John Brown (abt. 1728 - 1803)

Born about 1728 in Ireland

Ancestors

Husband of Margaret (Preston) Brown — married about 1754 in Augusta Co., VA

Descendants

Died 1803 at about age 75 in Frankfort, KY

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Biography

He is a son of James Brown and nnet Stevenson. https://www.ericjames.org/html2014/fam/fam31052.html

Burial

Burial:

Place: Frankfort Cemetery, Frankfort, KY

Note

Note: John Brown graduated from Princeton College in 1749. He was a

Presbyterian mininster and served the New Providence Church in

Rockbridge Co., VA for 44 years. In 1796 he retired and moved to

Woodford County, Kentucky where he resided at an estate known as

"Sumner's Forest" on the Shannon Run Pike. His biography from [IT:The

Prestons of Smithfield and Greenfield in Virginia:IT] by John

Frederick Dorman (The Filson Club, 1982) follows: John Bown was a

graduate of Princeton College in 1749.[1] He was licensed by New

Castle Presbytery and sent to the Valley of Virginia, where in 1753[2]

he was called to Providence and Timber Ridge churches in Augusta

County. He was ordained at Fagg's Manor, Chester Co., Pa., 11 Oct.

1753 and was one of the six ministers of the Presbytery of Hanover

when it was formed in 1755.[3] On 25 Aug. 1756 he was one of the four

appointed by Hanover Presbytery to transact business when the

Presbytery could not meet.[4] He established a grammar school near his

residence one-fourth mile north of the village of Fairfield in Augusta

County. In 1774 the Presbytery of Hanover adopted this school and

appointed William Graham teacher under Brown. In 1777 the school was

transferred to Timber Ridge and later it was moved to Lexington. He

was a trustee of this school, then known as Augusta Academy, from 1776

until 1782. From it developed Washington and Lee University.[5]

About 1763 a difference took place between Brown and some of the

leading men of the Timber Ridge congregation.[6] As a result, he

resigned the ministerial charge of Timber Ridge in Oct. 1767 and

thereafter confined his labors to New Providence Church.[7] Many of

the Timber Ridge members retained such an affection for him, however,

that they attended almost steadily the New Providence meetings and

communions.[8] He was the moderator of the first stated meeting of

Lexington Presbytery, held at Timber Ridge 26 Sept. 1786, and was

again moderator of the meeting at New Providence Church 20 Oct.

1788.[9] In 1796, weighed down by the infirmities of age, he resigned

as pastor of New Providence Church.[10] Shortly thereafter he moved to

Kentucky and resided at "Sumners Forest" in Woodford County.[11]

Footnotes:

1 Princeton University, Catologus (Princeton, 1857), p. 17. His

diploma is preserved in the University library.

2 Alfred Nevin, ed., Encyclopaedia of the Presbyterian Church in

the United States of

America (Philadelphia, 1864), p. 106; William Henry Foote, Sketches of

Virginia, v. 2 (Philadelphia, 1856), p. 94; Washington and Lee

University, Historical Papers, no. 2 (Baltimore, 1890), p. 11;

National Genealogical Society Quarterly, v. 59, pp. 24-26.

3 Contributions to the History of the Synod of Virginia (Washington,

1890), p. 34.

4 Foote, op. cit., p. 57.

5 Nevin, op. cit., p. 943; Washington and Lee University, The Alumni

Directory (Lexington, 1926), p. 27.

6 Foote, op. cit., p. 59.

7 Ibid., p. 97. The records of Hanover Presbytery for 11 Oct. 1767

state: "Mr. Brown laid before Presbytery the extent of his charge, and

the difficulties of performing the duties of his functions, and also

declared to the Presbytery that he verily believes that his usefulness

is at an end in Timber Ridge Congregation; and as he apprehends it

would be for the good of said congregation that the pastoral relation

he sustains to them should be dissolved (the people of Timber Ridge in

the mean time petitioning against his dismission, and sending

commissioners to oppose it), the Presbytery . . . leave it to himself

to continue with them. or confine himself to Providence, at his own

discretion."

8 Foote op. cit., p. 60.

9 Howard McKnight Wilson, The Lexington Presbytery Heritage (n.p.,

1971), p. 417.

10 Ibid., p. 99; Nevin, op. cit., p. 943.

11William E. Railey, History of Woodford County (Frankfort, Ky.,

1938), p. 78; Woodford Co., Ky., tax book, 1798, cited in The Filson

Club History Quarterly, v. 19, p. 22.

Acknowledgements

This person was created through the import of LaBach Family TreeApril28_2011.ged on 05 May 2011. The following data was included in the gedcom. You may wish to edit it for readability.