Abraham Brown II was born in 1730 in Borden’s Grant, Virginia. He died in 1785 in Montgomery County, Virginia. Abraham married Margaret Kirkhm in 1760. Margaret was the daughter of Henry Kirkham who owned land adjacent to Abraham Brown in Borden’s Grant. (See the map of the southern part of Borden’s Grant featured below. Abraham Brown and Henry Kirkham’s land are adjacent. Margaret Kirkham died in 1803 In Montgomery County, Virginia.
” Abraham Brown lived next door to Henry Kirkham in Borden’s Grant in the 1740’s in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Abraham married Henry Kirkham’s sister Margaret ‘May’ Kirkkham. Abraham and his wife Margaret later moved to Montgomery County in southwestern Virginia, where Abraham’s Will is dated 22 Dec 1784 and that of his wife Margaret is dated 11 Jan 1797. ” Entry from
Abraham and Margaret had the following children:
- Abraham Brown Born 1756 Died 1789
- Robert Brown Born 1757 Died 1801
- Peter Brown Born 1758 Died 1820
- Cornelius Brown Born 1759 Died 1824
- Margaret Brown Born 1760 Died 1844
- Sarah Brown Born 1766 Died 1852
- Elisabeth Brown Born 1766 Died 1855
- Michael Brown Born 1770 Died 1860
- Henry Brown Born 1772 Died 1823
- James Brown Born 1753 Died 1814
Here is an entry about Abraham Brown II’s life in Borden’s Grant:
“Abraham was probably the first of the family to live on the
lands on the New River. He lived with his family on the Forks
of the James until about 1773. After that he appears in
Fincastle County records. He apparently had moved to the New
River area by then. The family had been under constant Indian
harassment and they had a large and growing family. Each of the
children wanted better land and opportunity for themselves.
Abraham’s uncle, Cornelius Brown, had earlier purchased some
land in the New River area where they settled. Abraham and his
sons added to this land over the years and they eventually owned
about 2,400 acres which extended from about the “Horseshoe Bend”
near today’s Belspring north to today’s Giles County line.
Their first home was probably a log cabin located just above
their spring. The spring is located about 200 or 300 yards
downhill from today’s Route 600 and across from the Brown
cemetery. Michael Brown built a brick house to the right and
somewhat downhill from the original log and wooden house by the
spring. It is below a railroad track put in a century later
that led to a coal mine in the mountain that was Henry Brown’s
inheritance from his father (Judge Irvin Brown told me of his
trips into this mine as a young boy,”some 90 years ago “, when I
visited him many years ago. (GT Brown)). This land is adjacent
to the Giles County Line. The lands are still owned by Stella
Brown and the heirs of Willard Kirkham Brown.
SOURCE: Montgomery county, Virginia, Will Book B, pages 78, 79;
Montgomery County, Virginia, Will Book 1, pages 174, 175, 216;
Augusta County, Virginia, Clerk of Court, Deed Book 3, pages 81,
82; Information on all of Abraham Brown’s children’s families,
except Robert Brown’s, was furnished by George T. Brown, Jr.,
Dayton, Ohio.
SOURCE: A Brown Family of Elbert County, Georgia, Compiled by
William A. Coup (Deceased) , copy
in the Hart County, Georgia, Public Library. Also
correspondence from William A. Coup to David Hunter Brown.”
Abraham Brown and Bordens Grant
I found information in the Scots Irish Chronicles about Abraham Brown, my great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather. Here are some of the entries in the book (which recorded court records, legal transactions, etc for the Borden’s Grant settlement.) We know that Abraham Brown purchased 482 Acres in 1754. This property borderd on Woods Creek, which is today very near downtown Lexington, Virginia. This property, the entire 482 acres, was purchased my Matthew Elder on October 30, 1773.
MAY 21, 1755.
(423) Abraham Brown appointed Constable below the Brusby Hills, in the Forks of James River.
If you have a map of Borden’s Grant, (see above) Abraham Brown’s plot of land was in the southern edge of the settlement. He was appointed constable, which would today be a sheriff. In modern day Lexington, Virginia, there is actually a Brushy Hills Lane. Our Abraham would have lived in what is today Lexington, Virginia. From the book, “Criminal Justice in America” By Bruce Smith, Ayer Publishing, 1974, we read the following:
“With the appearance of the constable in the American Colonies, much of the same process of gradual disintergration was repeated. the early New England Constable, like his English Counterpart, was the constitutive office of the town. Sometimes he was elected by town meetings, sometimes appointed by selectmen…. The duties of the Constable included summoning the electors to town meeting, the collection of taxes, settlement of claims, impressment of labors for repair of the highways, and last, but may we hope not the least, command of the night watch.”
This was not necessarily all of the duites that the Constable in the Brushy Hills would had, but it gives us a good idea of the kinds of duties they performed.
NOVEMBER 23, 1753
(73) John Paxton to be overseer of road from Edmonston’s Mill to Fork Meeting House, with these: James Trimble, Michael Finney, John Berrisford, Wm. Holdman, John Hardin, Hugh Means, Joseph Lapsley, Peter Wallace, Saml. McClure, Abram Brown, John Moore, Robert Moore, Stephen Arnold, Saml. Paxton, Jas. Edmondson.
“Abram” as Abraham Brown was sometimes referred to, was also an overseer and worker, along with fourteen other men. So, our Abraham worked on building a road also. I know this is our Abraham because I know where this area is in Borden’s Grant. Since the Fork Meeting House is mentioned here and these families would have lived very near it, I have to assume that this is the meeting house (church) that Abraham and his family attended.
“In 1755 Abraham Brown was appointed a processioner. The duties of this position were to look over the lands and scout them out to see what was there and to report back on how the found the lands. “Abrham Brown and William Holdman were assigned the Northeast side of Buffelow Creek below the Waggon Road and do