West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1906-03-01
IN MEMORIAM.
Morgantown Masons Pay Tribute to Memory
!. OF Prominent Member of the Order.
Sketch Of the Life and Good Deeds Of the Late John Brown
Native Of kngwood. Preston County

DtOWu has oSSh piSpdiSu oJ OOh-
mittee of his brother Masons. The
memorial has been spread upon the
records of the lodge and will be of
interest to many who had the priv
ilegs of being numbered among the
friends Of one of Morgantown's
most eminent citizens:
IN MRMoRIAM.
Hon. John James Brown, long
the secretary and an honored and
active member Of Morgantown I'm.
ion Lodge No. 4, A. f. & A. NJ,
located at Morgantown, West vir.
ginia, was called by the Sovereign
Grand Master of the Universe from
labor and suffering on earth to rest
and reward in thy heavenly mansions
on August II, 1905.
Brother Brown, who was the only
son of Robert and Annie Brown,
was born in Kingwood, Preston
county, Virginia, on the 10Th day
of November, I8a5, and resided
there till October, 1864, when he
removed to Morgantown, where he
resided Till his death. He was a
student of Monongalia Academy
during the administration of Rev.
Thomas Martin, where he was pre-
pared for college, and entering
Washington College, Pa, graduated
in two years in the class of I84s. He
read law in the office of his uncle,
Hon. William G.. Brown, and was
admitted to practice in I84S, and
the next year began active practice
with his late preceptor, and for
years the firm of Brown & Brown
was engaged in nearly all the greater
and most important and difficult
cases in that part of the State. Both
were recognized as able attorneys,
accurate and safe counselors, and
eloquent, ready and most forceful
orators.
They both took an active part in
the political affairs of the State and
were identified with the Democratic
party till the Civil war drove them
as ardent patriots into the support
of the Union party.
In presenting flag in 1861, made
by the ladies of Preston county, he
gave expression to the following
eloquent and patriotic sentiments:
"Your mothers and wives and
sisters have handed to me the glor-
ious ensign OF our republic with
mot stripe erased or polluted, and
not single star obscured'-wrought
by their own patriotic hands-and
desire me to present it in their
name, 20 you, my fellow country
men Of Preston county, and to say
TO you, it is our country's hag-the
emblem of our national Union I
can find no more suitable response
to the patriotic Union loving ladies
than by giving utteranee to the
beautiful sentiment OF the patriotic
poet of our country:
"a union of lakes and a union Of lands,
A union Of States none can sever;
A union Of hearts and a union Of hands.
And the flag Of our Union forever"
cit is not the flag Of Virginia,
noy of Pennsylvania, nor of Massa
chusetts, nor of South Carolina. 1t
IS the flag of our country-the flag
of our Uuion; and there are cluster
ing around it ten thousand hallowed
associations and memories. 1t is
the flag to which the gallant Law
renee turned his eyes in death and
exclaimed, Don't give up the shipP
1t is the flag that Perry grasped from
the prov of his sinking vessel, and
through the deadly broadsides Of
the enemy bore aloft to victory. It
is the flag our gallant counlrymen
unfurled in triumph over the palaces
OF the Montezumas.
"Go, my countrymen, baptize it
in the morning s1nbeams, and give
il TO the treeze; and If the time
shall ever come (Which God forbidl)
when 1t must be bathed in blood,
these mothers and wives and sisters
and daughters, whose gift it is, bid
me to say to you, their fathers and
husbands, and brothers and sons,
Go to the tented field. stand by
this flag, fight for your eountry's
banner and die in its defense, If
death shall come, like the gallant
Jasper, enshrouded in its folds.'"
With eloquence and fearlessness
he addressed his fellow citizens in
many a speech, replete with noble
sentiments in terms Of matchless
oratory and breathing the loftiest