The Life of John Brown

John Brown was one of Kentucky's great early statesmen and can arguably be called its founding father. He was present at the birth of our state and is largely responsible for it. He was also a part of the birth of our nation and played an important role in its early days. John Brown was a man respected by presidents and common folk alike, who managed to have a successful and honorable career in some difficult times. John Brown was not immune to controversy but his honesty and integrity helped keep him from being embroiled in it. John Brown did not ask for the spotlight of public office but accepted it as his duty and handled it with great skill and success.

John Brown was born near Lexington, Virginia on 12 September 1757 in the Shenandoah Valley in what was then Augusta County. John Brown's parents moved to this area because John's father, Reverend John Brown, had become minister to two Presbyterian churches in the area. John's mother, Margaret Preston, and his father were originally from Ireland. John was raised in the church to which his father ministered. John was also well educated, having been sent to Augusta Academy for his schooling. Upon reaching the age of maturity, John followed in his father's footsteps by attending the College of New Jersey (now Princeton). John Brown initially intended to study medicine there, but the Revolutionary war had broken out and fighting had intensified in New Jersey. As a result the college closed and John, along with the other students, was forced to leave.

Unfortunately, what John Brown did during the Revolutionary War is unclear. The family belief was that John Brown served under General Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette in the Continental Army. While this is certainly possible and not unlikely, there is no documentation currently that verifies John's activities. Two years after he left the College of New Jersey (1778), he enrolled at William and Mary where he studied law under George Wythe, first professor of law in the United States. Again, in the fall of 1780, his studeis were interrupted by the War and the arrival of the British forces. Brown then continued to study law in the office of Thomas Jeffereson near Charlottesville, Virginia.

Upon completion of his studies with Jefferson, John Brown set out to establish his own law practice. John Brown settled in Danville, Kentucky and opened his office there. Shortly thereafter, John Brown joined an organization called the Political Club. This organization was concerned with the elevation of Kentucky to statehood and spent much of its time working to create a framework for a new state. Through this club, John Brown began his political career. John brown's first step on the political ladder was in the Virginia State Senate, where he served from 1783 - 1788. In 1787, John Brown was nominated by his peers to represent the county of Kentucky in the state of Virginia at the Continental Congress, a post he held for one year. In 1788, under the new Constitution, John Brown was elected to the United States House of Representatives. John Brown served as a Representative for four years during which time he presented to Congress a petition to separate the county of Kentucky from the state of Virginia. In June 1792 Kentucky became the 15th state, and John became Kentucky's first US Senator. He served in the U.S. Senate until 1805, twice holding the position of President Pro Tempore.

During this period of professional growth, John Brown experienced a great deal of personal growth. John bought the property that is now Liberty Hall Historic Site in 1796 and built Liberty Hall upon it. In 1799, John Brown wed Margaretta Mason of New York City on February 19. John Brown was 41 and Margaretta was 26. John and Margaretta had further cause to celebrate when on Nov. 10, 1799, their fist child, Mason, was born. John and Margaretta had a second son, Orlando, on Sept. 26, 1801. They had two more sons (who both died as infants) and a daughter who died at the age of seven from mercury poisoning caused by the use of a medication called Calomel.

In 1805, John Brown was defeated for reelection to the Senate and retired to Liberty Hall. While his political career was over, John Brown remained active in a number of public and private matters for the remaining thirty years of his life. In 1800, he purchased a ferry that crossed the Kentucky River from the end of Wilkinson Street to the beginning of the road to Louisville. John Brown also managed hundreds of acres of property in central Kentucky and 20,000 acres near Chillicothe, Ohio. He was a founding member of the Frankfort Water Company and director of the first Bank of Kentucky. In the 1812 John Brown was appointed by the legislature to oversee the construction of a public house of worship on the public square of Frankfort. In 1829 John Brown became the Sheriff of Franklin County. John Brown served on the board that oversaw the brick Capitol building and the limestone one that replaced it and is now known as the Old Capitol. In 1836, John Brown presided over the organizational meeting of the Kentucky Historical Society.

By 1837, John Brown was 80 years old and not the man he once was. He became ill with a fever and went to Lexington seeking treatment there. He died in Lexington on the 29th of August. John Brown's body was shipped home to Frankfort and buried in the family plot in the cemetery at Benson Creek Presbyterian Church. John Brown remained interred there until 1847 when his sons moved the family plot to the cemetery they had founded and helped to develop. John Brown and his family were buried on a hillside overlooking Frankfort in the new Frankfort Cemetery about 50 yards from Daniel Boone.