Hugh Leeper Brown (1810 - 1888)

Born 24 Jan 1810 in Knox, Tennessee, United States

Husband of Clarissa (Browning) Brown — married 11 Nov 1829 in Knox, Tennessee, United States

Descendants

Died 23 Jan 1888 at age 77 in Linn, Oregon, United States

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This profile is part of the Brownsville, Oregon One Place Study.

Biography

Hugh Leeper Brown was born January 24, 1810, in Knox county, Tennessee, where he lived until 1838. Hugh and his wife, Clarrissa Browning, and three children traveled West to Platte county, Missouri. ^[1] In the Spring of 1846, with eight children in their family, they fell in with a stream of pioneers and crossed the plains with an ox-team for a six month journey to the Oregon Territory. (Hugh and Clarrisa were both 36 years of age when they arrived, and two more children were born in Oregon) ^[2]

Hugh Brown was a homesteader in Linn County, Oregon. Join the Homesteaders Project.

The party arrived in Linn County, Oregon in the fall of 1846. Among the party were Hugh, his nephew James Blakely, Jonathan Keeney and R.C. Finley. Alexander Kirk and his son, Riley Kirk arrived the following Spring. ^[3]

Hugh took up a claim one mile east of the present Brownsville, Oregon, named in his honor. ^[4] Hugh and his wife Clarissa received a land grant in Linn County, Oregon on September 30, 1865. ^[5]

Hugh and his nephew, James Blakely (son of Hugh's wife's sister Jincy Browning Blakely), established the first mercantile store, which operated for years near Alexander Kirk's cabin, along with a post office. Hugh was instrumental in organizing the first Presbyterian Church in Brownsville. In 1847, he and his nephew convinced Reverend H.H. Spalding to move from Oregon City to serve as the local minister. Reverend Spalding had recently survived the Whitman Massacre at Lapwai, Idaho. In 1879, Hugh and Clarissa Brown celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, in Brownsville. ^[6]

Hugh died in 1888 and is buried in the Brownsville Pioneer Cemetery, in Brownsville, Linn County, Oregon. ^[7] There is a portrait of Hugh and a photograph of his headstone on his Find A Grave memorial.

Sources

1. ↑ "United States Census, 1840," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHTS-1J8 : 7 September 2017), Hugh L Brown, Platte, Missouri, United States; citing p. 105, NARA microfilm publication M704, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 228; FHL microfilm 14,857
2. ↑ https://www.accessgenealogy.com/oregon/biography-of-hugh-l-brown.htm
3. ↑ http://www.linncountyroots.com/Towns/Brownsville.htm
4. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownsville,_Oregon
5. ↑ U.S. Land Grant.
6. ↑ The Times Newspaper, Brownsville, Oregon, June 18, 2014, digitized here: http://tbv.stparchive.com/page_image.php?paper=TBV&year=2014&month=6&day=18&page=10&mode=F&base=TBV06182014P10&title=The%20Times
7. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (accessed 30 May 2022), memorial page for Hugh Leeper Brown (24 Jan 1810–1888), Find A Grave: Memorial #9332794, citing Brownsville Pioneer Cemetery, Brownsville, Linn County, Oregon, USA ; Maintained by Joel Farringer (contributor 46600437).