From the 1885 History of Steuben County, Indiana

page 532

Russel Brown was born in Stephentown, Rensselaer Co., N. Y., Jan. 24, 1805, a son of Elijah and Elizabeth (Greenfield) Brown, grandson of Stephen, great-grandson of John, and great-great-grandson of Ezekiel Brown, all of Windham, Conn. His father was born in 1773 and although too young to participate in the war for independence his ancestors were prominent in the struggle. His maternal grandparents, Smith, came from Dublin, Ireland. His uncles, William and Daniel Smith, became prominently identified with the early history of Rhode Island. Elijah Brown's family consisted of six children-- Sarah married Joseph Tinker and died in Cayuga County, N. Y., in 1877; Paulina is the wife of Thomas Marsh, of Iowa; Daniel M. died in 1876, in Moravia, N. Y.; Russel; Hannah is the wife of Horace Rounds, of Cayuga County, N. Y.; Elijah E., of Niles, N. Y., who has represented his district in the Legislature several terms. Russel Brown was reared in his native county, and was there married in 1828 to Laura Sweet, of Stillwater, N. Y., daughter of William Sweet, of Massachusetts, whose name figures conspicuously on the rolls of the Revolutionary war. In 1836 Mr. Brown moved to Lagrange County, Ind., where he became prominently identified, assisting materially in the upbuilding of that county. Mr. and Mrs. Brown had a family of five children-- Philena died at the age of fifteen years; Ezekiel, of Steuben County; Warren, of Lagrange County; Erastus, attorney at law and banker of Lincoln, Neb., and William, attorney at law, Angola, Ind.

Submitted by: Kim Davoli

E-mail: davoli82@juno.com