| CLIMBING THE BROWN
FAMILY TREE
by: Brenda Brown Lasko Chapter 7 Abel Brown's Story Many stories about Abel and his family have been passed down through the generations and I believe there must be a measure of truth in some of them. I suppose we will never be able to sort fact from legend but I imagine it is that way with most family sagas, including Abel's. One such story tells of how two of Abel's sons were taken by the Indians as the children played along the creek. The next day one of them returned but the other boy lived with the Indians for several years. He would come home to visit but refused to sleep in a bed, preferring to sleep on the floor instead. The Brown's and the Lemley's always seemed to live in peace with their red neighbors. Although Indians weren't common in the area after the white settlement was established, they did travel down the Captina Valley from time to time to trade with the whites. Many times the Indians would stop at Abel's home when returning from one of their trading trips. They would have a meal with their white friends and then have one drink of liquor before going to sleep in the barn. One night one of Abel's boys got up to go to the outhouse and was met by one of the Indians who wanted more to drink. Although he knew he shouldn't, he got the liquor for the Indian and went back to bed. In the morning the Indians were gone but Abel was very upset at his son's decision to give them the liquor and feared it might lead to problems. This fear was laid to rest when the Indians returned on their next trip and brought a pony for the boy who had been so kind to the Chief's son. It is a shame we will never hear the stories they told while sitting on the porch on warm summer nights. I try to picture what it must have been like sitting there with the sound of the creek bubbling in the distance and maybe the howl of a wolf from deep in the woods as they told the tales of how they traveled across the land carrying with them all they owned. They told stories of the people they met and they ones they left behind on the trip. Perhaps they retold of the times they almost didn't survive to tell the tale and of those who didn't. All this time they were watching their children grow up and become adults and have families of their own. Abel and Lydia had seven known children, 4 sons and 3 daughters. The children are named in Abel's will and are as follows: Jacob, Mary, Joseph, John, Isaac, Elizabeth and Barbara. For a time it was thought that there may have been another child who had married and had children but died before Abel's death in 1841. Abel's will named three heirs who split one share of the inheritance: Lydia Blackford, Mary Ann Smith and John C. Brown. These three heirs have now been proven to be the children of Abel's son, John, who died at some point after his father's death but before the death of his mother, Lydia. Abel's will stated his wife was to get all of his estate after his death for her lifetime. After her death, everything was to be sold and divided equally among his children, "Share and share alike." He also provided for the heirs of his children, should any of them die before the division of the estate. In such an event, the descendants of this child were to divide their parent's share of the inheritance and this was done in the case of John's children. Abel's will also tells us a little about his life and death. The will was written 10 years before he died and names his brother, John, and his second son, Joseph, as executors. The appraisal valued his property at $19,200.21, a sizable amount for that time. His wife, Lydia, retained ownership of the real estate until her death in 1861. The property was sold and the money divided among the heirs. A crier was paid $1.50 to go through out the Captina valley and spread the news of Abel's death. Even the burial expenses for Lydia were provided in Abel's will. It tells a lot about the nature and character of Abel Brown. Certainly he was an intelligent man who managed to prosper in his lifetime. He was a devoted husband and father who provide for his family even after his death. A copy of Abel's will can be found here. The following is a brief history of each of the children born to Abel and Lydia. 1. Jacob Brown was born in Virginia on June 21, 1791. He married Elizabeth Ruble, daughter of David Ruble on March 28, 1814. They were the parents of 8 children and lived Switzerland Township, Monroe County, Ohio. Elizabeth died on April 24, 1842, and left Jacob with several small children to raise. On November 12, 1842, he married Nancy Cree the widow of Jacob McCabe. He no doubt needed a mother for his children so it is no surprise that he remarried so quickly after Elizabeth's death. Nancy would remain with these children through her lifetime and it appears she never had children of her own in either of her marriages. She buried Jacob beside Elizabeth when he died in 1868 and later she would be placed beside him when she died in 1882. This little cemetery is in a pasture field just off of Route 556 in Monroe County. The children of Jacob and Elizabeth:
2. Mary Brown was born in Virginia on April 23, 1793. She married James Bonar on October 1, 1816. They were the parents of at least 9 children and remained in York Township, Belmont County, Ohio throughout their lifetime. Mary died June 23, 1870, and James in 1877 and are both buried in the old Amity Cemetery. The children are named in the will of James but there was little to be divided. It states that he possessed no goods or chattels but the administrator reported $179.16 in cash. It could be concluded that the property had already been divided before his death. Many of the descendants of Mary and James still live in York Township. The children of Mary and James:
