1742 - 1831 (89 years)
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Name |
Brown Josiah |
Birth |
30 Jan 1742 |
Concord, Middlesex Co., MA [1] |
Gender |
Male |
Death |
18 Mar 1831 |
Elizabethtown, Essex County, NY? [1] |
Burial |
New Ipswich Cemetery, New Ipswich, Hillsborough County, NH [1] |
Notes |
- First to break the home ties and leaving Concord was Captain Josiah Brown who, in 1765, traveled forty miles to settle in the emerging town of New Ipswich, New Hampshire, settling on Flat Mountain, one half mile east of where his brother, John, later settled.
Josiah and his family moved along with five of his brothers to Whitingham, VT around 1800, immediately after his marriage, and settled upon Flat Mountain, half a mile eastward from his brother, and soon became a prominent man in military and in religious matters. his name is borne upon the Concord roll as that of a sergeant, he was first lieutenant in Capt. Towne's company at bunker Hill, and claimed to have fired the last gun before the retreat; and he afterward was captain in command of a company largely composed of his fellow townsmen which responded with great promptness to the calls for immediate aid. He was one of the foremost in the organization of the Baptist church, in which he was made the first deacon. Like many men of intense vision and prompt action, he may have lacked something in breadth of view, but work in the evolution of a new society can hardly be overvalued.( p. 269, History of New Ipswich, NH)
Combining civic purpose with matrimony, Josiah and his bride, Sarah Wright, the daughter of Joseph and Rebecca (Heywood) Wright, also of Concord, cast their lots with other Concord citizens in the effort to reinforce by their physical presence the claim of the Massahusetts Bay colony to title to this disputed area. While New Hampshire eventually prevailed over Massachusetts in the contest for this land, Joseiah and Sarah met with success in establishing themselves in the frontier environment.
At the time of Josiah's migration there was but one church in the new community, the Congregational meeting house, in which he purchased a corner pew for 43 pounds on 25 November 1768. In the latter part of the century he became prominent in the organization of the Baptist church and waas its first deacon. In addition to church activities and farming, Josiah found time for civic duties, serving three terms as a member of the Committee of Correspondence and Inspection, in 1775, 1776 and 1778. He led two marches to Ticonderoga during the Revolutionary War and also fought at Bunker Hill, progressing from the rank of sergeant, when he was on the roster of a company of Concord, Massachusetts minutemen at the time of the Concord fight, to that of captain. Of his thirteen children, all but one grew to maturity. Five eventually moved to Whitingham, Vermont, but Josiah and his wife lived out their days in New Ipswich. He has been described as "one of those men whose work in the evolution of a new society can hardly be overvalued."
Fourteen years after Josiah had moved to the wilderness, he was joined by an elder brother, John and his wife, Elizabeth Bateman.
While most of their children moved from place to place, the fourth daugher, Hannah, and her husband, Aaron Brown, remained in New Ipswich throughout their lives. A linchpin in the family structure, their home became a confluence throught which the family news from points as distant as Canada, northern Vermont and western New York occasionally ebbed and flowed.
Hannah preserved thirteen letters as well as her "own" family Bible and passed them on to succeeding generations. After her death, two additional letters were place in the collection, written by her grandson, Addison Prescott Brown.
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Person ID |
I50952 |
Freeman-Smith |
Last Modified |
10 Apr 2024 |
Father |
Brown John, b. 18 Sep 1694, Concord, Middlesex Co., MA d. 06 Mar 1750, Concord, Middlesex Co., MA (Age 55 years) |
Relationship |
natural |
Mother |
Potter Elizabeth, b. 23 Jul 1699, Concord, Middlesex Co., MA |
Relationship |
natural |
Marriage |
Abt 23 Feb 1714 |
Concord, Middlesex Co., MA [1] |
|
Family ID |
F23425 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
Family |
Wright Sarah, b. 27 Nov 1744, Concord, Middlesex Co., MA d. 08 Aug 1821, New Ipswich, Hillsborough County, NH (Age 76 years) |
Marriage |
31 Oct 1765 |
Ipswich, Essex County, MA [1] |
Children |
| 1. BROWN Josiah, b. 01 Oct 1766, New Ipswich, Hillsborough County, NH d. 20 Jan 1858, Bennington, Bennington County, VT (Age 91 years) [natural] |
| 2. Brown Joseph, b. 10 Oct 1767, New Ipswich, Hillsborough County, NH d. 05 Mar 1827, Cavendish, Windsor County, VT? (Age 59 years) [natural] |
| 3. Brown Jonas, b. 04 Mar 1769, New Ipswich, Hillsborough County, NH d. 23 Feb 1836, Whitingham, Windham County, VT (Age 66 years) [natural] |
| 4. Brown Sarah, b. 22 Nov 1770, New Ipswich, Hillsborough County, NH d. 20 Apr 1822, Whitingham, Windham County, VT (Age 51 years) [natural] |
| 5. Brown Aaron, b. 08 Dec 1772, New Ipswich, Hillsborough County, NH d. 15 Feb 1828, New Ipswich, Hillsborough County, NH (Age 55 years) [natural] |
| 6. Brown Amos A., b. 11 Sep 1774, New Ipswich, Hillsborough County, NH d. 10 May 1863, Whitingham, Windham County, VT (Age 88 years) [natural] |
| 7. Brown Capt. Abner, b. 27 Jul 1776, New Ipswich, Hillsborough County, NH d. 04 Apr 1824, New Ipswich, Hillsborough County, NH (Age 47 years) [natural] |
| 8. Brown Rebecca, b. 05 Jul 1778, New Ipswich, Hillsborough County, NH d. 09 Jun 1853 (Age 74 years) [natural] |
| 9. Brown Levi, b. 06 Aug 1780, New Ipswich, Hillsborough County, NH d. 10 Sep 1840, Elizabethtown, Essex County, NY (Age 60 years) [natural] |
| 10. Brown Nathan, b. 25 Jul 1782, New Ipswich, NH d. 21 Jan 1862, Whitingham, VT (Age 79 years) [natural] |
| 11. Brown Heywood, b. 02 Jul 1784, New Ipswich, NH d. 02 Mar 1867 (Age 82 years) [natural] |
| 12. Brown Betsey, b. 07 Feb 1787, New Ipswich, NH d. 11 Jul 1793 (Age 6 years) [natural] |
| 13. Brown Abigail, b. 22 Jun 1790, New Ipswich, NH d. 24 Apr 1864, Lewis, Essex County, NY (Age 73 years) [natural] |
|
Family ID |
F23552 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
Last Modified |
10 Apr 2024 |
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Sources |
- [S1098] Merged from BrianFreeman on 30-Dec-12 at 18:10.
- [S1109] New England Historic Genealogical Society, NEHG Register, (Boston, MA Jan. 1977), VOL.131, January 1977.
- [S1108] DAR Lineage Book, Vol. 98, p. 155.
DAR ID NO. 97502
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