Mary Watts Brown

Mary Watts Brown, the third of five children born to Preston and Elizabeth Watts Brown, was born in 1808 in Woodford County, Kentucky.  Mary’s father Preston was the youngest brother of Senator John Brown, and she was a first cousin to Mason and Orlando Brown.

Mary was described by her cousin Orlando as tall, graceful and kind, with dark brown hair and blue-grey eyes.  Mary’s aunt Margaretta confessed in a letter to Orlando that she thought that of all Preston’s children, Mary was the finest of all the girls.  Mary was an accomplished singer and pianist, and Orlando says “the best masters who have ever been in Kentucky informed & every where declared that they never met with any individual who had more talent than she.”

In 1818, Preston Brown moved his family from Woodford County to Frankfort so that his four daughters (Mary, Henrietta, Louisa, and Eliza) could attend the Frankfort Female Seminary, which had opened on the Capitol grounds.  They lived at Liberty Hall for two years while their house on Main Street was being constructed. 

After a long and tumultuous courtship, Mary married her first cousin, Orlando Brown, on July 29, 1830.  They had five children: Euphemia Helen (1831-1891), John Mason (1834-1835), Mason Preston (1836-1874), Orlando Jr. (1838-1891) and a stillborn boy born in 1840.

After the birth of the stillborn boy in 1840, Mary’s health began to deteriorate.  In the summer of 1841, Orlando and Mary embarked on a journey to the east coast to visit relatives and to afford some relief for Mary’s illness at White Sulphur Springs, Virginia, a popular health resort.  When they reached Blue Sulphur Springs, Virginia (now West Virginia), Mary began to decline rapidly and she begged Orlando to take her home.  Mary died while in Blue Sulphur Springs on August 17, 1841.  Orlando sent word back to Frankfort for Mason to make funeral arrangements, but Orlando arrived three days before the letters.  Mary was first buried in the back yard of their home, and was later re-interred in the Frankfort Cemetery.