3. Joseph Brown was born in Virginia on September 29, 1794. He married Elizabeth Stuckey on October 22, 1816. They were the parents of 10 known children and lived in Washington Township, Belmont County, Ohio. Joseph died in 1872 and Elizabeth in 1873. Both are buried in the Captina Church of Christ Cemetery. The will of Joseph gives us a little information about him and his family. They must have been educated because there is mention of the books that "were kept and used in the family library." The mention of the spinning wheels, weaving looms and a sewing machine tells a lot about what Elizabeth did with her time. Elizabeth or the girls must have ridden horses because they owned a side saddle. The listing of other items tells us that Joseph raised hogs, wheat, corn, potatoes, buckwheat, and had several head of cattle. He also had half interest in a cane mill and made sorghum molasses. They also owned a horse and carriage and many logging tools. I would also guess that they dug their own coal because he owned a coal pick, wedges and chisels. The children of Joseph and Elizabeth:
4. John Brown was born about 1797 in Virginia. Almost nothing is known of this son and his wife or what happened to them. We know that John had died before 1854 because of the information in Abel's will. We also know there were at least 3 children born to John and his wife, as they were named in this same will. Their daughter Lydia, born in 1820, married a Blackford, a son John C. was born about 1822 and a daughter Martha Ann, born about 1824, married a Smith. This is all the information we known at this time. 5. Isaac Brown was born in 1801 in York Township, Belmont County, Ohio. He married Nancy Lemley, daughter of Peter Lemley on April 5, 1827. It was this joining of Lemley and Brown bloodlines that forms our roots and the story of them and their 8 children will continue later. 6. Elizabeth Brown was born about 1802 in York Township, Belmont County, Ohio. She married Henry Gates, son of George Gates, on April 17, 1817. According to the marriage record she must have been only 15 years old. They were the parents of 6 known children and lived out their lives in York Township. During their last years they lived with their son, Robert. In Henry's will it states that the farm was conveyed to Robert "to keep and maintain me and my beloved wife, Elizabeth." It also states that the proceeds of the sale of land in Illinois (80 acres) and other moneys due to the estate were to be divided equally among his six daughters but only 5 daughters are named. The children of Elizabeth and Henry are:
7. Barbara Brown was born on November 15, 1809, in York Township, Belmont County, Ohio. She married John T. Crist on September 16, 1828. They were the parents of 4 known children. One son, John Jr. died in 1851 at 6 months of age. In 1856 Barbara also died and was buried beside her son in the Grandview Christian Cemetery. After Barbara's death John Christ would marry Barbara Gates (his wife's niece), the daughter of his sister-in-law, Elizabeth Brown and Henry Gates. Just who and what John Crist was is kind of mystery. On the tombstone of his first wife, Barbara, it says she was the wife of Dr. John T. Crist. In the census of 1860 he gives his occupation as a minister and in the 1870 census he gives his occupation as a fire insurance agent. The children of Barbara and John:
Abel Brown, Peter Lemley and George Gates never moved again after settling in York Township along Captina Creek. They were to remain neighbors and as evidenced, became in-laws, as the children of these three families intermarried. They raised their children, grew old and died on the land they settled so long ago. All of them are buried just a few miles apart. Abel passed on first in 1841 and was followed by George Gates, who died in 1842. Peter Lemley and his wife, Nancy, died just a few days apart in September of 1850. George's wife, Sevilla, lived until 1852 and Lydia survived until 1861, spending most of her last years in the home she and Abel had shared. She died at the age of 91 years, just a few months after the first shots of the Civil War were fired. The Gates are buried in the Boger Cemetery on Cats Run, the Lemleys in their own cemetery on their old farm and Abel and Lydia were buried in the Old Dover Cemetery. This brings up one of the most despicable acts imaginable. In the 1970's Cravat Mining Company destroyed this cemetery by moving it to strip mine the area. The graves were bulldozed and dumped into a trench at the new site. Descendants of the families buried here were horrified to find bones and pieces of caskets littering the area. A few tombstones were moved and placed in the new cemetery, Abel's being among them. His stone reads: "In memory of Abel Brown who departed this life March 8th 1841 aged 75 years 12 days." Lydia's marker is gone but two small old stones are placed near Abel's headstone. One in front says EB and on the right side one says JB. It was thought that they may have been markers for his son Joseph and wife Elizabeth but I found their burial site in Monroe County. It is possible that they were markers for his son, John, and his wife. They may have been markers for two of Abel's children or grandchildren that we haven't discovered. So much of the information we need was lost when this cemetery was destroyed. A class action suite was filed to force restoration of the burial site but little could be done to restore what had been destroyed so thoughtlessly. Index 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Epilogue
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