Found this on an internet newspaper site and thought it might be of interest to descendants: Brown, James -- James Brown of Sharon Township, Richland County, Ohio, died on Wednesday, August 19th, A.D. 1885, aged 91 years, 6 months, and one day. Mr. Brown was born in Wellsburg, Brooke County, West Virginia, February 18th, 1794. He was married to Miss Jane McGuire on June 2nd, A.D. 1814, with whom he lived fifty-five years, and to whom were born ten children, eight of whom they raised to full age, and five of whom only survive him, viz., Danforth, Oliver, Sally, Harriet, and Martha. He also had nineteen grandchildren, and seven great grandchildren. Mr. Brown died on a farm on which the deceased had moved fifty years ago last May. His remains were interred in Oakland Cemetery in Shelby, on Friday last, at about noon, Rev. W.W. Anderson pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Bellville officiated, and at the home preached a short discourse based on the sixth verse of the 90th Psalm, "In the evening it is cut down and withereth." He was severely and painfully ill only the last few days of his life. His wife was a devoted Catholic, but he was brought up in the Presbyterian faith, though never formally uniting with that church. He moved to this locality about the year 1834, perhaps a few years after, having purchased the farm on which he spent the best part of his years about 1820, 65 years ago and resided upon it as his homestead about fifty years last May. His wife died about sixteen years ago, since which time he has resided with his children. He is the last of a family of twelve children who lived to a great old age. His father before him lived to be over ninety-two years old. He was the son of Capt. Oliver Brown, of Revolutionary fame, who was a native of Lexington, Mass., and took part in that, the first battle of the Revolutionary war. His ancestors came from England, and of them but little is known except that one of them was a "sea captain." The Browns were amongst the first who settled in the colony of Massachusetts, and were loyal subjects of the English crown, but as the years rolled on their attachment became stronger for their home, and they began to regard the mother country as a cruel tyrant. Although Capt. Brown was born in Lexington, he spent his earlier years in Cambridge, with a Mr. (Col.) Thatcher (married to one of Oliver's cousins), of whose family he became a member at the age of eight. Captain Brown happened to be in Boston on the day the tea was thrown overboard, and he saw the party dressed in the garb of Mohawk Indians, as they threw the boxes of tea overboard. His father was to relate how that act had worked up the feelings of the royalists and the patriots to the highest pitch of excitement. It was then and there he resolved to devote his life, if need be, to the cause of his country. He became a warrior in feeling and in deed. He was engaged at the Battle of Lexington. He well remembered the day on which Lord Percy marched from Boston to reinforce the party who had gone to undertake the destruction of the military stores at Concord, and was with those who met the British troops at Lexington on their return, and was engaged in that skirmish although he escaped uninjured himself, saw his comrades fall by his side, cut down by the first discharge of British artillery in the Revolutionary War. When the British began to retreat to Boston, he was one of those who hung upon their flanks, and annoyed them with shots from behind stone fences until they came within reach of the guns in the fortifications around Boston. The War had now commenced and peaceful avocations were laid aside, and thousands rushed to Bunker Hill where that great battle was fought June 17, 1775. He was in that battle where Warren fell, and soon after received a Captain's commission in the Artillery, having command of two field pieces. After the evacuations he went with General Washington's army to New York, and was engaged in a battle on the Island. Those who are conversant with history will remember how a party of soldiers saw a statue of King George of England occupying a prominent position in the streets of New York, an object of peculiar hatred to the American soldiers. Capt. Brown conceived the idea of removing the offensive monument and at night he went with a party of about forty of his comrades about half of whom were sailors. The sailors fastened strong ropes to the object of their hatred, and he and his comrades in a dark alley opposite pulled at the ropes until the rope broke, the statue fell to the pavement below, outside the iron fence enclosing it. The news of the occurrence spread throughout the camp. Unexpectedly the act met with the strongest condemnation from General Washington which caused Captain Brown always to regret his part in that transaction. However, in the pursuance of orders, he removed the statue from its iron support to the laboratory to be molded into bullets for the use of the army. Although the act could not be concealed, the perpetrators of it were never known. A short time after this event, General Washington left New York and occupied Harlem Heights, and Captain Brown was in the engagement at that place, in command of thirty men and two field pieces. He had at one time advanced too far in the pursuit of the enemy and found himself in danger of losing his artillery. He seized one of the wagons himself, fifteen of his men having been killed and wounded, and succeeded in getting them away. At that moment General Putnam rode up to him and said "so long as officers will, like you, perform the duties of privates, there will be no reason to despair of the American cause." The General then himself dismounted and aided him in preventing their capture by the British. Captain Brown was next engaged at the Battle of White Plains, in which the Americans were defeated. He was with the American Army during their famous retreats through New Jersey, of