TRUMBULL COUNTY OHIO
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The Biography was submitted to the Ohio Biographies Project by:
Submitted by: "Ila L. LaRue" 
Email:<ilarue@midohio.net>
Date: January 8, 2001
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	Ephraim Brown was one of the real pioneers of Trumbull county and at one time 
was the principal owner of the township of bloomfield.  He was the sone of 
Ephraim and Hannah (Howe) Brown and a descendant of Thomas Brown and John Howe, 
his pioneer ancestors, who coming from England settled at Sudbury, 
Massachusetts, about 1637-8.  He was born October 27, 1775, at Westmoreland, 
New Hampshire, and received an academic education in his native state, and his 
habit through life of reading much from well chosen books added greatly to the 
culture which he attained, and which made him at an early age one whose judgment
and advice was frequently sought, even by his elders.  Evidence of this is 
found in the many letters addressed to him on various subject by men of 
prominence and ability.  He married November 9, 1806, Mary Buckingham 
Huntington, a native of Windham, Connecticut.  She was a daughter of Gurdon and 
Temperance (Williams) Huntington, and was born on the 29th of August, 1787.
	In the summer of 1814, Mr. Brown, with his uncle, Thomas Howe, made a 
journey in a chaise to Ohio for the purpose of buying land.  After stopping at 
the then small village of Cleveland for a few days they decided to look farther 
before locating and finally settled upon a township then known as "No. 7, 4th 
Range"-afterward called North Bloomfield-then an unbroken wilderness.  On their
return to New England they made the purchase of the township of Peter C. 
Brooks, of Boston.  In the following summer, 1815, Mr. Brown moved his family to
 the new home, the first family to arrive except one which came a few months 
earlier.  Mr. Howe himself came in March, 1815, accompanied by several young 
men, who cleared a space in the wilderness and erected comfortable cabins for 
the reception of Mr. Brown's family in July.  Soon other families followed Mr. 
Howe's in 1817.  Later Mr. Howe retired from the partnership, retaining, 
however, some twelve hundred acres of the purchase and Mr. Brown assumed the 
debt, which in a few years he succeeded in discharging.  He sold a large portio 
of his land to settlers who came mostly from New England, but retained during 
his life two or three thousand acres.  His first residence was of course a log 
cabin, but within the first year a frame structure was added and which is still 
a part of the present dwelling.  More additions have been made from time to time
and it is still a very attractive home.
	By Mr. Brown;s efforts a postoffice was early secured, and he was 
active in the construction of the Trumbull and Ashtabula turnpike, which for 
years, or until railroads were built, was a part of the favorite route between 
Lake Erie and the Ohio river.  Fine coaches daily passed to and fro, filled 
with passengers.  A saw mill was soon built, also a grist mill, and his small 
store of goods sufficed for the needs of the people for a long time.  His 
activities did not end here, for he served several terms in both houses of the 
legislature of Ohio, as he had previously served in his native state.  The 
title of Colonel, by which he was sometimes addressed, was given him when he 
was on the governor's staff in New Hampshire, not on account of any military 
service.  Originally a Jeffersonian Democrat, he was always an uncompromising 
opponent of slavery, and after he came to Ohio his farm was one of the stations 
of the Underground Railway to Canada.  He never united with any church, but his 
moral and religious priciples were very strong.  As his rectitude and ability 
were unquestioned he retained to the last the confidence and leadership of his 
community.  His death occurred on March 7, 1845, and his faithful wife passed 
away January 26, 1862.
	Mrs. Brown should be named as one of the "real pioneers," for she 
shared with her husband the privations incident to the life of a pioneer, and 
these she felt most keenly, her tastes leading her to enjoy a more developed 
and refined civilization.  But she found, among other pioneer women, much to 
prize in their sisterly and kindly ways and formed some lasting friendships 
among them.  She suffered from homesickness during the first two years, when it 
was decided that she should go east for a visit when her husband went for goods 
for his store.  They accordingly rode to Painesville or Fairport on horseback , 
expecting to take a boat (a schooner) there for Buffalo, but on their arrival 
they found the boat had passed.  Mr. Brown then gave his wife the choice between
returning to her home or going on to Utica on horseback.  She chose the latter 
alternative and they proceeded to Utica, whence they went on by stages.  The 
visit proved very satisfactory and she found on her return to the hopeful, 
active life of the pioneer, a pleasant contrast to the inactive life of the 
older settlement.
	It is due to the memory of such a woman to insert in this history some 
appreciative words written at the time of her death by a friend who knew her 
well.  He said of her: "She was a woman possessed of the highest and purest 
qualities of head and heart, and was beloved and respected during all the years 
of her long and well spent life by all who knew her.  Possessing a well 
balanced and vigorous mind, she united thereto a kindliness of feeling and 
comprehensive benevolence, wide as humanity itself; and never during her life 
came up to her the cry of the needy and oppressed unheard or unheeded.  To 
these distinguished natural gifts she added the charm of a high and refined 
cultivation, in so much that few indeed could rival her in the acquirements of
knowledge and taste.  The remarkable powers of her mind continued up to the 
time of her death unimpaired and never did the high sentiments of the 
philanthropist and  true patriot cease to animate her noble heart till its 
pulses were stilled by the cold hand of Death."  Her husband appreciated and 
was in sympathy with all these fine attributes.
	Mr. and Mrs. Ephraim Brown were the parents of the following children: 
Ephraim Alexander, born December 1, 1807, who died August 10, 1894; George 
Washington, born May 24, 1810, died April 12, 1841; Mary, who became Mrs.
Joseph K. Wing, born May 28, 1812, and died December 15, 1887; Charles, born 
August 9, 1814, who married Julia Anne, daughter of Judge Lester King, of 
Warren, Ohio, and died October, 1880; Elizabeth Huntington, born April 12, 
1816, and died June 19, 1904; James Munroe, born April 2, 1818, died in 
October, 1867; Marvin  Huntington.  born August 12, 1820, and died in August, 
1892; Fayette, born December 17, 1823, a resident of Cleveland, Ohio, and 
president of the Brown Hoisting Company; and Anne Frances, born on May 30, 
1826, and resides at the old homestead.  This, the youngest child, has always 
resided in the house where she was born, more than eighty-two years ago, and 
retains her faculties remarkably.  She owns two hundred and thirty acres of the
nine hundred acre farm on which her father lived at the time of his death in 
1845.

	From 'A Twentieth Century History of Trumbull County Ohio', by Harriet 
Taylor Upton of Warren, Volume I, The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1909.
Extracted by Ila L. LaRue