M#15
SARAH MELISSA BROWNM#15 Sarah Melissa Brown was born 19 August, 1848, according to daughter Rosa. Her parents were M#30 John and M#31 Deborah Brown. Sarah was apparently named after her paternal grandmother.
Sarah is found in the 1850 census in the Eastern District of Marion County, Virginia (West Virginia- page 119, line 1, enumerated family number 86-86) at age 2, with her older siblings and her parents. In the 1860 census she is found in Pruntytown District, Taylor County, Virginia (West Virginia- page 45, enumerated family number 319-313) at age 11, with her family. It was in Taylor County that she and Philip were wed by J. F. Eusminger.
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On the subject of Sarah's surname and her possible relationship to the historical abolitionist, John Brown:
* The abolitionist was born in New England in 1800, migrated to Ohio, where he lived in Hudson and Akron for a time, among other locations. The Hudson Library has an extensive genealogy on the man. John Brown had at least three brothers and two sisters, being the third of six, plus he had a half-brother and an adopted brother. John Brown married twice, first to Dianthe Lusk, by whom he fathered five sons and one daughter, plus one child stillborn; secondly to Mary Ann Day, by whom he fathered thirteen offspring.
* During some six hours of intensive and exhaustive research in a sea of Brown family genealogical data sheets, this author and his spouse found only the following remote connections to a Sarah M. or a Ramsey:
* Sarah M. Brown Hammon, b 1823 in Wadsworth [Ohio]; d 1896.
* Florella Brown Adair, b in Hudson, Ohio 19 May 1816; d 6 February, 1865 in Leavenworth, Kansas. Married Rev. Samuel L. Adair 14 November, 1841; Rev. Adair born 22 April, 1811, died 27 December, 1898, the son of George and Margaret Ramsey Adair. Children all Adairs.
This family, along with Lyles and Keyses, were among the earliest settlers in the Lexington, Virginia district -- Ulster-Scots immigrants.
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It is my conviction that if Sarah Melissa was related to the abolitionist John Brown, it was by a very distant bloodline.
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Sarah Melissa Ramsey was a Methodist by religion. She bore Philip several children, five of whom survived.
Sarah died in Weston, West Virginia on 24 September 1914, at the age of 66 years, one month and five days, of "organic heart trouble." Her attending physician was J. G. Pettit of Weston. Sarah was attended in Elkins by Rev. Dr. W. B. King, at the home of her eldest daughter, Stella Poling. She was laid to rest in grace #6, Lot #519 in Maplewood Cemetery, surrounded by now-deceased family members, M#14.5.5 Rosalee Pennell, grave #1; M#14.5 Cora Pennell, grave #4; and M#14.2 Elmer J. Ramsey, grave #5. Maplewood Cemetery is located in Elkins on Route 219 north "...[past Teter's Motors on the left, out to Phillip's, a small store -- turn right onto the road across from Phillip's, 1/4 mile to Highland Park community. Lot #519 lies up Parson's Road located near the back of the caretaker's house at a tool shed."
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