Robert Brown, Esq., who has officiated as justice of the
peace at Gillespie, Macoupin County, since April, 1871, is one of the
leading citizens of Gillespie township. He was born November 8, 1833, in
County Monaghan, Ireland, and is a son of Thomas Brown, whose whole life was
passed in his native country.
Robert Brown was one of a family of
nine children and the only one to come to the United States; two brothers,
Butler and William, located in Canada. Our subject was 17 years of age when
he took passage in the sailing ship "Ocomoco," bound for New Orleans, which
city he reached early in 1850, after a passage of 11 weeks and three days.
Having worked in his father's tailoring establishment from the age of 10
years, he was equipped with a good trade and this he followed for two years
at New Orleans and then gradually made his way north, working two years at
St. Louis, and reaching Bunker Hill, Macoupin County, Illinois, in 1854.
There he worked for two years longer, then married and removed to Gillespie,
and this place has been his home ever since, with the exception of one year
spent in army service during the Civil War.
In 1862 Mr. Brown
enlisted in Company A, 97th Reg., Illinois Vol. Inf., 16th Army Corps, and
served in the Army of the West under General Grant, General McCann and Capt.
W. H. Willard. On account of being taken sick, he participated only in the
skirmish at Arkansas Post, being discharged before Vicksburg, in February,
1863. Upon his return to Gillespie, he opened a tailoring establishment
which he conducted until 1893. Since 1873 he has been in the public scales
office and for the past 35 years has been the village clerk and since 1871
has been a notary public and justice of the peace. Although a Democrat in
his political sentiment, his personal popularity is such that both parties
unite in keeping him in his present positions, where his integrity and
impartiality have never been questioned.
On April 1, 1856, Mr. Brown
was married to Mary Drennan, who was born in Tennessee, and is one of the
two children of James Drennan, an early pioneer of Macoupin County. The five
children of this union are: Delos M., who follows a blacksmith business at
Gillespie; Robert D., a coal miner of the vicinity; Mrs. Annie Knouse, a
resident of Gillespie, who has five children; Mrs. Emma Schmulback, of
Tennessee; and Mrs. May Duffy, of Gillespie.
Fraternally Mr. Brown
is a Mason and formerly was associated also with the Odd Fellows. For many
years he has been an active member of the Christian Church and has served
both as trustee and as treasurer. Few men of his section are better known or
more thoroughly esteemed.
Extracted 2018 May 08 by Norma Hass from Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of Macoupin County, Illinois, published in 1904, pages 482-483.
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