Family Tree Maker's Genealogy Site: Genealogy Report: Descendants of Hugh Brown

[ Home Page | First Page | Previous Page | Next Page | Last Page ]

Descendants of Hugh Brown

Generation No. 2

2. Neill² Brown (Hugh¹) was born Feb 15, 1747/48 in Cumberland County, North Carolina, and died Dec 11, 1835 in Philadelphus, Robeson County, North Carolina. He married Nancy Ann Smith, daughter of Malcom Smith and Sarah Patterson. She was born Jul 17, 1752 in Cumberland County, North Carolina, and died Sep 07, 1838 in Philadelphus, Robeson County, North Carolina.

Notes for Neill Brown:
Early land grants give some clue to Neill Brown's migration from Cumberland County to Robeson County (a part of Bladen County prior to 1787).

Date Bought/Sold Acres Location
2 February 1779 Bought 200 Bladen (later Robeson) "a cypress pond"
7 November 1779 Bought 100 Bladen (later Robeson) Bear Swamp
25 April 1785 Sold 100 Cumberland County Cabin Creek on lower side of Rockfish Creek

Neill Brown sold 100 acres (above) on Cabin Creek to Malcolm Smith, his father-in-law, and the deed indicates that Neill was from Bladen (Robeson) County It is therefore believed that Neill and Ann Brown moved to the Richland Swamp area near Phildalphus, North Carolina sometime between 1779-1785.

Neill Brown was a tailor in addition to being a plantation owner. He was also a justice of the peace for some 25 years. He was an early family historian as his journal reflects. He was a "Whig" in politics and helped his country (United States of America) during the Revolutionary War.

General Assembly of North Carolina

Neill Brown was one of the two first representatives from Robeson County to the North Carolina General Assembly from 1787-1790. During this period of service to his county, state and country, he was a delegate to the convention at Hillsborough, North Carolina to ratify the United States Constitution. Following are excerpts from the Journal of the Convention of North Carolina 1788 and 1789 from North Carolina State Records Volume 22:

Hillsborough Convention - "At a convention begun and held at Hillsborough on the twenty-fifth day of July [1788]...The returning officers of the several counties certified that the following persons were duly elected as members of this Convention viz: For Robeson, John Willis, John Cade, Elias Barns, Neill Brown, and John Regan. " The convention was convened to consider the Constitution of the United States and failed to ratify it. The vote was 84 for and 184 against ratification. The Robeson County delegates voted as follows: Neill Brown, Elias Barns, John Cade, and John Willis, for ratification, and John Regan, against ratification (page 25).

All of the delegates except John Regan were returned to the next convention which ratified the Constitution of the United States. North Carolina did not ratify the Constitution until it was amended to include a "Bill of Rights".

Journal of the Convention of North Carolina 1788 - "Monday, August 4, 1788 - Met according to adjournment. Mr. William Barry Grove, according to order, presented the following protest subscribed by the persons whose name are there unto annexed, to wit: Dissentient: Because the establishment of a seat of government in a place unconnected with commerce, and where there is at present no town, will be attended with a heavy expense to the people, and the town when established, never can rise above the degree of a village: The experience of Virginia and Maryland have given a striking proof of this in the towns of Williamsburg and Annapolis. Because the establishment of the seat of government at Fayetteville would have a great and instantaneous effect upon the decayed commerce of this country, by holding out immediate advantage to those who are employed in the culture of tobacco and other valuable articles of export, the principal part of which is now exported from Virginia and South Carolina. Because it should be the policy of this State to encourage a great commercial town at the head of the best navigation in the State; a situation which seems intended by nature to command the produce of the interior settlements...(pages 34-35)." [Note: 119 persons, all members of the Convention, signed the protest, among them Neill Brown, Elias Barns, John Cade, and John Willis, members from Robeson County This was evidently a protest against the selection of the present site of Raleigh, N C, as the "place for holding the future meeting of the General Assembly, and the place of residence of the chief officers of the State."]

