Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1866-12-18
For the Spectator.

I Mr. EDITOR the kindness of a
lady friend in Kentucky, the writer came into
possession some months since, of an interesting
and much priced heir loom of her family, con-
sisting of a manuscript volume of the skeletons
of sermons of her great grandfather, the Rev.
John Brown, at the time it was written, the
pastor Of New Providence congregation in Rock
bridge county. He served this congregation for
nearly half century, and number of years be-
fore his DEATH removed to the county of Wood
ford in Kentucky, and filled the pulpit of w Wood-
ford Church for considerable length of time,
and by singular coincidence, his remains rest
in the cemetery of that Church, between those
of Messrs. Wardlaw and Steele, two of his old
elders from New Providence congregation. He
was a noted man of his day, and several mem
bers of his family occupied distinguished posi-
tions in society. His son, James Brown, was
our minister plenipotentiary at the Court of
France, for some time, at an eventful period in
our history. A daughter of his was the wife of
DR.. Alexander Humphreys, long time resi-
dent of your town, and the writer thinks, died
tury to Frankfort, Kentucky, where she raised
a very interesting family. Few of them now
survive Mr. Browns wife was Preston, an
immediate descendant of John Preston, one of
the earliest settlers of Staunton, and whose re-
mains rest in Thinking Spring Church yard
His progeny, a numerous one, have occupied no
inconspicuous part in the history Of the South,
and settled principally in Virginia and Kentuc-
ky:
The writer often recurs to many very pleasant
days spent under the hospitable roof of one OF
the grandsons of this Parson Brown in Ken
lucky, in the spring of 1916. 1t was there he
first met with this volume of manuscript, and
was entertained, hour after hour in the sprig ght-
ly and interesting detail of incidents in the ear
| ly history of Staunton as communicated by this
gentleman, to whom they had been handed
down from his father and grandfather Brown.
The Rev. Samuel Blair seems to have filed the
pulpit of Rev. John Brown as far back as l747.
Besides the notes and heads OF his sermons, this
volume also served as record OF the many
marriages he solemnized at that day, when he
married almost every one from Fincastle to
Staunton. He was succeeded at New Provi-
dence by Rev. Samuel Brown of another family.
but also distinguished as an able and faithful
pastor of that highly favored congregation for a
great many years He had five sons who fol
lowed in his footsteps as ministers, and one SON.
in-law who filed the pulpit of New Providence
several years. Rev. Mr.. Morrison, yet living,
and two grandsons in-law of Rev. Sam Brown,
Drs. Dabney and Smith of Union Theological
Seminary, and the great grandsons-in-law in
the persons of Rev. Mr. Morrison and Rev. Mr.
Flournoy The history OF this one of the oldest
congregations in our Valley will form no mean
chapter in the history of the Presbyterian
Church, or Of the Valley, nor, indeed, of our
dear Old Commonwealth.
May some suitable pen be soon employed in
gathering up the fragments Of its history ere
any shall be lost As it may not be uninterest-
ing to many of your readers, not only in this
county and in Rockbridge, but in other portions
of the State and it may be in the West and
South, to know something of the date of the
marriage of their ancestors for some five or SIX
generations back, will give you transcript OF
most of them from the pages of this venerable
volume. Icopy them, as find them, in or
biography, &C..
Marriages solemnized by Rev. John Brown,
of New Providence congregation, Rockbridge
county, Va. at the dates, &c., from the be-
ginning of March, 1855.
March 9, 1855, VIM. Burt and Isbel Alison.
e IL, Samuel Tompson and Sara
Roody.