Transcription contributed by Martie Callihan 27 November 2004

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JOHN E. BROWN, hardware merchant, Lebanon, was born in Wayne Tp., Warren Co., Dec. 15, 1857; his father, Amos Brown, who died in 1863, was a native of Warren Co., and was a son of Joseph Brown, who was also a native of Ohio; his mother, Mrs. Grace (Wilkinson) Brown, was a native of Pennsylvania, and daughter of a family who emigrated from that State to Ohio at an early date. Our subject is the youngest of a family of three children, viz., Seth W., now Prosecuting Attorney of Warren County; Lizzie L., wife of George A. Witcraft, of Warren Co., and John E., who now conducts a hardware and agricultural implement store in Lebanon, where he has been since March, 1881. He received his education in the public schools of his native county, and when about eighteen years of age commenced working on the home farm. In September, 1880, he went to Dayton, Ohio, where he was engaged in the hardware store of R. Barrett & Co., with whom he remained until his coming to Lebanon.