The Reverend and Mrs. Bazzel Brown

My Grandmother, repeating wisdom she had heard as a child, once remarked, 'There are two professions that are especially noteworthy, the Sword and the Cloth.' If Nicholas is a sword, then his oldest son Bazzel is the cloth. 

 

Wedding Certificate of Bazzel Brown and Abigail Turner

Bazzel, or as some standardize it, Basil, was born in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania, on April 28, 1793, shortly before the move to Holliday's Cove and his Grandmother's death. Growing up, he would remember Madison County, Kentucky as his homeland. There, Bazzel met, courted, and married the 16-year-old Abigail Turner,. On the marriage certificate is another signature, that of James Sappington, Bazzel's uncle, who swore that Bazzel was old enough to marry. Bazzel was 23. Abigail was born March 23, 1800, in Burgettstown, Washington County, Pennsylvania, to James Sr. and Jemima Wells Turner. By the time Abigail was born, the Browns had already moved to Kentucky. However, it would be safe to say the families knew each other.

Tates Creek Baptist Church

Despite blanket statements like, 'coming to the New World seeking religious freedom,' religious freedom often meant, '(insert name) didn't get along with the church back home.' Case in point - Virginia, in Colonial times, only allowed ministers ordained in the Anglican Church to preach.

This did not stop the Reverend Andrew Tribble, who pastored a congregation near his friend's house at Monticello - Thomas Jefferson. It is a commonly accepted, although not verifiable, that Tribble had some influence on Jefferson and Jefferson is known to have sat in Tribble's pews from time to time. Even more, Tribble was influential in Jefferson's draft resolution for religious freedom in Virginia. Further, Jefferson is reported to have commented that Baptist beliefs espouse the purest democracy. In other words, Jefferson may have had the Baptist model in mind when drafting the Declaration of Independance.

Tribble moved west and eventually came to Madison County, Kentucky. In the meantime, he lived at Boonesborough where he held services in the early 1780s. Tribble would have known many figures instrumental in the founding of Kentucky. By 1786, Tribble arrived in Madison County and organized a church at Tates Creek near Hoy's Station near Shallow Ford. Tribble remained there until death and is buried beside his original church.

This was during the time of the Second Great Awakening. The Second Great Awakening (circa1797 - 1817) was a movement that, for our purposes, took place among the farmers and frontiersmen and included the Baptist, Methodist, and to a lesser extent, the Prebyterian belief. The movement was based in part on the imminent return of Christ - the Second Coming - and exhorted people to ready their lives accordingly. In other words, preachers sermonized on ridding oneself of sin in live. Sermons against, alcoholism, slavery, and other behavior were common.

Much of what stirred the frontier may be found in this passage,

8 Who has ever heard of such things?

    Who has ever seen things like this?

Can a country be born in a day

    or a nation be brought forth in a moment?

Isaiah 66:8a (NIV)

The new country, the new nation, had just passed through it's labor and delivery. Now, a new world was opening up as people spilled from the East Coast into the lush forests and fertile fields of Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, and the Northwest Territory. This land could feed a nation.

But the Frontier was not without problems. There was little law enforcement, and with the Federal and State government so far away, what was to keep lawlessnes in check? Baptist and Methodist ministers, forbidden to preach back home, found new ground on the Frontier. Soon, churches and congregations sprang up throughout the new land. In this Awakening, churches accepted preachers without formal education and reaped a surplus of people who would go out and form congregations as the frontier spread westward. The movement was a Protestant Manifest Destiny.

By the 1820s, the fervor had passed its peak as its generation died away and the Third Great Awakening began.

The marriage certificate places Bazzel in Madison County, Kentucky on January 6, 1817. If James Comly Brown is accurate, his Father and Mother have already left for Ohio some four years earlier. This would also explain why James Sappington testified to Bazzel's age to marry. Perhaps the move to Ohio was not a hard move, that is, they packed up everything and left. On the other hand, there was family in Madison County, Kentucky, and Bazzel stayed behind to help on the farms there. Since Abigail's mother was a Wells, a family that had been with the Browns since at least Holliday's Cove, and who would appear in Licking County, Ohio, there is a sense that for at least a while, distance was not a factor.

