BIOGRAPHIES

Source #3
Commemorative Biographical Records
of
Northwestern Ohio
including the counties of
Defiance, Henry, Williams & Fulton.
Published at Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co.
1899

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JOHN A. BROWN  The subject of this sketch is one of the progressive and successful farmers living in Center township, Williams county, as well as one of its representative citizens.  Born there July 6, 1850, he is a son of Nicholas and Sarah (McManus) Brown, both natives of Pennsylvania, having located in Center township, Williams county, Ohio, in 1847.  The father died here in September, 1895, but the mother is still living at an advanced age.  In their family were five children: William M.; James W., who died in infancy; John A.; Mary J., who wedded Ellis Jordan, and died in Center township, in 1879; and Andrew T., a business man of Edgerton, Williams county.      Amidst play and work John A. Brown spent the days of his boyhood and youth upon his father's farm in Center county, acquiring his education in the common schools of the neighborhood.  He has always been a resident of that township, and has been prominently identified with its public affairs as a leading and influential citizen of the community.  For four years after a leading and influential citizen of the community.  For four years after his marriage he continued in the employ of his father on the old homestead and then located upon his present farm, consisting of eighty acres of rich and fertile land, which he ahs placed under a high state of cultivation.  He has erected good and substantial buildings upon the place, and made many other valuable improvements, which stand as monuments to his thrift and industry.      In Center township, April 30, 1871, Mr. Brown married Miss Mary J. Stockman, who was born in that township, May 20, 1849, a daughter of Ephraim Stockman.  They have two children: Clara E., now the wife of William Kreiger; and Andrew J., who married Grace Snyder.  Since reaching man's estate Mr. Brown has been identified with the Democratic party, and since the spring of 1888 he has most creditably and efficiently served as justice of the peace in his township.  He has also filled the office of school director for seven years, and has done much to advance the cause of education in his community.  He is one of the leading members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, with which he has been connected for many years, and has led an upright, honorable life, a fact that has won for him the confidence and high regard of all with whom he has come in contact. (Source:  Commemorative Biographical Record of Northwestern Ohio - Chicago - J. H. Beers & Co. 1899  - pg. 588