Journal of the Convention of North Carolina 1789 - "At a Convention begun and held at Fayetteville on the third Monday of November, 1789 agreeable to the resolution of the late General Assembly bearing the date 7th of November 1788, the returning officers for the several counties and borough towns certified that the following persons were duly elected to represent the same in convention, to wit: ... for Robeson: Neill Brown, John Willis, Elias Barns, John Cade, Sion Alford." This convention ratified the Constitution of the United States, and thus North Carolina became the 12th State to enter the federal union under its present Constitution. All of the Robeson County delegates voted to ratify the Constitution. The final vote was 195 for and 77 against ratification.

Neill Brown was a devout Christian and was one of the charter members of Philadelphus Presbyterian Church. He was a ruling Elder in the Philadelphus Presbyterian Church for more than thirty five years. He was also active in the formation and support of the Philadelphus Academy.

Neill Brown, Esq.
Fayetteville Observer
12th December 1835

At his residence in Robeson County, on Friday evening the 11th instance, Neill Brown, Esq., in the 88th year of his age. He was one of those patriots who took a decided stand in favor of his country in our revolutionary struggle. He was elected a delegate to the Convention, which met in Hillsborough in July 1788, and for three successive years he represented the County of Robeson in the State Legislature. He was an active Justice of the Peace for more than 25 years and an Elder of the Presbyterian Church for more than 30 years. In all the various relations sustained through a long life, as father, neighbor and master, but few were more esteemed. And what affords to his numerous friends and relations the greatest consolation, he died with a full assurance of a resurrection unto eternal life.

Neill Brown Will

In the Name of God, Amen. I Neill Brown of Robeson County being of sound mind and memory, blessed be God, do this the third day of July in the Year of our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and thirty four make and publish this my last will and Testament in manner following:

That is to say: To my son Hugh Brown, I give and bequeath three hundred and forty two acres of land, including all the improved lands on which I live. Also one hundred acres known by the name "Cow pens", and two hundred and fifty acres in three surveys, including old improvements on both sides of Bear Swamp; also one hundred acres tract called the Piney Bay land; also one bed and furniture; one half of my stock of sheep; also one third part of my stock of cattle, and one half of my stock of hogs; also one half of my plantation tools and half of my still.

To my son William H. Brown, I give and bequeath two hundred and fifty acres of land in three surveys on both sides of Bear Swamp, lying between Campbell's Mill and Peter Dial; also one bed and furniture, one half of my stock of sheep, one third part of my stock of cattle, and one half stock of hogs, and one half of my plantation tools and one half of my still.

I give and bequeath to my daughter Mary, two beds and furniture, one-third part of my stock of cattle.

To my son Archibald S. Brown, I give and bequeath ten dollars.

To my daughter Ann, I give and bequeath one dollar.

To my daughter Catherine, I give and bequeath one dollar.

To my daughter Elizabeth, I give and bequeath one dollar.

To my daughter Margaret, I give and bequeath one dollar.

And I hereby make and ordain my sons William H. Brown and Hugh Brown, executors of my last will and testament, with full discretionary powers.

In witness whereof, I the said Neill Brown, have to this my last will and testament set my hand and seal, the day and year above written.

Neill Brown, seal

Test. Archibald Buie

Test. John B. Clark

Robeson County

February Term 1836. Then was this will duly proven in open Court by oath of John D. Clark, one of the subscribing witnesses to the same and ordered to be recorded.

A. McEachin, clerk

Original: Robeson County Clerk of Court, Lumberton, North Carolina Transcribed by Bradley M. Buie January 2000

More About Neill Brown:
Burial: Unknown, Brown Cemetery, Robeson County, North Carolina

More About Nancy Ann Smith:
Burial: Unknown, Brown Cemetery, Robeson County, North Carolina

Children of Neill Brown and Nancy Smith are:

Mary³ Brown, born Jul 01, 1777; died Jul 31, 1865 in Robeson County, North Carolina.

