USA > Pennsylvania > Fayette County > Genealogical and personal history of Fayette county, Pennsylvania > Part 14
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market business in Dunbar. He continued this until the death of Henry P. Smith in 1905. Since then the brothers have con- tinued the business as partners. They are well established in a modern well equipped mar- ket, and command a generous patronage. William C. Smith was appointed postmaster of Dunbar in 1906, and is still holding that office. He is a Republican in politics; mem- ber of the Royal Arcanum, Junior Order of American Mechanics, and in religious faith a Baptist.
He married, October 31, 1886, Luella Tag- gart, born in Monongahela City, Pennsyl- vania, daughter of A. A. Taggart, a con- tractor and builder of Uniontown, who died in August, 1911. Children: Iola, married Ray Guyeton, a druggist of Pittsburgh, Penn- sylvania; Cecil, his father's assistant in the store; Clarence, now in the employ of the Allegheny Supply Company at Pittsburgh; Harold; Eleanor.
SPARKS The first of this name to settle in Fayette county was Horatio Sparks, a farmer and tanner. He came to the county early; was first a Democrat, active in the party, but in later life a Republican. He married Helena Ham- mond and both died in Fayette county, leav- ing issue.
(11) Samuel Hammond, son of Horatio Sparks, was born in Fayette county, Penn- sylvania, in 1850, died December 7, 1904. He was reared and educated in Fayette county, and learned his father's trade, tanning. Later he established a tannery of his own in Bull- skin township. He was also a farmer. In politics he was a Democrat. He married Me- linda, daughter of Peter Christner, now a res- ident of Indiana. Children of Samuel Ham- mond Sparks: William Ketchum; 'Charles Boyle; Roy, of whom further; Lida Ham- mond, Edward, Lena Hammond, Luella B., Maud Kitchen, Francis Davis, Samuel Ham- mond, Clyde, Harriet.
(III) Roy, third son of Samuel Hammond Sparks, was born at Indian Head, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, July 28, 1876. He was educated in the public school and followed farming industriously until he was twenty- two years of age.
He then came to Connellsville, learned the carpenter's trade, and for five years was with
the Fayette Lumber Company. In politics he is a Democrat.
He married, July 28, 1899, Luzetta Viola Beal, born in Fayette county July 28, 1879, daughter of William L. and Sarah (Miller) Beal. William L. Beal was born in Somerset county in 1839; he served in the civil war three years and eight months in Company B, One Hundred and Forty-second Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry; fought at Gettysburg and was held a prisoner at Belle Isle for eight months and three days. He married Sarah Miller, born in Fayette coun- ty, 1843, daughter of George Miller. Their children: Laura Belle, deceased; Nancy Francina, deceased; Lloyd M .; Ida N .; Lu- zetta Viola, of previous mention. Children of Leroy and Luzetta Sparks: Clarence Brooks, born February 13, 1900; Audrice May, Feb- ruary 6, 1902; Gertrude, May 10, 1904; Dor- othy Irene, January 14, 1908; William Ham- mond, November 28, 1910.
BROWN
This branch of the many Brown families of the United States descend from a Virginia settler
and from that colony came Wendell Brown and his sturdy sons, Adam, Mau- nus and Thomas, to Fayette county, settling originally on the Provance's Bottom on the Monongahela. Judge Veech says in his "Monongahela of Old": "When Washing- ton's little army was at Fort Necessity or Great Meadows, the Browns packed provi- sions, beef and corn to him, and when he sur- rendered to the French and Indians, July 4, 1754, they retired with the retreating colonial troops across the mountain to their old Vir- ginia home." After General Forbes had re- established English dominion they returned, but settled not on their old lands, but in what is now South Union and Georges townships, where they were the first white settlers. Adam Brown located on three hundred and twenty-seven acres warranted to him, June 14, 1769. Maunus Brown had three hundred and six acres warranted to him the same day. Adam Brown, "Old Adam"-as he was called -boasted of having been a king's lieutenant in his earlier days, having probably served with the Virginia provincials in the French and Indian wars. For his services he claimed to have received a royal grant of land nine miles square, extending from near Mount
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Braddock along the face of Laurel Hill southward and westward as far as New Salem, and it is said that when this land was being surveyed the surveyor was shot and by whom no one ever seemed to know; thus ended the survey, but it was supposed that the work was done by an Indian. The old lieutenant, it is said, induced many Virginia acquaintances of the Browns to settle around him on the grant, the Downards, Greens, McDonalds, McCartys, Brownsfields, Kin- dells, Scotts, Jennings and Higginsons. Out of abundant caution Adam and Maunus Brown did not trust to their tomahawk claim, but entered applications for their land in the Pennsylvania law office, June 14, 1769, and had them surveyed soon after. They took no part in the boundary dispute between Vir- ginia and Pennsylvania, but it is said that Adam and some of his associates had em- ployed an agent to go to London to perfect the royal grant, but when the revolution ended the King's power in the colonies, they gave up the effort and in due time per- fected their titles under Pennsylvania.