On March 27, 1822, a land sale in Boone County, Missouri was recorded. Bazzel purchased 80 acres of land in the E½NE¼ of Section 36 of Township 050N - Range 13 W. Boone County was very new, having been formed on November 16, 1820, out of Howard County. Named for Daniel Boone, the county drew a lot of early pioneers from Kentucky.

In 1824, Bazzel was paid $1.40 "for bearing poll-book to Columbus." There is also mention of an Asa Brown as an early schoolteacher at Big Spring, Missouri, shortly after the first school was built between 1820 and 1825. There were also Turners there.

Bazzel and Abigail soon began a family. Their first son was named for his Grandfather, Nicholas. His middle initial "T" likely stood for Turner, as it was custom then to make the child's middle name the same as his mother's maiden name so the name would be remembered. Traditionally, Nicholas T Brown's birth is given as January 6, 1820, in Kentucky. This is clearly stated in Census Records, Eulogies, and Obituaries. This actually makes sense if you consider that at about this time, Edward Brown moved to Hopkins County, Kentucky. In other words, the Browns sold their Madison County lands before 1820.

Bazzel and Abigail found their way to Licking County sometime shortly after 1830. Other sources place their arrival in Licking County as early as 1828. This date, 1828, is confirmed when we learn that Bazzel sold his land in Missouri to James Turner in 1828. The first land in what would become Harrison Township, Licking County, Ohio, was sold in 1801 and in 1816, the township was formed. A history of Kirkersville tells us the town was platted in 1832 and Bazzel Brown soon opened a General Store, the first in Kirkersville. Family lore tells us that several things happened in Bazzel's life during this period.

Bazzel went Baptist. Up to this point, the family had followed the Episcolpalian faith from England. Bazzel's switch to the Baptist faith reflects the revival of spirit that took place through the frontier. In terms of Baptist History, Bazzel was taken in by the Second Great Awakening as evangelical pastors began riding circuits and holding camp meetings throughout Kentucky. It is quite likely that this fervor may have taken place at Tate's Creek Baptist Church. While today, this may seem too fine a point, and likewise in the fervor of the Second Great Awakening, but it is important in locating family history.

Bazzel was a missionary. In response to his new found faith, family lore tells us Bazzel went to the new Western Frontier of Missouri as a missionary. We also know that his father, Nicholas also went as far west as Missouri scouting for land. In Nicholas' case, the restlessness of a soldier is to blame. In Bazzel's case, the restlessnes of the Holy Spirit is to blame. The details of these journeys are lost to time.

Bazzel was not a farmer, but a timberman. To be sure, Bazzel kept a garden, but where his uncles and brothers made their living with farming, Bazzel harvested and sold lumber. This seemed to be Bazzel's lifelong livelyhood.

There is a Boone County in both Kentucky and Missouri. When our sources tell us Bazzel's son was born in Boone County, we must ask if it was Kentucky or Missouri. The preponderance of evidence from Nicholas T. Brown suggests Kentucky, Bazzel's missionary trip seemed to be to Boone County, Missouri. Circumstantial evidence suggests this is the case.

Bazzel and Abigail endured tragedy within their family.

1824 - Sidna Brown, the third child, dies in Boone County.

1834 - Jesse Brown, the seventh child, dies of illness.

1840 - Joseph Brown, the ninth child, died playing in a creek with his brothers.

b December 21, 1837, Licking County, Ohio; d August 21, 1840, Kirkersville, Licking County, Ohio

1840 - Rezin Brown, the tenth child is born four days after his brother's death.

1842 - Rezin Brown, the tenth child, died of illness.

1843 - Bazzel and Abigail move to Illinois.

1852 - Asa Whitacker Brown, the fourth child, dies at Fort Laramie, Wyoming.

Bazzel an Abigail were definitely in Kirkersville, Ohio, by 1840 and left for Illinois around 1843. Family lore also tells us that Bazzel ran a General Store in Kirkersville, Ohio, for a two year period before leaving for Illinois.

We learn more about Bazzel from his son Bazil. It is possible to argue dates - this account conflicts slightly with James Comly Brown's record. Generally, we see the pattern in both. Bazzel probably located his family on land that his father Nicholas had selected in Cumberland County, Illinois. Nicholas and Bazzel were not entirely on their own. One of Nick's friends was the Reverend George Callahan. George's son John married Nick's daughter Margaret. The Callahans were also early settlers in Cumberland County, Illinois. When Bazzel arrived, he already had family there.