which Bancroft speaks, where hundreds of regular troops and militia deserted in despair, but he and his men remained true to the last. The Battle of Trenton and Princeton were next fought in which he participated, which proved that even in defeat, and on the retreat, the race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong. After these battles he was stationed at Round Brook and Mud Fort. In September of the following year he was at the Battle of Brandywine during the whole day. He served nearly through the whole war, and was in ten severe engagements, the last of which was the Battle of Monmouth. He was personally acquainted with General Washington for whom he entertained the highest reverence. He was with him at the Battle of Germantown, going in with sixty men and coming out with only twenty-nine alive and with him also in winter quarters at Valley Forge. He personally received the thanks of Washington for prompt and efficient obedience to orders. In 1790 or 1791 he moved with his family to what is now Wellsburg, West Virginia, where the subject of this notice was born as stated in 1794. At that time Wellsburg was in the midst of a wild and unbroken wilderness, the haunt of wild beasts and savages, and for three years Capt. Brown performed the duties of a militiaman to protect the settlement from the incursion of murderous savages. Solomon Brown of New Haven, Vermont, a brother of the deceased, was also a Revolutionary soldier. In a slip placed in the hands of the writer taken from the Middlebury (Vermont) Free Press, it is stated that he was a man of strong natural powers, of great probity, uncommon firmness of mind and purpose, severe justice and Christian candor and meekness. He held many public trusts, which he discharged with fidelity and promptness. He was one of that class of community who are the support of society, the pillars of the church and the ornament of the state and Republic. Solomon was also a participator in the Battle at Lexington on April 19th, 1775, and had the unrivaled honor of having shed the first British blood in the defense of American liberty! He was also a teenager who is credited with, having spotted the British redcoats coming down the road, ran to the local tavern and alerted Paul Revere and his friends. This Deacon Solomon Brown was a sergeant in the artillery, five years in the Revolution, and a subordinate in his brother's company, we believe. At his death, it was said, he left as a legacy to his family an honest name, a guiltless example and a well-spent life. This was the ancestry from which sprung the subject of this sketch, the late James Brown, one of the pioneers of Shelby. Years ago, he placed in the hands of the writer, newspapers from which we have taken the foregoing, with the injunction, that in case of his death, he desired to state that he had during all his life time desired so much as in his power lay to emulate the principles, the patriotism and virtues of his Revolutionary ancestry, and we now are discharging that duty, and fulfilling that promise. James Brown was our special friend, for over thirty years, respected for his manly virtues, steadfast friendship, honest purposes, mildness and generosity of character, candid in all his dealings, and in every grace that goes to cast a halo of glory like that of a setting sun, upon all the past life of an aged man. It was our good fortune to visit him at his home, when he could lengthen out our notice of his death by many instances of his wroth as a man and citizen. He was one of the pioneer merchants and businessmen of Shelby, and closed his life in a model rural home as a farmer, and now at the extraordinary age of nearly ninety-two years, like a ripe shock of corn, and the very appropriate emblem placed upon his coffin by the hands of reverential affection, a miniature sheaf of wheat, full of golden grain, he has been garnered for eternity, to be with those whose example he delighted to follow, and emulated day by day so far as in his power lay. We should not be following his directions were we to say any more than this. It was against his wish that this should be done, but having passed through a long life, in the footsteps of his ancestry, it was one of his ambitions in life to emulate their example and to record this much as an example for his descendants to follow, is why he desired this to be recorded at his death. Peace to his ashes, and may the memory of his private virtues ever be green in the memories of those who follow him. "B." Submitted by Judith. [source unknown] Brown, Jane (McGuire) -- Mrs. Jane (McGuire) Brown was born in Brooke County, Virginia, April 27, 1793. She was married to James Brown, Esq., in 1814, and lived happily with her husband over fifty-five years. She was brought up in the Catholic faith, and baptized by the first minister of that denomination in that section of country: and lived and died in accordance with her early instructions. She was the mother of ten children, seven of whom are yet living, and to whom she was more than ordinarily attached. She endured the privations of a pioneer life, having removed to Ohio, thrity-four years ago. She lived to see her great-grandchildren and died beloved and respected by her numerous circle of friends. She died September 16th, 1869, aged 76 years, 4 months, and 19 days. Her last illness was of five weeks' duration, and her extreme suffering was borne with Christian patience---not a murmur escaping her lips. Submitted by Judith. [source unknown] Submitter's Note: I have her Death Certificate, Court of Common Pleas, Probate Division, Richland County.....death: 16 Sept 1869; Date of record: 1869; Married; Place of Death: Plymouth Twp.; Place of Birth: West Virginia (was Va. at the time .. panhandle area which was Ohio/Va/WVA over the years); Last Place of Residence: Plymouth Township; We located her tombstone, along with husband James Brown, and children, in Oakland Cemetery in Shelby.