THE BROWN GENEALOGY, Vol. II, 1915, by Cyrus Henry Brown, pages 289.
They eloped when married. Mr. Brown, after the death of his wife, moved to Litchfield, and later to Lisle, NY, finally settling at Binghamton, NY, on a farm that now joins land where the State Hospital stands. In 1864 Mr. Brown sold his farm and went to live with his oldest son, Hiram, at West Winfield, Herkimer Co., NY. He was a Baptist in his early years, but took exceptions to two of the ministers, and justly so, and left the church. It is said he was a good student of the Bible, but he measured the whole church by the peculiar ideas of the two ministers. He is buried on the old farm at West Winfield, with his father and mother.
Sources: Brown Genealogy, Vol. II; Broome County land records; DAR cemetery record; An Intimate History of Winfield by Timothy Smith; History of Herkimer County (1879); New York census records.
BG: Eleazer Brown, born at Leyden, Mass., 17 Nov. 1779. (Leyden at that time time was in Hampshire County, but in 1811 it was in the area designated as Franklin County.)
1850 New York census: From Chenango town. Page 386. Eleazer III is listed as a farmer, with real estate valued at $5,000. On the same census page are:
Son Eleazer IV, farmer; wife Rachel, 25, and daugher Mary, 3.
Son German S. Brown (but recorded erroneously as German P. Brown) with wife and children. Listed as a farmer.
Son Peleg M. Brown, 35, farmer, $2,000 in real estate; wife Lura, 22, and daughter Ellen E., 4.
1855 New York census, film No. 809,005, lists:
Jerome Brown, 29, b. Herkimer Co., New York, and residing in town (later Binghamton), for 21 years.
Eleazer Brown III, German S. Brown, Peleg M. Brown and Eleazer Brown IV, all residing in town for 22 years and all born in Herkimer County. Actually Eleazer III was born in Massachusetts, another census error.
This 1855 census information is on a single page coming after Binghamton entries, indicating all lived near each other. It accounts for four of Eleazer III's sons. Hiram bought West Winfield land from Eleazer on July 2, 1834, so he apparently had returned to Herkimer County before 1855 to live. A Chauncey Brown, 37, farmer, was found in 1850 census for Lisle, Broome County. This is probably the sixth son because Brown Genealogy, Vol. 2, says Chauncey (no birthdate listed), died at Lisle in 1853. Eleazer III distributed much of his Broome County property to his six sons, according to county land records. Films 573101, 573104, 573095 and 573091.
An Intimate History of Winfield by Thomas W. Smith (1979) says Eleazer came to West Winfield about 1800 from Connecticut. (His father, Peleg, purchased his W.W. land in 1797.) Smith says he settled there on "the large acreage, a part of Cochran's patent. Its lands straddled that early roadway which crosses westerly to Woods Corners and which is little changed today. Very likely that road was there before the right of way was established of Burrows Road, as it runs on down to the swamp." Eleazer's Cape Cod house was still standing in 1990.
History of Herkimer County, 1879, says Eleazer arrived about 1792, but this must be an error. He would have been only about 13 years old, and the date is five years before Peleg purchased his property. But the 1879 book does say Eleazer was one of the first settlers in West Winfield. According to Leyden, Mass., marriage records, he was living in Richfield, later West Winfield, in 1798. He probably came with his father, who bought land in 1797.
Both History of Herkimer County" by Harden and Brown Genealogy say Eleazer had a son Hiram, a grandson H. Clark Brown and a great-grandson H.C. Brown.
Eleazer III is buried in a cemetery on the old family farm. The property is now owned by the Tennessee Gas Co., which has constructed a pumping station to pump natural gas to New England. Smith says the cemetery "was for many years overgrown with wild roses, brambles and berry bushes. The Tennessee Gas Company restored it, set up the fallen stones and fenced it in when establishing the plant there." Subsequently the company said it was
difficult to maintain the cemetery and received permission to bury the headstones and mark the cemetery's corners. Perhaps, also, it wanted to discourage visitors, thus reducing liability problems in case of injuries.
One headstone, Peleg Brown's, stands in the middle of the cemetery site. He was a Revolutionary War veteran, and Daughters of the American Revolution members complained until the company agreed to leave the stone.
A bronze plaque listing some information from the headstones was placed at
the site. (Eleazer's birth date is off by 20 years.)
Film No. 836,761, Page 26, of Vol. 15, DAR records (Winfield Scott Chapter, 1928) says: "Old overgrown cemetery in the southern part of the town of Winfield, Herkimer Co., New York. It is in a dense grove near the old Lewis Day homestead." Tombstone information includes:
Eleazer Brown d. June 8, 1866, age 87 years.
Patty Brown, wife of Eleazer Brown, d. Feb. 8, 1825, age 47 years.
Mr. Peleg Brown d. Jan. 26, 1814, age 71 years.
Experience Brown, wife of Mr. Peleg Brown, d. June 16, 1852, age 92 years.
Eleazer and his mother, Experience, were named to administer Peleg's estate.
Brown Genealogy, Vol. II, says Eleazer III and Martha "Patty" Clark eloped. Not so. Leyden town records show they filed an intention of marriage with the town clerk and later were married by the Baptist minister. At this
time (1799) Eleazer was residing in Richfield, Otsego County, N.Y. The area later became West Winfield, Herkimer County, N.Y.
After her death in 1825 he moved to Litchfield, Herkimer Co., and later to Lisle, Broome County, (dropping off son Chauncey?) and finally settling (1833) in Chenango (now Binghamton), Broome County, N.Y. There his farm joined land where the state hospital now stands. Sometime before 1833 he married Affa Wilcox. After her death, he sold his farm in 1864 and went to live with his oldest son, Hiram, in West Winfield. Eleazer apparently was well cared for by Hiram's wife Susan because he named her in his will and decreed she have a share of his estate equal to those of his heirs at law.
Film No. 836,759, Page 195, says Eleazer was admitted to the Unadilla Forks Branch of the Free-Communion Baptist Church of Plainfield, near West Winfield, Herkimer County, in November 1803. He was elected sixth
trustee on 12 March 1807, but he was excommunicated on 1 June 1815. The church minutes for 6 July 1815 do not report a cause for Eleazer's excommunication. But Brown Genealogy, Vol. 2, states: "He was a Baptist in
his early years, but took exceptions to two of the ministers, and justly so, and left the church. It was said he was a good student of the Bible, but he measured the whole church by the peculiar ideas of the two ministers."
How did this descendant of early Massachusetts settlers, probably Puritans, wind up a Baptist?
