THROUGH
MOUNTAIN MISTS
Early Settlers of
Their
Descendants...Their Stories...Their Achievements
Lifting the
Mists of History on Their Way of Life
By: Ethelene Dyer Jones
In last week’s column we looked
at the life
of Harmon and Sarah Clonginger Brown who were in Union County until
where they
lived became Towns County in 1856. They
had a large family of twelve, eleven of whom grew to adulthood and
married. Two of his sons became ordained
Baptist ministers. These two, John
Monroe and Smith Loransey, will be the focus of today’s Brown story.
Firstborn of Harmon and Sarah Brown,
John Monroe Brown, was born July 31, 1838 and lived until March 8, 1932. On December 23, 1856 he married Emmaline
Garrett (01-27-1840 – 03-27-1927). Her
parents were H. Posie and Louisa Hogan Garrett.
The six children born to John Monroe
Brown and Emmaline Garrett Brown were:
Sarah (07-29-1858) married
Julius Tipton;
Haseltine (10-19-1860) never
married;
Lucinda (02-16-1863) married
Washington
Pierce;
George Sherman (1866) married
Sarah Alice
Berry;
Zoa (02-27-1869) married Fidell
Davis;
Julia (07-13-1872) married Levi
Reed; and
Martha Elizabeth (07-25-1875).
Just when John Monroe Brown was
ordained to the gospel ministry is not known to this writer, nor the
churches
he served. But when the Civil War came,
John Monroe enlisted in 1862 as a private.
While in Kentucky he developed a serious case of rheumatism and
spent
time in Chango Hospital. He was sent
back to Georgia and at Tunnel Hill, Georgia got typhoid fever. He was in a hospital there until he was sent
home on January 3, 1863 to recover further.
He had a relapse of the fever in 1863 and was hospitalized at
Catoosa
Springs. When able, he was sent home
again in March of 1863. After the spring
and summer at home, he reenlisted with the North Carolina 6th
Infantry Regiment in November, 1863. He
was captured in battle and sent to prison at Fort Delaware. Following the end of the war, he was released
from prison in May of 1865. He returned
to his home, farmed, and preached, probably without much pay for his
ministerial
services unless it was a small amount of offerings taken, a little for
weddings
performed, and payment in grain or other farm products.
Smith Loransey Brown (01-20-1850 –
05-16-1923), the sixth child of Harmon and Sarah Clonginger Brown, was
also an
ordained Baptist minister. That two of
their children, the first-born and the sixth-born, became ministers,
speaks
well of the home and religious training Harmon and Sarah provided for
their
children. The date of Smith’s ordination
to the gospel ministry is not known by this writer.
He married Mary Elizabeth Souther (07-07-1853
– 01-11-1929) in 1870. He most likely
met Mary Elizabeth as he went to preach at the country church she
attended near
her home.
Mary Elizabeth Souther was the oldest
child of John Combs Hayes Souther and Nancy Collins Souther. Her marriage to the Rev. Smith Loransey Brown
brought together two stalwart pioneer families.
Maybe the young preacher was attracted
to Mary Elizabeth by her clear, strong voice as a singer.
In the days before hymn books were available
to all in the congregation, the song leader would “line out” the words
and the
congregation would sing. It is said that
Mary’s strong voice stood out above the others in a harmonizing alto. Mary Elizabeth was supportive of her
husband’s ministry and would ride with him to his church charges for
Saturday
and Sunday meetings, every Sunday for them, but only once a month to
the
churches as they made their rounds to his charges. Their home was near
her
parents on the north side of Town Creek in Choestoe District. There they farmed and went out to his
churches on weekends.
The Rev. Smith Loransey Brown and Mary
Elizabeth Souther Brown had nine children:
John Brown (09-28-1871) married Lillie Woodring; Sarah Brown
(02-18-1875) married Benson Hudson; James A. Brown (08-29-1877) died
young;
Joseph L. Brown (07-27-1879) married Ida Logan; Daniel Brown
(07-02-1881)
married Fannie Turner; Arvil Brown (04-03-1884) married Mary Nix; Ellen
Brown
(07-08-1886) married Joseph Johnson; Henry Brown (04-20-1891) married
Myrtle
Collesta Thomaston; and Mary Evelyn Brown (12-21-1895) married Avery
Woodring.
At their deaths, the Rev. Smith
Loransey Brown and his beloved wife, Mary Elizabeth Souther Brown, were
interred at the New Liberty Baptist Church Cemetery, Choestoe. Rev. Brown had been pastor of that church. Mary’s grandfather, John Souther, had given
land for the church and cemetery. Smith
and Mary Brown’s eighth child, Henry
Brown, became a Baptist minister, and served many churches in Union and
Towns
Counties, including First Baptist Church, Blairsville.
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