream of striking it rich caused many to cross this country. The Homestead Act of 1862 was enacted and granted 160 acres of public land in the West to citizens 21 years old or the head of a family. The homesteader only paid a small filing fee but had to live on the land for five years and make certain improvements in order to receive a clear title. This promise of cheap land lured even more men to go west and seek their fortune. When the transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869, it provided a safer way to move a family such a long distance and even more families pulled up stakes and followed the setting sun. By the 1880's and 1890's most of the hostile Indians had been brought under control and forced onto reservations. This gave even the faint-of-heart hope of finding their dream in the West. Just when and why Lee decided load up and go west is not known but about 1886, he and his stepson, Richard, who was about 20 years old, rode out of Powhatan looking for the rainbow's end in Colorado, leaving behind Celesta and 5 children ranging in age from 14 to 2 years. Lee was 36 and Celesta 37 at the time. With great expectations, Leander and Richard arrived in Colorado and filed claims for their tracts of land. I'm sure the dreams of gold and rich cattle farms that had filled the heads of so many others had also filled theirs. They settled on the Platte River about 20 miles from Sterling, Colorado and built a house. Sod was used for its construction because there were no trees large enough to build a house. After they got things set up, Lee sent for his family back in Ohio. Celeste and the 5 children boarded a train and made the journey to their new home. They found Colorado to be very different from the land they knew. The climate was dry and the area was mostly grass covered plains. To find trees large enough to use as the center pole and rafters to support the roof of the sod home required a day's walk. Farming in Colorado was more difficult than in Ohio and much more land had to be tilled to yield enough crops for a family to survive. Life was hard and the isolation must have been terrible. At the end of the first year in Colorado, they harvested a good crop of corn and Lee made the 20 mile trip to Sterling to sell his first wagon load. When they arrived at the railroad to make the sale, they found the corn was worth 5 cents a bushel and the railroad charged 15 cents a bushel to ship it. He returned to the homestead and piled the remainder of the crop around the sod house to be burned for heat during the winter. Because there were no trees for firewood, they also gathered buffalo chips to burn and the rather unpleasant chore of gathering it was given to the children. Winters there were hard and the force of the wind across the flat land was intense. The winters of 1886 and 1887 were the coldest on record and it is a miracle they managed to survive. When Lee found he couldn't make a living farming in Colorado, he went to Nebraska and started another homestead. This left Celesta and the children alone on the homestead in Colorado. She was pregnant for William Henry, who he would be walking before his father returned for a visit. During one of these infrequent visits my grandmother, Bessie, was conceived. I don't know how they managed to survive life alone on the homestead in Lee's absence. Celeste must have been a very strong woman to endure such a hard life. With all of the problems he encountered Lee finally realized they had to go back to Ohio as soon as he could get enough money together to finance the trip. In Nebraska, Lee tried gold mining, farming and worked as a lumberjack but the he never found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow he had chased. Shortly after getting the title to his land, he sold the property and began the long trip to take his family back to Ohio. I have heard many stories about their life in the West and the trips there and back. One story tells of Lee finding a silver mine and selling his share for what he thought was a good price. In the 1950's the mine, named the "Minnie May Mine", after one of Leander's daughters, was still producing quality silver. To prepare for the trip home, Lee went to Sterling to buy the oil cloth to cover the wagons. He found there was not enough in one piece of cloth to do the job so two pieces had to be sewed together to make the cover. The two pieces of cloth were different colors and must have made a comic looking covered wagon. My grandmother told of how they would see clumps of bright green grass across the plains and discovered it was the result of the buffalo hunts on the plains. Thousands of buffalo were shot and left to decay. In those clumps of grass they found the bones and horns of the great animals that had roamed across the plains by the millions. I can remember buffalo horns at my grandmother's house that were picked up along their way home. Making the journey with a wagon full of children couldn't have been an easy trip. My grandmother was about 4 years old when they headed back for Ohio. She told one story of how they nearly all drowned when trying to cross a flood swollen river and the horses got into quicksand. They traveled as far as they could by day and made camp and slept under the stars at night, unless they were fortunate enough to find a settlement before darkness fell. They made it a far as Missouri before winter set in and rented a small store room. They spent the winter in this small room awaiting spring so they could move on. It was while they were living there that Lee found the treasure map. It was a map of an old mine shaft where some buried treasure had supposedly been hidden. They formed a partnership with a fellow who was to help them for a share of whatever they found. They did find the cave and a shaft that had been dug, as the map indicated, but the only treasure they ever recovered were a few old Spanish coins. The cave containing the shaft was a limestone cave filled with stalactites and stalagmites. One of these stalactites, brought back as a souvenir, is still at my father's home. When spring finally came, the family loaded up and began the rest of the trip home to Ohio. When they were crossing the bridge over the Mississippi River in St. Louis, the wheel fell off Uncle Dick's wagon and caused traffic to halt until it could be repaired. With the worst of the trip behind, they continued the journey and eventually made it back to the land where they were born. When Leander returned to Ohio, he settled in Washington County on the Little Muskingum River. He rented the farm known as the old "Doc" place and he used his little remaining money to buy some seed to put in a crop. The river flooded in early summer and took with it everything he had planted, leaving them with nothing. The family came close to starving that winter, living mostly on corn mush and sorghum molasses Lee was given in exchange for helping other farmers. He finally brought his family back to Belmont County where they remained the rest of their lives. Lee was always filled with wonder-lust and did everything from gold mining to farming. Celesta died in 1922 and he spent his last years living with his daughters Bessie Brown and Jennie Brown Gray. Lee died in 1943 at the age of 93 and both he and Celesta are buried in the Powhatan Cemetery. The children of Leander and Celesta Brown: 1. Richard D. "Cooper" Brown was born on November 13, 1866, in Washington County, Ohio. He married Amanda E, Wright, daughter of Frank Wright and Elizabeth Lazier, on July 16, 1900. They were the parents of 2 children. Their son, Charles Vernon Brown, married Edna Brown, the daughter of Richard's half brother, Charles. Charles was killed in the Coal Mine Fire at Powhatan No. 1 mine in 1944. Amanda died in 1951, Richard in 1954, and both are buried in the Powhatan Cemetery. Their children are:
2. Celina Brown was born on May 11, 1872, in Ludlow Township, Washington County, Ohio. She was married to William Smith and they were the parents of 3 known children. The family lived in Jefferson County and Celina must have died before 1933 as she is not listed in the obituary of her brother Robert. We have very little information on this family.
