Person:Abraham Brown (52)

Abraham Brown, our ancestral immigrant, his wife Margaret, and his son, Abraham, landed at Philadelphia in 1735 according to old family Bible records and notes. Researchers are hopeful that further investigation into the records of Borden's Grant will shed some light on him. Family tradition says that both Abraham Brown, who was probably born between 1700 and 1710, and Margaret, born about 1700, were born and married in Scotland or Ireland. When Abraham died is unknown. He probably died near present day Lexington, Virginia in the Wood's Creek Area of Borden's Grant when it was part of Orange County and was know as "the Forks of the James River." Abraham may be buried near Hall's Meeting House on Whistle Creek, two miles west of Lexington. Margaret, whose parentage is unknown, probably died in that area when it was part of Augusta County. That is as close as we can get. We just do not know when they died [George T. Brown, Jr., Dayton, Ohio.]. Soon after landing, Abraham and Margaret migrated with a large group of Scots Covenanters down the "Indian Road" on the east side of the Appalachian Mountains to Bordon's Grant in present day Rockbridge County. They settled on the southern part of the grant next to the Kirkham's land [George T. Brown, Jr., Dayton, Ohio.].

They were in the area from 1735 or 1736 but the deed for the land was not obtained until 17 or 18 years later in 1754. The deed was apparently put in the name of his son Abraham Brown and his wife, the former Margaret Kirkham [George T. Brown, Jr., Dayton, Ohio.]. There are few extant records from this period, especially for the Covenanters, whose religious practices were banned by the Crown. No marriage records of these people have been found to exist and gravestones were probably not used since the new settlers were constantly harassed by the Indians. Burials were done in secret because the Indians often destroyed the burial sites. It was not desirable for the settlers to reveal their losses by letting the Indians how many settlers had died. Paper was very scarce. It appears that only the Virginia Colony and Anglican Church records were maintained in the early days of settlement. Because of the scarcity of records, later day records have to be relied on, as are family stories that were documented after the fact [George T. Brown, Jr., Dayton, Ohio.].

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} George T. Brown, Jr., Dayton, Ohio.
2. ↑ Ancestry World Tree: (Note: not considered a reliable source)
   24 Jun 2002.