From this circumstance and from others of little weight arose the allegation that "Old Adam" and sundry of his neighbors were un- friendly to the cause of independence, but there is no evidence that they ever committed any act of toryism. The Maunus Browns were never suspected of any lukewarmness for the cause, and always retained the fullest confidence of their neighbors. The Indians who held the country when the Browns came had one or more lead mines in the mountains, the localities of which they guarded with in- violable secrecy. The discovery of these mines by the Browns would have been a valuable acquisition-many efforts did they make to find them and many sly attempts to follow the Indians on their trips to the mines, but without avail. Thomas Brown it seems was most persistent and only escaped death at the stake through the intercession of a friendly chief. Later he was again caught when there was no intercession near and had all his teeth knocked out with a piece of iron and a tomahawk. An instance of savage honesty is told of Brown. In a season of scarcity they came to them for food; the old man sold them eight rows of corn-after they had gone he found they had taken just eight rows, no more. The Browns held to
their lands, and much of it is yet in the family name. This line descends through Maunus Brown.
(II) Maunus, son of Wendell Brown, with his father and two brothers, was the first white settler in South Union township, Fay- ette county, Pennsylvania, where he had three hundred and six acres patented him, June 14, 1769. His lands lay in what became Georges township, where he lived until a good old age, possessed much influence and means. He married and left issue.
(III) Abraham, son of Maunus Brown, was born in Georges township, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, where his entire life was spent engaged in agriculture. He owned a farm of three hundred acres, and was highly respected in his neighborhood. He was a Democrat and served tne township as tax collector and poor director. He married Mary Bend. Children: I. Benjamin, a farmer, of Georges township; married Eliza- beth Franks. 2. Isaac, a farmer, owning the land on which the Peirce Coke Works are built; he married first a Miss Hutchinson, second the widow of Thomas Grier. 3. Maunus, a farmer, of South Union township; married Sallie Franks. 4. Abraham. 5. Sarah, married Isaac Bailey, a farmer. 6. Polly, married Isaac Vance. 7. Rachel,
married James Higinbotham. 8. Clarissa, married Nathan DeFord, and moved to Kansas. 9. Susan.
(IV) Abraham (2), fourth son of Abraham (1) and Mary (Bend) Brown, was born on the old Brown homestead farm, December 26 (of June 28) 1817, died May 29, 1897. He attended the common schools and be- came one of the most wealthy farmers of the county. He owned at his death seven farms, aggregating eight hundred acres (part of it the old Maunus Brown tract), besides a cash estate of one hundred and fifty thou- sand dollars. He held most of the township offices, and was equally active and influential in the Lutheran church. He was a shrewd practical farmer, a good judge of values and a very successful speculator. He was very liberal in his donations to all churches and generous to the poor. He was a Democrat in politics and very influential in the party. He married. November 18, 1841, Hannah Colley, born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, April 24, 1816, died July 1, 1887. Her birth-
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place was the old Colley farm along the National Pike just west of Uniontown, where her father, Abel Colley, kept a stopping place for stage coaches, a driver's yard and a house of entertainment for travelers on the Pike. He married Nancy Nolen. Children of Abel Colley: Peter, a farmer of the old home- stead, deceased; Levi, a farmer, deceased; Hannah, wife of Abraham (2) Brown; Sea- right, a farmer of Redstone township, mar- ried Catherine Smouse; Jane, married Robert Leedham, a farmer of Fayette county, died in West Virginia. Children of Abraham Brown: I. Peter, born February 23, 1843; a farmer of Georges township; married Mary Huldah Lawrence. 2. Abraham, born, June 28, 1844; now a farmer of South Union town- ship; married Harriet Core, deceased. 3. Searight, born October 27, 1846; now a re- tired farmer; married Laura Dawson. 4. Nancy, born December 8, 1847, deceased; married Jefferson Walters, a farmer of Georges township. 5. George, born June 25, 1849; now a retired farmer; married Emma Morgan and resides in Uniontown. 6. Isaac, born September 5, 1851, deceased; married Sarah Brownfield, who survived him and married (second) Stephen Wadsworth. 7. Levi. 8. Mary, born March 26, 1855; married (first) William Huston, (second) Bert McMullen and lives in Uniontown. 9. Sarah, born August 3, 1856; married Eph- raim Walters, a retired farmer. 10. Alfred, born November 9, 1858; now residing upon the old Maunus Brown homestead; married Jennie Brownfield.