Jewett in the 1850s was a thriving community similar to Kirkersville. Jewett straddled the Old National Road with a railroad service as well was an Illinois Kirkersville. The Old National Road opened west of the Wabash in 1835 and the St Louis, Vandalia, & Terre Haute RR sometime after the Civil War. Bazzel would not have seen the railroad in its heyday, but Abigail would have. In their initial travels, Nicholas would have also visited Palestine, Illinois, where the US Land Office was located. Indeed, the following land sales are recorded for Cumberland County, Illinois,

Name         Desc        Section Twp Range Meridian     Date

Brown Asa W         NWNW          11         09N 08E 3 07/07/1848

Brown Bazzle E2SE          15         09N 08E 3 01/07/1853

Brown Nicholas S2LOT2SWFR 06         09N 08E 3 09/01/1851

Brown Nicholas N2NE          09         09N 07E 3 08/30/1851

Brown Nicholas SW                 04         09N 07E 3 08/30/1851

Brown Nicholas N2SW          09         09N 07E 3 08/30/1851

Brown Nicholas S2NW          09         09N 07E 3 08/30/1851

Brown Nicholas N2NW          09         09N 07E 3 08/30/1851

There are more Land Sales recorded for the Browns in Cumberland County, as well as other land purchases in other parts of Illinois, some as early as 1818. We find Callahans, Bazzel's in-laws, arriving as early as 1848. More insight comes from a biography of Bazzel's son, Bazil, in the Cumberland County History,

BAZIL BROWN [the son - TEB], was born in Licking County, Ohio, on November 26, 1835. His father, B. Brown, was born in Penn., April 28, 1793, and moved to Kentucky, with his parents, and later, in 1812, to Ohio, and in 1848, to Illinois, settling in Cumberland County, where he engaged in farming. He died on May 20, 1854; his widow on March 9, 1878. They were both prominent members of the Baptist Church, having been a minister of that denomination for several years.

On November 5th, 1885, the Cumberland County, Illinois courthouse burned out of control. It was a total loss. The courthouse was completely gutted and with it, every official record was lost. No known land deeds, wills, marriage records, or birth records survived. The only family records that could survive were kept by the families themselves, and most have been lost to time.

Bazzel Brown from The Brown-Comly Family

Bazzel died on May 20, 1854, at his home in Jewett, Illinois, and was laid to rest in the Salem Cemetery near Toledo, Illinois, not far from his home. His father, Nicholas would outlive his oldest son by four more years, Nicholas' vision dimmed by cataracts. Nicholas, who must have been a frequent guest at Bazzel's home, chose this time to return to Kirkersville, never to leave.  An interesting newspaper article appears a little later,

Estate of Bazel Brown, 3rd day of June Term of The Cumberland County probate court

Dated April 10, 1855       Abigail Brown, Administrator

His widow, Abigail, had sons in the area to rely on. She continued life's journey until she passed on May 9, 1878. Abigail was laid to rest beside her husband in Toledo.

 

Headstone of Abigail Turner Brown - Salem Cemetery, Toledo, Illinois

The Children of Bazzel and Abigail Brown

i NICHOLAS T BROWN, b January 6, 1820; d April 1, 1866; m ELIZABETH FERREE GIBBONEY.

ii James Sutton Brown, b April 6, 1822; farmed in Vigo County, Indiana.

iii Sidna Brown, b February 12, 1823; d September 24, 1824, Boone County, Kentucky.

iv Asa Whitacker Brown, b July 29, 1825; d June 19, 1852, Fort Laramie, Wyoming

v Edward Brown, b March 3, 1828; lived in the St. Louis area.

vi Sally Brown, b May 18, 1832; m James H Ferguson; lived in Jewett, Illinois.

vii Jesse Brown, b February 15, 1834; d July 15, 1838.

viii Bazil Brown, b November 26, 1835; d January 5, 1920, Terre Haute, Vigo County, Indiana.

ix Joseph Brown, b December 21, 1837; d August 21, 1840.

x Rezin (Reason) Brown, b August 25, 1840; February 17, 1842.

xi Thomas Brown, b April 28, 1842; d January 11, 1862, Nashville, Tennessee.

xii Jemima Rebecca Brown, b January 12, 1844.

xiii Elizabeth Brown, b August 18, 1846; d May 30, 1903.