1905 History of Crawford County Kansas

Jacob Brown, of McCune, is one of the old settlers of southeastern Kansas, where he has lived since 1869, and for the past twelve years has been numbered among the substantial, public-spirited and worthy citizens of McCune. He is one of the honored men now living in Crawford county who wore the blue uniform during the war of the rebellion, and he gave faithful and brave service to his country in her time of need.

He was a citizen of the state of Illinois when the war came on, and in August, 1862, he enlisted at Danville in Company I, One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Illinois Infantry, under Colonel Harmon. They were in camp at Danville, were sent to Covington, Kentucky, later to Louisville; took part in the engagements at Perryville and Nashville; thence went with Sherman's magnificent army on its campaign through the center of the Confederacy, participating at Chattanooga, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, at Resaca, New Hope Church, Dallas; at the siege of Atlanta, in a charge on one of the breastworks, Mr. Brown was wounded below the knee by a ball from a Springfield rifle, and the wound has never ceased to trouble him from that day to this. He was in the hospital at Atlanta, then at Chattanooga, and at Nashville received an honorable discharge, going home with a gallant record as soldier.

This esteemed veteran of the war was born in Sussex county, Delaware, near Bridgeville, April 2, 1833, being a son of William and Eliza (Prettyman) Brown, both natives of the same state. His father enlisted for service in the Mexican war, but did not reach the field of action until hostilities had ceased. He was a farmer by occupation, and his death occurred in Delaware at the age of fifty-five, but the mother lived to the great age of ninety years. There were ten children in the family: Daniel, William, Mary, Eliza J., John, Charles, Joseph, who was a soldier of the Ninety-third Ohio, Matilda, Sarah, and Jacob.

Mr. Brown spent the first nine years of his life in Delaware, and then went to Ohio, where he grew up on a farm and received his school training. At the age of eighteen he went to Crawfordsville, Indiana, and thence to Vermilion county, Illinois, where he was living at the time of the Civil war. In 1869 he came out to Kansas and located in Labette county, where he farmed for some time, after which he traded his land for town property in Parsons. He later resumed farming and continued it until his health failed, and about twelve years ago he gave up country life and moved to McCune, where he has since been an honored resident. He and his wife have a very comfortable home at this place, located on two large lots of ground, and have all the conveniences that they can desire for their remaining years.

Mr. and Mrs. Brown have lived as man and wife for nearly fifty years, and it is the hope of all their friends that they may celebrate their golden wedding anniversary in 1905. Mr. Brown was married in 1855 to Miss Martha Jane Castle, who has nobly done her part during the past half century and has gained the love and veneration of all within the home circle and of her many friends. She was born in Vermilion county, Illinois, a daughter of William and Nancy (Randals) Castle, the latter a native of Tennessee and of a good southern family. There were ten children in the Castle family, and Mrs. Brown is the only one of her mother's children now living, but she has a half-brother and a half-sister by her father's second union. Her mother died at the age of fifty, and her father, who was a farmer, politically a Whig and Republican and a member of the Methodist church, lived to be eighty years old.

Mr. and Mrs. Brown have had ten children, of whom Sena Ellen died in childhood and one died in infancy. Those living are William, John, Dora, Anna, George, Charles, Lizzie, James. Mr. Brown is an esteemed member of Osage Post No. 156, G. A. R., and has been a faithful member of the Methodist church for many years, as also his good wife.