(V) Levi, sixth son of Abraham (2) and Hannah (Colley) Brown, was born in Georges township, Fayette county, Pennsyl- vania, October 16, 1854. He attended the Walnut Hill district school and grew to man- hood on the home farm, always remaining with his parents. At his father's death he willed the farm to Levi and his youngest brother, Alfred. They divided it, Alfred taking the part on which the old homestead stood and Levi the part where his father had lived. Both brothers reside on and cultivate their respective portions. Levi Brown is a Democrat in politics, and a successful, ener- getic and highly-regarded citizen. He mar- ried, September 12, 1891, Mary Brownfield, born in Fayette county, daughter of William Nixon and Elizabeth Caroline (Sackett)
Brownfield. Children: William, born August 28, 1892; Playford, February 7, 1894; Eliza- beth, April 28, 1896.
This branch of the Brown BROWN family of Fayette county, Maryland, where Banning Brown was born
Pennsylvania, came from and probably married; he then came to Fay- ette county, settling in South Union town- ship. He was of that famous body of hardy men who drove on the National road in the long ago hauling goods from Baltimore and other eastern points to Wheeling, Pittsburgh, and even as far west as Indiana. He con- tinued on "the Pike" for several years, then moved to Licking county, Ohio, where he died. He was of English descent, and pos- sessed the characteristics of that race. His sons and daughters settled near Newark, Ohio, where descendants are yet found.
(II) Hugh C., son of Banning Brown, was born in South Union township, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, in 1826, died in 1882. He learned the shoemaker's trade with a cousin, S. K. Brown, and worked at it in his native town for several years. He secured a contract from the superintendent, Rev. A. H. Waters, to furnish boots and shoes used at the Orphans' Home at Jumonville, Penn- sylvania, and in the execution of that con- tract moved to Jumonville, where he died. He was a veteran of the civil war, serving in Company F, Fourteenth Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry, from September, 1862, until the close of the war. The Fourteenth was a "fighting regiment," and Company F was engaged in sixty battles and engage -. ments, not including mere skirmishes. He was a member of the Methodist Protestant church, and a Republican of the most pro- nounced type, having been a Whig and anti- slavery man prior to the formation of the Republican party.
He married Phoebe Nesmith, born at Hopwood, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, in 1837, died September 29, 1888, daughter of Thomas Nesmith, born near Baltimore, Maryland. He was a regularly ordained minister of the Methodist Protestant church and one of the founders of that church. He settled at Hopwood, when a young man, where he erected a factory and engaged in the manufacture of horn combs. He was
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also a justice of the peace, thus being legally equipped to mete out to offenders both "the law and the Gospel." He was a soldier of the war of 1812 and drew a pension from the government. He was noted for his wonder- tul memory and his fund of interesting infor- mation. He was always the center of any group of men who were eager to listen to his tales of travel and adventure, many of them personal experiences and others remem- bered from liis reading. He lived in Hop- wood until he was seventy-five years of age, then moved to Illinois, settling at Hennepin, where he died at the age of ninety-two years. His wife was a Johnson. Their children: I. William, was a soldier of the civil war, served in the Eighth Pennsylvania Reserve Infantry, died during the war and was buried at Alexandria, Virginia; married Ellen Hacy- dore, of Hopwood. 2. John, a first lieuten- ant of the Fourteenth Regiment, Pennsyl- vania Volunteer Cavalry, during the civil war; married a Miss Hopwood and settled in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 3. James, first ser- geant of the Fourteenth Regiment, Pennsyl- vania Cavalry, serving with his brother in the civil war; married Jane Wyatt, of Union- town, Pennsylvania, and moved to Oxford, Iowa. 4. Drusilla, married Calvin Springer and moved to California, where she died. 5. Dorcas, married Rev. James Brown, a Bap- tist minister, and now is living in Confluence, Pennsylvania. 6. Ann, married Abraham Hayden and lived at Hopwood, Pennsylvania, where both died. 7. Mary, married William Bosley and moved to Hennepin, Illinois. 8. Phoebe, of previous mention, wife of Hugh C. Brown. Their children: I. Thomas Nesmith. 2. John, died 1912; married Mary Hayden and lived in Fairmont, West Vir- ginia, where he pursued his calling of me- chanical engineer. 3. Mary, married C. S. Gause, a civil engineer of Uniontown. 4. William, now a farmer of Shaner Station, Fayette county; married Ruth Smith. 5. Hugh C., Jr., deceased; was a machinist; married a Miss Sisley. 6. Walker, died in infancy. 7. Walter, died in infancy.
