My Genealogy Hound

R. A. BROWDER was born August 10, 1840, four miles west of Fulton. He is the eighth of eleven children born to David and Mary (Smith) Browder, whose sketch appears above. R. A. was reared on a farm, received a common school education, and lived with his parents until he enlisted, September 16, 1861, in Company A, Seventh Kentucky Infantry, Confederate States Army, under Capt. J. G. Purtle, Charles Wickliffe colonel commanding. He participated in the following battles: Shiloh, first bombardment of Vicksburg, Baton Rouge, bombardment of Port Hudson, Corinth, Champion Hills, siege of Jackson (Miss.), Paducah (Ky.), Brice’s Cross Roads, Athens (Ala.), Sulphur Trestle and Pulaski, Tenn. He was wounded three times at Shiloh, in the left hand, right hip and left side; was slightly wounded in the left wrist at Corinth. He was first under Polk and Cheatham; after the battle of Shiloh he was transferred to Breckinridge; then under Joseph Johnston, and lastly under Buford and Forrest; he enlisted as a private and was promoted until he reached the rank of third lieutenant. He was paroled at Columbus, Miss., May, 1865, returned home to Fulton County, and engaged in farming until September, 1875, when he took charge of a Grange store for two years as agent in Fulton. He next went into the tobacco, farming implement and machinery business, in which he is still engaged. He established the first permanent planing-mill in Fulton, in 1883. Mr. Browder owns a large agricultural store, also has an interest in a furniture store. He started in life with eighty acres of land given him by his father; he is one of the most industrious and energetic men in Fulton. He was married October 29, 1872, to Miss Philomela Patterson, a native of Indian Territory, reared in southwest Missouri and daughter of Dr. S. G. and Sarah A. (McDowell) Patterson, natives of New Hampshire and Missouri, respectively of Scotch-Irish and Irish origin. To Mr. and Mrs. Browder were born three children, viz.: Willie McDowell (deceased), Bessie (born March, 1881), and Robert Samuel (born March 5, 1884). Mr. Browder and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he was formerly a member of the Grange and K. of G. C.