Notes for Mary Brown:
Mary (Polly) Brown, born 1 July 1777 and died 31 July 1865 was never married. It has been told by family members that she remembered the British soldiers coming in her father's home during the Revolutionary War searching for her father as he was a patriot. When Sherman's army came through North Carolina in 1863 during the War Between the States, some soldiers commenced searching through some trunks at her brother's home ( William H Brown) and she told them to "get out!", she was not afraid of them as she had had a childhood experience with the British soldiers. Mary Brown was a "pious and esteemed lady" according to James McCallum, Clerk of the Session of Philadelphus Presbyterian Church in a letter to William H. Brown, regarding a bequest of $300 left to the Church by her to maintain an "orthodox Presbyterian Minister." She is buried in the Brown Cemetery near Philadelphus, North Carolina.

More About Mary Brown:
Burial: Unknown, Brown Cemetery, Philadelphus, Robeson County, North Carolina

+	13	ii.	Nancy Anna Brown, born Mar 22, 1782 in Robeson County, North Carolina; died Unknown in McNairy County, Tennessee.
+	14	iii.	Catherine Brown, born Sep 14, 1784 in Robeson County, North Carolina; died Unknown in Dillion, South Carolina.
+	15	iv.	Elizabeth Brown, born Jul 30, 1786 in Robeson County, North Carolina; died Sep 30, 1863 in Robeson County, North Carolina.
+	16	v.	Archibald Smith Brown, born Oct 30, 1788 in Robeson County, North Carolina; died Mar 26, 1838 in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
+	17	vi.	Margaret Brown, born Sep 25, 1790; died Unknown in Laurinburg, North Carolina.
+	18	vii.	William Hunt Brown, born Mar 05, 1793 in Robeson County, North Carolina; died Jun 18, 1882 in Philadelphus, Robeson County, North Carolina.
+	19	viii.	Hugh Brown, born Jul 11, 1796 in Robeson County, North Carolina; died May 05, 1858 in Robeson County, North Carolina.

3. John² Brown (Hugh¹) was born Dec 28, 1751 in Cumberland County, North Carolina, and died Jan 16, 1794 in Cumberland County, North Carolina. He married Ala Bennett Abt. 1783. She was born in Cumberland County, North Carolina, and died Unknown in Cumberland County, North Carolina.

Notes for John Brown:
Little is know about the first three children of John Brown and Ala Bennett. However, considerable work has been done to trace the descendants of John Byars Brown. From the book Kinsfolks by William Curry Harllee the following is written on page 1303 about this family. "John Byars Brown married Susanna Alford and migrated to the Hatchet Creek community known as Brownsville, Alabama then in Talladega County and now Clay County This settlement is about 10 miles from Good Water, Alabama. The church of this community is called Hatchet Creek Presbyterian Church and the names Brownsville and Hatchet Creek are used interchangeably to designate this community. John Byars Brown and wife Susanna Alford were buried at Hatchet Creek Presbyterian Church which he helped organize in 1835. He was a ruling elder in this church from organization until the time of his death. Many man have gone out from this church to make outstanding careers in business and professional world."

More About John Brown and Ala Bennett:
Marriage: Abt. 1783

Children of John Brown and Ala Bennett are:

20	i.	William³ Brown, born Feb 07, 1782; died Unknown.
21	ii.	Hugh Brown, born Mar 12, 1784; died Unknown.
22	iii.	Mary Buie Brown, born Sep 06, 1786; died Unknown.
23	iv.	John Byars Brown, born Jul 08, 1789 in Robeson County, North Carolina; died Apr 12, 1861 in Brownville, Alabama. He married Susanna Alford Nov 06, 1823 in Robeson County, North Carolina; born Feb 18, 1795 in Robeson County, North Carolina; died Aug 08, 1846 in Brownville, Alabama.

More About John Byars Brown:
Burial: Unknown, Hatchet Creek Grave Yard, Brownville, Alabama

More About Susanna Alford:
Burial: Unknown, Hatchet Creek Grave Yard, Brownville, Alabama

More About John Brown and Susanna Alford:
Marriage: Nov 06, 1823, Robeson County, North Carolina

Catherine Brown, born Jan 30, 1792; died Unknown.

[ Home Page | First Page | Previous Page | Next Page | Last Page ]