(III) Thomas Nesmith, eldest son of Hugh C. and Phoebe (Nesmith) Brown, was born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, December 24. 1851. He was deprived of early educational advantages, only having limited training at Hopwood public schools, but is a natural
student and has acquired a liberal education by self study and reading in certain lines, being exceptionally well informed. He learned the shoemaker's trade under the di- rection of his father, working at that trade until twenty-three years of age. He did not like the confinement nor the work itself and decided to use his energy in another direc- tion. He began his flower gardening in a small way, building his first greenhouse in 1880 at Hopwood, supplying the dealers in cut flowers and plants at Uniontown with the product of his skill. In 1883 he moved his business to Uniontown, built greenhouses and has been continuously engaged there as florist, excepting the year 1904, when he was employed as landscape gardener in Lower California by the Chase Floral Company. He does not grow flowers for the trade, nor handle cut flowers, confining his business en- tirely to plants of every description for bed- ding and ornamental decorative purposes. He is a lover of plants and well informed on all that pertains to their successful culture. His business is well established in popular favor and a constantly increasing one. While living in Hopwood he was appointed the first postmaster of that village, serving eighteen months. He is a Republican in politics and was twice elected justice of the peace, but refused to serve on account of business de- mands upon his time. He is a member, with his family, of the Methodist Protestant church.
Mr. Brown is a deep student of geology and entomology and is a recognized author- ity, many well written and learned articles from his pen having appeared in the scientific journals. He possesses unusual artistic ability and has on exhibition at the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh his paintings illustrat- ing the life history of the butterfly, the only exhibit in the entomological department from Fayette county. He also furnishes illustra- tions in oil for the colored plates used in the entomological journals. He also has done some most creditable landscapes in oil. In pursuing his favorite scientific studies he was obliged to acquire a knowledge of Latin, which he did thoroughly. His collection of butterflies, moths, beetles and insects is one of the rarest and most complete and valuable to be found outside the great museums. It fills forty-six full size regular museum cases
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and a great number of smaller ones, contain- ing fifteen thousand specimens, beautiful and rare, gathered in Europe, Asia, Africa, Cen- tral and South America and from the Isles of the Sea, also a fine North American collec- tion, including those of his own Fayette county.
Mr. Brown is preparing a catalogue of the coleoptera (beetles), found in Fayette county, fully classified, the only work of its kind ever published in the county. His geological col- lection is also an important one, containing mineral specimens from all over the world. His library is richly stored with valuable scientific works on the subjects in which he is interested. This love of nature is not an ac- quired one, but is a part of his very nature and is followed solely for the purpose of acquiring a more intimate knowledge of the works of the Creator and of giving that knowledge to the world. He is a purely unselfish, sel' .- sac- rificing scientist, striving to better under- stand the wonderful life that surrounds him.
Mr. Brown married, September 13, 1877, Sarah Louisa Malone, born in South Union township, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, daughter of John William Malone, also a native of Fayette county. He was a soldier of the civil war, was captured by the Con- federates and sent to the Salisbury prison pen, where he died. His widow did not long survive him. Their children: I. John Wil- liam, a farmer of Lower Tyrone township. 2. Mary, married Jefferson Condon and lives near Tulsa, Oklahoma. 3. Sarah Louisa, wife of Thomas Nesmith Brown. Their chil- dren: I. Florence Fredonia, married D. D. Weaver, whom she survives, without issue. 2. Phoebe Ann, married A. B. Glick, a glass worker, now residing at Tulsa, Oklahoma. Children: Florence and Thomas.
