THE
BROWNS, OF SANDY LAKE — The first to come to this county was Alexander
Brown, a native of Cumberland County, Penn., the time of his arrival
being about the year 1805. He settled at what was known as “The Falls”
of Big Sandy Creek, and was the first to erect a mill in what is now
Sandy Lake Township. He was a surveyor, and surveyed a considerable
portion of Mercer County. Soon after the organization of the county he
removed to Mercer for the purpose of educating his children. While
there he was engaged in the mercantile business with Bevan Pearson. He
was the first man to card wool in the county, which he did at Mercer,
by the use of a horse-tread power. He and Pearson dealt some in stock,
and the fall of the market caused them to fail in business at a time
when they had a large amount invested in stock. He was first married,
in Cumberland County, to Mary Jacobs, a native of that county, by whom
he had the following children: Eliza, married Andrew Patterson; James
F., Thomas J. and Alexander. James F. was a printer, and worked a short
time in Madison, Ind., and was offered a lot in the newly laid town of
Indianapolis for every day he would work on the paper at Madison. He
finally came back to his home and joined his brother, Thomas J., in the
construction of a stone dam across the stream where the mill-dam of the
McClure brothers is now located. This was the first stone dam that was
constructed in Mercer County. Thomas J. was born in Westmoreland
County, Penn., May 2, 1801, and came to Sandy Lake in 1805, and in 1808
removed to Mercer. In 1818 or 1819 he was elected captain of a militia
company, and subsequently was elected captain of an artillery company.
In 1821 he married Caroline, daughter of Dr. Christopher Heydrick, and
located on Sandy Creek, near Sandy Lake, where he subsequently laid out
the town of Brownsville. He was the first postmaster of this town. He
erected woolen mills, flax seed oil-mills, flouring-mills, turning
lathes and manufactured lumber. In all of these he was assisted by his
brother, James F. He was also engaged extensively in merchandising. In
1840 he was appointed a justice of the peace to fill a vacancy, and was
elected to the same in 1845. In 1855 he was appointed associate judge
to fill a vacancy, and was elected to that office in 1856. He was
appointed justice of the peace in 1875 and elected in 1876, and
re-elected in 1881, and filled the office up to the time of his death,
which occurred in 1883. His wife died March 2, 1874, and was the mother
of eight children: Alexander F., Harriet H., James, Charles,
Christopher, Mary E., Benjamin F. and Albert G. Alexander, Sr., was one
of the first associate judges of this county. At a time he and three
other acquaintances were captured by the Indians while on a tour down
the Ohio River, where they had established a trading post. Two of the
company were killed by the red men, and while they were holding a
consultation to determine what to do with Alexander and the other, an
Indian squaw agreed to take them for her husband and adopted son. She
finally helped them to get away, but they were soon captured by another
tribe, which traded them to a Scotchman, who released them, and finally
they reached home, dressed in Indian costumes. The original Alexander
Brown was married a second time, his last wife being Mary Weekly, who
bore him two children: Mary, married Alfred Norton, and Sydney, married
James Moorehead. James F. Brown, whose portrait appears in this work,
through the enterprise of his widow, was one of the respected and
worthy citizens of the county, and is an excellent representative of
the Brown family, which figures largely in the history of Sandy Lake.
(Source: unknown - retrieved from a retired PA bio web-site)
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