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Subject: [WVHANCOC] Biographical Sketches continued.....
Date: Tue, 21 Sep 1999 20:24:50 EDT


Copied from " History of the Panhandle, being Historical Collections of the
Counties of Ohio, Brooke, Marshall and Hancock, West Virginia".
Compiled and Written by:
J.H. Newton, G.G. Nichols, and A.G. Sprankle
Published by:
J.A. Caldwell, 1879, Wheeling, W. VA.

Biographical Sketches of Hancock County:

Capt. Oliver Brown:
was born in Lexington, Massachusetts. He was of English extract. Those
of his ancestors who came to America were among the first settlers of the
Massachusetts colony. Their attachment for their new home became stronger as
the years rolled on; their affection for their mother country weaker, until
they regarded her as a cruel tyrant. Capt. Brown happened in Boston on the
very day on which the memorable act of throwing the tea overboard was
performed. The unusual excitement which preceded this event did not escape
his observation, but he returned to Cambridge without discovering the cause
of it. He had seen enough to convince him that a bold and decisive step was
to be taken. He returned to Boston and repaired to the place where the tea
ship was riding, he saw the party dressed in the costume and painted in the
color of the Mohawk Indians, and one by one he saw them throw every box into
the sea. This act was an open defiance of England, and worked up the minds
of both royalists and patriots. He became a warrior in feeling, and in deed
-- and we next find him engaged at Lexington in the first battle of the
Revolutionary War -- was in the battle of Bunker Hill. He was commissioned
by congress on the 16th of January, 1776. He commanded the volunteer party
that bore off the leaden statue of King George, from the battery of New York,
and made it into bullets for the American Army. He also bore a conspicuous
part in command of artillery at the battles of White Plains, Harlem Heights,
Princeton, Trenton, Brandywine, Germantown and Monmouth. After the close
of the war he, with his family, removed to the west, and settled in
Charlestown, now Wellsburg, Virginia in 1790. At a late period of his life
he united with the Episcopal Church. He died, February 17th, 1846, at
Wellsburg, at the advanced age of ninty-three years.



Oliver Brown:
was born in 1789 in Charleston, near Boston, Mass., and migrated with his
father to the Cove, when but a small child, in the year 1792, and stopped at
a Mr. Robert Caldwell's over night. The Indians at that time were quite
troublesome, and the settlers entertained great fears of being attacked by
them. His parents went to a block house not far distant, remaining there
during the night for safety. They soon were settled in Wellsburg. Oliver
grew up and at an early age, assisted his father in shipping flour to New
Orleans, which at the time, Short Creek and King's Creek formed the largest
exporting flour places in the county. In 1812, our subject erected a woolen
factory in the Cove, running four looms, and was engaged extensively at that
early date, in that business. This factory was built several years before
any were established in Steubenville. A saw mill by him was also erected
near the same time. He married Miss Ann Caldwell in 1813. Followed his
vocation, for the most part, from 1812 to 1850. He reared a family of
several children. In the year 1833, he was called to mourn the loss of his
estimable lady, who departed this life at the age of 40 years. Although now
over 86 years of age, our subject bids fair to live yet many years. With the
exception of his hearing, he is remarkably blessed.

submitted by;
Dale Patterson
Hancock Co. WV - http://www.rootsweb.com/~wvhancoc/
Brooke Co. WV - http://www.rootsweb.com/~wvbrooke/brooke.htm
Census Lookups - http://www.rootsweb.com/~uslookup/wv.htm

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