My Genealogy Hound

James C. Brown, farmer. In recording the names of the successful agriculturists of Nevada County, that of Mr. Brown will always be given a prominent and enviable place. He owes his nativity to Marengo County, Ala., where he was born February 5, 1836, the eldest of twelve children, seven still living, born to Usrey and Lucinda (Eaves) Brown, natives of Georgia. The father was a successful farmer during his life, was married in Alabama, and resided there until 1842, then moving to North Mississippi. Here he resided until 1848, when he moved to Pontotoc County, Miss., next he moved to Hempstead County, Ark., and from there in 1870 to Sebastian County, where he died in 1884, in his sixty-eighth year. His widow is still a resident of Sebastian County, and is now seventy-four years of age. They were both members of the Missionary Baptist Church, Mr. Brown being a deacon for over twenty-five years. Politically he was a Whig. Of the children born to their union, Martha is the wife of John Ray, of Sebastian County, Ark.; Howard H. is engaged in farming in Sebastian County; William T. is a farmer in Johnson County, Tex.; Abel L. is a Missionary Baptist minister, and farmer of Sebastian County; U. Martin is also a farmer of that county; Mary L. is the wife of Quin Fry, a farmer of Sebastian County; John D. was a soldier in the Second Arkansas Infantry, and died at Grenada, Miss.; Faithey Ann was the wife of Andrew Seaward, a farmer of Sebastian County (now deceased); Lucinda was the wife of John Wright, also a farmer of Sebastian County; and Starling R. and one unnamed who died in infancy, in Mississippi. The immediate subject of this sketch was reared in Mississippi, and came with his parents to Hempstead County. In 1859 he wedded Miss Emily M. (daughter of Jordan and Hannah Walker), a native of Alabama, born in 1836. To this union there were born six children, two of whom still live, viz.: Martha Ann (who married Thomas Allison, a farmer of Clark County), and James U. (at home). Those dead are Nancy J. (who died in her thirtieth year, the wife of Thomas Roe, of this county), Mackey J. (was the wife of J. W. Nelson of this county, and died in her nineteenth year), Howard G. (died in infancy), and Ada (died when four years of age). In May, 1862, Mr. Brown enlisted in the Confederate service, joining the Twenty-fourth Arkansas Infantry, serving in this regiment until he was taken prisoner at Arkansas Post, and retained as a prisoner at Camp Douglas, Chicago, for three months. He was exchanged at City Point, Va., then joined the Nineteenth and Twenty-fourth Arkansas Consolidated, in which he served until the battle of Chickamauga, at which battle he was wounded, and was then transferred to the Trans-Mississippi Department, and served west of the Mississippi, for the rest of the time. At the close of the war he located on the farm, which he now owns, but which was then comparatively in the woods. He was then without means, and had a wife and children to support, but he set to work and soon had the place cleared, and is now the owner of 240 acres of land, with seventy five acres under an excellent state of cultivation. His wife died in this county in 1887, and on January 31, 1889, Mrs. Collins, widow of James Collins, and daughter of Mrs. Emily Dunn, became Mrs. Brown, and is now the mother of one child, a son, Homer A. They are both members of the Missionary Baptist Church. Socially, Mr. Brown is a member of the Masonic fraternity. He is independent in politics, voting for what he considers the best man.