**************************************************************************** File contributed to the Fulton County ILGenWeb Project Copyright 2008, all rights reserved. These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format without the written consent of the author at http://fulton.ilgenweb.net. **************************************************************************** Source: Portrait and Biographical Album of Fulton County Biographical Publishing Co., Chicago, 1890 **************************************************************************** The Biography of Francis R. BROWN Pages 270-271, transcribed in full by Danni Hopkins [Surnames: BOYER, BROWN, CHURCHILL, HUGHES, LAWS, NOESINGER, RECTOR, ROLLINS] FRANCIS R. BROWN is one of those worthy citizens who have won a comfortable fortune by the exercise of unflagging industry, wise economy and good judgment in the conduct of the business to which they have devoted themselves. His home in Lewistown Township is one of the most attractive of the farm residences within its bounds, and everywhere upon the estate one sees evidences of the qualities which have won for its owner his worldly success and good standing in the community. Mr. Brown is of French stock, his grandfather, John Brown, having been a native of France, where he grew to manhood. Accompanied by two brothers he came to America, making his first location in Maryland, where he resided a number of years. At the time of the early settlement of Kentucky, he bought a tract consisting of one hundred and sixty acres of timber land between Flemingsburg and Maysville and made that his home during the remainder of his life. There was a cabin on the place and he erected a large hewed log house where he kept an inn. He was a slave-owner in Maryland and having taken his chattels with him to Kentucky, they cleared the land. He himself practiced his profession of a physician. His wife, a native of Wales, bore the maiden name of Lurania Rollins. She also died on the homestead, her remains being deposited beside those of her husband in Fitch's Churchyard, two and a half miles north of Flemingsburg. Among the eight children reared by the couple above mentioned was a son, Joshua, whose birth occurred ten miles below Baltimore, Md. He received a fine education in his native State but did not adopt professional life. He was a young man when his parents removed to Kentucky, where, in 1819, he was married to Rhoda Hughes. This lady was born in Virginia, being a daughter of John and Fannie Hughes, who were numbered among the earliest settlers of Fleming County, Ky., their location being four and a half miles from Flemingsburg. Mr. Hughes bought a tract of timber land which he cleared and improved as fast as possible, making it his home until his death. For many years after his arrival the Indians were much more numerous than the whites, and the settlers were obliged on numerous occasions to repair to the stockades to avoid death at the hands of the savages. Wild game of all kinds was, of course, abundant. The father of our subject built a cabin on his father's homestead, where he resided four years after his marriage, then bought a quarter section of timber land on the Horseshoe Bend in Mason County. He cleared quite a tract of land and was doing well financially when called upon to pay a security debt which ruined him, causing the loss of his farm. Going to Mt. Carmel he built a double hewed log house and shop, and engaging in the shoemaker's trade continued there four years. In Fleming County he met with the loss of his devoted companion who died when her son, our subject, was eighteen months old. The bereaved husband and father after a time removed to Clermont County, Ohio, where he was married the second time, to Miss Catherine Noesinger, and after some years to Fulton County, Ill., thence to Jackson County, Iowa, where he entered into rest. The gentleman of whom we write was born in Fleming County, Ky., July 7, 1821, and was five years old when his father removed to Ohio. In that State he remained until the fall of 1844, when he took up his residence in this State, coming thither by means of Ohio, Mississippi and Illinois Rivers and disembarking at Liverpool Landing on the 12th of October, with $2.37 1/2 cents in his pocket. He had visited this section the preceding spring and traded his horse, saddle, bridle and gun for a tract of Government land upon which a cabin stood. Here he took up his residence with his sister, who made him a comfortable home until he took a wife. It was necessary for him to find employment and he was soon at work, splitting rails at twenty-five cents per hundred. At this he employed the hours of daylight, clearing his land at night; when there was no moon he would work by the light afforded by a burning brush heap. In 1846 Mr. Brown sold his claim for $100 and rented a farm in Putnam Township. At that time there was no railroad communication in this vicinity and the river towns were the markets to which all produce was hauled, frequently over very hard roads. Wheat sold as low as twenty-five cents per bushel and other produce at proportionate rates, and yet, by dint of prudence and unflagging industry, men prospered. Mr. Brown after operating as a renter twelve years, purchased one hundred and thirty-three acres of land included in his present farm which now consists of one hundred and seventy-three acres. The capable and devoted companion to whose wisdom in the management of household affairs and good counsel, Mr. Brown owed much during his struggling years, was Nancy Laws, a native of Culpeper County, Va., and a daughter of Samuel and Polly (Rector) Laws. Their marriage rites were celebrated in the spring of 1845, and for a period of nearly half a century they shared each other's joys and sorrows. Mrs. Brown was called hence June 17, 1890, at the age of sixty-eight years, seven months and seventeen days. She was the mother of five children, four of whom are now living, namely: Martin, who lives in Kansas; Rhoda A., wife of Lorenzo D. Boyer; George W., whose home is in Lewistown Township; Martha E., wife of Eugene Churchill, who resides in Buckheart Township.