3. Minnie Brown was born on April 13, 1876, in York Township, Belmont County, Ohio. She married Herbert Haught in 1896 and they were the parents of 4 known children. In the 1900 Census, they were living in Independence Township, Washington County, Ohio and in 1910 and 1920 were listed in Mahoning County, Ohio. In the obituary of her brother Robert in 1933 it states that she was living in Youngstown, Ohio. Again there is little information on this family. Their children are:
4. Infant daughter Brown was born on June 29, 1880, in Belmont County, Ohio and died the day after her birth. 5. Robert Vernon Brown was born June 11, 1881, in York Township, Belmont County, Ohio. He was married to Anna B. Trader, daughter of Samuel Trader and Sarah Jane West, on November 12, 1909. Anna's mother was the daughter of Otho West, whose family was early Belmont County settlers. Otho's father, John Otho West was married to Sarah Lemley, the daughter of Peter and Mary Ann Lemley. Sarah was the sister of Isaac Brown's wife, Nancy Lemley. Robert and Anna were the parents of 7 children and their story will continue later. Their children are:
6. Jennie Pearl Brown was born on September 16, 1882, in Belmont County, Ohio. She was married to Jasper Lewis Gray in 1902 and they were the parents of 3 children. They lived in Belmont County most of their lives. Aunt Jennie lived in Steinersville, Ohio all the years that I knew her. She was a lively lady with a laugh I can still remember. Many of the older generations found a home with her in their final years. Her father, Leander, lived with her for many years and as mentioned earlier, Albert Gallington, her uncle, lived out his final days in her house. It was not unusual to find some family member living with either Aunt Jennie or my grandmother, Bessie. Jasper Lewis or "Uncle Lou" died in 1937 and Aunt Jennie died in 1961 and both are buried in the Powhatan Cemetery. Their children were:
7. Charles Edward Brown was born on December 3, 1884, in Belmont County, Ohio. He married Alice Matilda Kocher on June 29, 1907, and lived in Belmont County most of their lives. They were the parents of 8 children. I remember Uncle Charlie most for his music. He played fiddle for local dances and his son, David, played guitar with him. When Ohio celebrated its 150th birthday in 1953, celebrations went on most of the summer. Powhatan closed Main Street for some of the doings and square dances took place on the street at night. I can remember Uncle Charlie calling the dances and playing his fiddle as men and women dressed in old-fashioned clothes promenaded down the street. Like most of the men in the Brown family, he loved fishing and telling fish tales. He always seemed to be a happy sort of man when I knew him and always in the middle of some big tale about something every time I saw him. Charles died in 1966, Alice in 1978, and both are buried in the Powhatan Cemetery. Several of his grandchildren helped me gather information on the family. At a small family reunion in 1986 the families of two of his children, Lawrence and Herman Brown, completed family group sheets for me. Herman was deceased at this time and Lawrence was very ill and died not long after that summer. The children of Charles and Alice Brown are:
8, William Henry Brown was born on August 4, 1888, near Sterling in Logan County, Colorado. He married Murial Bess, daughter of George Bess, on December 23, 1907. They had 6 children before Murial died in 1915. After her death, Henry married Lucy Florence Jackson about 1917 and 5 more children were born, Henry and Lucy were divorced and he married Guyolla Hill and they became the parents of 8 additional children. With 19 children, Uncle Henry had the largest family in the Brown clan. Uncle Henry was a "Jack of all Trades" and was everywhere during his life time. I only knew him in his older days and he was quite a character. He had a kind of electricity about him that I remember. He seemed to be full of energy and had a quick wit. He lived in Salineville, Ohio during the last years of his life and many of his children and grandchildren still live in that area. He visited our summer home a couple of times and it was fun to have him around. I can remember him joining in our target practicing with 22 rifles and was amazed at what a keen eye he had for his age. He told me the target we were using was too big and he was going to aim at the roofing nail we used to hold the target to the tree. I thought this was pretty funny as I watched him taking aim with quite a shake in his hand. Just before he squeezed the trigger he held his breath and with the skill of Buffalo Bill Cody he hit that nail with the first shot. Quite an accomplishment for a man well into his 70's or at least I thought it was. He and his family spent one entire summer at our cabin and had a wonderful time hunting and fishing on the same land that had belonged to the Brown's of previous generations. Uncle Henry died in 1970 and is buried in the Powhatan Cemetery. My dad still has visits from Henry's son, Joseph Brown, and enjoys the friendship they share.
9. Bessie Leila Brown was born on December 5, 1893, near Sterling in Logan County, Colorado. She married William Grover Brown about 1915 and they were the parents of 4 children. Their youngest child is my father, Homer Earl Brown. This story will continue with their lives as we go along. Their children are:
Index 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Epilogue
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