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Historical Sketches of Pocahontas County ~ 1901
By William T. Price
BIOGRAPHIC
JOSEPH BROWN
The Brown relationship trace their ancestry to Joseph Brown, whose wife was Hannah M’Afferty. They lived a few years in Bath County, on the Bull Pasture; thence removed and settled on lands now owned by the Mann family, near Edray. Some fruit trees and a fine spring indicated the spot where they lived, about three-fourths of a mile east of the Mann residence.
Mr. Brown died a few years after settling here, but was survived by his widow for many years… She became suddenly blind, and remained so for twenty years… A few years before her decease, Mrs. Brown recovered her sight as quickly as she had lost it, and could count chickens and geese forty yards away…
The widow Brown’s daughters, Polly and Hannah, lived and died at the old home.
Ann Brown became the wife of Jeremiah Friel. Elizabeth Brown married a Mr. McGuire, and lived in Nicholas…
Josiah Brown, in whose memory this sketch is specially prepared, was the eldest of Joseph’s Brown’s sons, and he married Jennie Waddell, near Millpoint…
They were the parents of seven daughters…
The history of Josiah Brown was one of humble toil and self sacrifice for the good of his family. In the course of his life, he endured great personal suffering and afflictions. He was twice bitten by rattlesnakes when in the ranges looking after his livestock. Once he was with his neighbor, William Sharp, who cared for him and helped him home. The second time he was alone, and it is believed he saved his life by putting his lips to the punctures and sucking out the poison. Finally, a strange sore appeared in the corner of one of his eyes and spread over most of the right side of his face. Many believed this was the result of the snake bites. It caused him excruciating suffering, that was greatly intensified by the efforts of sympathizing, well meaning friends [who tried] to cure him…