Jacob Newton Brown
Jacob Newton Brown, son of James and Maria Brown, was born in Adams County, Ohio, on the banks of the Cherry Fork about two miles eastwardly from the town of North Liberty, on October 19, 1828.
He received a common school education and for a while taught in the county schools. He afterward embarked in the mercantile business in North Liberty in a small building adjoining the site now occupied by Kleinknecht Bros. In 1860 he erected the commodious building now occupied by this firm. He was doing business in this house during the Civil War and at the time when the Confederate General, John Morgan, and his troops passed through on their famous raid. They broke into his store, robbed and despoiled his goods, stole his horses, etc. He formed a partnership with Wm. McVey and after continuing same for several years, he sold his interest in the store and bought the North Liberty Flour Mills. He successfully operated these mills until 1876, when he exchanged them, together with his handsome brick residence and a farm lying northeast of the town, for a large tract of Arkansas land. He then became connected with the Southern Immigration business and as agent of the Little Rock & Ft. Smith R. R.. and afterward as Immigration Agent of the Cincinnati Southern R. R.. which place he held at the time of his death. In 1881, in connection with J. Frank, in Cincinnati, he established an office in Chattanooga, Tenn.. which he afterward sold to his son C. V. Brown and S. W. Divine, but retained his office in Cincinnati in connection with the Cincinnati Southern R. R. He was one of the pioneers in Southern Immigration work, and hundreds of Northern families now living in the South were located through his influence. He was indefatigable in his efforts to promote Southern immigration.
He retained his residence at North Liberty until about 1883, when he removed his family to Cincinnati and there resided until his death, January 27, 1892. He was a consistent member of the Presbyterian Church and a man of strong convictions, always on the side of right, and an upright and worthy citizen in every way.
In 1852, he married Sarah McCutcheon of near Manchester in this county and seven children were born to them, to-wit: Nancy J., now the wife of Dr. E. M. Gaston, of Tranquility; Maria M., wife of S. G. Glasgow, of North Liberty; Ella, wife of William Kennedy, living near Youngsville; Mary E., deceased; Ida V., wife of William Kleinknecht, of North Liberty, and C. V. and B. G. Brown, of Chattanooga, Tennessee. His widow, Sarah Brown, died in North Liberty on August 3, 1899.
Jacob N. Brown was in many respects a remarkable man, but the world never knew of it from him, and what he had achieved would never have been known except the writer of these lines discovered it in a business way. When Mr. Brown left North Liberty, he had a mountain of debt which he was carrying and of which the public or the world had no idea. To the world he was and had been a success, but to retrieve his losses, he went away from the home of his lifetime, went into a new and untried business and made large sums of money. He paid off his entire indebtedness with interest and died without the world ever knowing that he had almost been overtaken by financial disaster. There is not one man in a thousand who would have undertaken, and not one man in ten thousand who would have succeeded in paying the immense debt he owed, but he did it and the world never knew and has not known it until the publication of this book, and it would not now be made public but that the lesson of his life was most valuable and might encourage some one overwhelmed with adversity to bear it without murmuring and to conquer it with that power of will and tireless energy which overcomes all difficulties. Mr. Brown never knew that the writer was informed of his financial condition, but the writer knew why he left North Liberty and went elsewhere to work with that remarkable application which characterized him and the end he had in view, and therefore takes pleasure in making this tribute to his manly qualities. In all the years in which he was working to discharge his great debt, he supported and educated his large family, lived honorably in the world and took prompt care of every current obligation. In all that time, he never complained of or alluded to his burden, and to the world he was the same as if he had not owed a dollar and had thousands ahead. How many men can do that? How many men have done that? It is the aggregate of such lives as that of Jacob N. Brown which makes our people the most energetic on the face of the earth.
From History of Adams County, Ohio from its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers - West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900