The Nesmith family spring from one of three sources. Thomas Nesmith, a rigid Presbyterian, lived near Philadelphia in 1730, whose descendants settled in Maryland and West Virginia. It is believed that he is a brother of Deacon James Nesmith, founder of the New Hampshire family of John Nes- mith, who was contemporary with the other two mentioned. It is not unlikely that Thomas, John and James were brothers, and that Thomas and John emigrated to Penn- sylvania with the McKeens in 1728. The family is of Scotch descent, settling in the
North of Ireland, from whence they came to America. A tradition of the Fayette county branch is that their progenitor (probably the Thomas, previously referred to) was a florist or landscape gardener in Scotland and of him it is recorded in works on horticulture that he seeded an inaccessible crag or cliff by discharging seed from a large bore gun. The great painter, Mr. Nesmith, was also a Scotchman from this same family. The family in Fayette county and West Virginia are known to descend from James Nesmith, of Maryland, who was undoubtedly a son of Thomas Nesmith, of Philadelphia, 1730.
CLARK This branch of the Clark family is of English origin, the one of whom we have record being Richard Clark, who settled in Elizabethtown, New Jersey, in 1678. The Clark estate and mansion was about a half mile northwest of the old Wheat Sheaf tavern. He married and had issue.
(II) Thomas, son of Richard Clark, resided on the "Upper road" about midway between Elizabethtown and the village of Rahway, New Jersey. He was a farmer, married and had at least three sons and one daughter: I. Thomas (of whom further.) 2. Abraham, born 1703, a commander of the troops, lived directly west of the homestead and outlived his brother Thomas but fifteen days. 3. James, of "Connecticut Farms," lived to a great age. 4. A daughter, married - Day.
(III) Thomas (2), son of Thomas (1) Clark, was born in Elizabethtown, New Jersey, 1701. He inherited and lived on the home- stead farm. He was one of the charter aldermen of the borough of Elizabeth. His grandson, Dr. Abraham Clark, says: "He was judge and I believe keeper of the King's Arms, as many muskets and cartouche boxes with the letters G. R. on their cover remained in the house until used by the patriots." He died September 11, 1765, and was buried very plainly in accordance with an agreement en- tered into by several of the leading citizens to limit display and pomp at funerals. He married and had an only child, Abraham.
(IV) Abraham, only child of Thomas (2) Clark, was born in Elizabethtown, New Jer- sey, February 15, 1726. He was well educated under competent instructors, making a spe- cialty of mathematics and civil law. He was
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of a naturally weak and slender form, and although a farmer pursued in his earlier man- hood surveying, conveyancing and the giving of legal advice, the latter service given gra- tuitously, not being a lawyer by profession, yet competent through a course of legal study. From the willingness with which he gave his free legal counsel he gained the title of "Poor man's counsellor." He early be- came prominent in public life, first in Essex county, later in the nation. He was elected high sheriff of the county of Essex, New Jersey ; was clerk of the colonial assembly at Amboy under the Royal Dominion, but when the coming tempest of war began to agitate the land and the revoluion dawned, he, acting under a well settled and solemn conviction of the justice of the colonial cause, appeared in the front rank of the revolution- ary phalanx and devoted his remaining years to the service of his country. He was an active member of the committee of public safety, a constant attendant at popular meet- ings and a persevering promoter of patriotic feelings. On June 21, 1776, he was ap- pointed by the provincial congress of New Jersey, in connection with Richard Stockton, John Hart, Francis Hopkinson and Dr. John Witherspoon, a delegate to the continental congress. He was one of the strong men of that body, and with great pride and resolu- tion affixed his signature to that immortal document, "The Declaration of Indepen- dence." On November 30, 1776, he was again elected by the provincial congress of New Jersey a delegate to the continental congress and continued with the exception of 1779 to be annually re-elected a delegate from New Jersey until November, 1783. In 1788 he again was elected and took his seat in the national legislature. He was a true patriot and instrumental in passing many laws that all worked for the public good. Two of his sons were officers in the conti- nental army and both were made prisoners and confined in the prison ship, "Jersey," where they were most mercilessly treated. In June, 1794, at the adjournment of con- gress, he retired from public life, dying from sunstroke in the autumn of that year. He is buried in the churchyard at Rahway; he bestowed numerous benefactions upon. this church.
In 1749 he married Sarah Hatfield, of
Elizabethtown, of the prominent family of that name. She was born in 1728, died June 2, 1804, daughter of Isaac Hatfield. They had ten children, among them a son, William.
(V) William, son of Abraham Clark, "The signer," was born in New Jersey and settled in Indiana county, Pennsylvania. There was another William Clark in that county at an early date who came from Ireland and founded a numerous family. Our William Clark was a soldier of the war of 1812. He lived in Indiana county until his death. He married and left isstie.
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