Roger Brown (colonel)

Roger Brown (1749 – March 6, 1840) was an American carpenter and soldier in the American Revolutionary War.

For other people named Roger Brown, see Roger Brown (disambiguation).
Roger Brown memorial in Monument Square, Concord MA

Biography

Roger Brown was the son of William and Elizabeth Conant Brown, born in Framingham, Massachusetts. By some accounts, in the spring of 1775, Brown, then 26, began building a house[1] for himself on land in Concord, Massachusetts that belonged to his mother's family, the Conants. Other accounts say the house already existed decades before and he was extending it.[2] In either case, local lore, supported by evidence found during the 1889 first renovation, tells of Brown working on the framing of the house when a call to arms came early on the morning of April 19, 1775 for the Concord skirmish of the Battles of Lexington and Concord.

Brown and his carpenters traded hatchets and saws for muskets and walked to Old North Bridge. He served as corporal under Captain Gleason of the Framingham Minuteman Company. In 1776, he joined Captain Hubbard's Concord Infantry as a sergeant indicating that he had settled into his Concord home. Over the next few years, Brown greatly increased his land holdings and prospered in the local farming and business communities. In 1779 he married Mary Hartwell from Lincoln and in 1783 their son, John, was born. He returned to military duty in 1786 as captain of a company charged with the duty of suppressing "Shays' Rebellion" that followed the revolution and was discharged from his successful campaign as colonel. He was a prominent citizen of Concord, elected as Selectman in 1796 while continuing to farm. Mary died in 1813, when they were both age 64.[3]

At age 66, on February 5, 1815, Brown married Hepzibah Jones, who was the daughter of Ephraim Jones and Alice Cutler.[4]

Brown died in 1840 at the age of 91 and is buried in the Hill Burial Ground in Concord center.[3] The inscription on his memorial plaque reads:

1749 - Roger Brown - 1840
Minuteman - April 19th, 1775
Corp'l, Capt Micajah Gleason's Co.,
Framingham MM
Capt., Concord Light Infantry Co. to 1786
Colonel, Mass. Militia - 1790
Selectman, Concord 1796 -1800
Mary Hartwell, his wife, 1749 - 1813

See also

References
  1. "Colonel Roger Brown House". Colonel Roger Brown House. 2009-01-07. Archived from the original on 2008-12-04.
  2. "MACRIS inventory record for Colonel Roger Brown House". Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Retrieved 2015-05-20.
  3. "Roger Brown 1749 - 1840".
  4. "Col Roger Brown (d. March 06, 1840)".
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