Rev. John Brown

People Buried Here

Epitaph

Description

John Brown (September 12, 1757 – August 29, 1837) was an American lawyer and statesman heavily involved with creating the State of Kentucky.

Brown represented Virginia in the Continental Congress (1777–1778) and the U.S. Congress (1789–1791). While in Congress, he introduced the bill granting Statehood to Kentucky. Once that was accomplished, he was elected a U.S. Senator for Kentucky.

John Brown was born in Augusta County, Virginia, on September 12, 1757. John Brown was the son of Reverend John Brown and Margaret Preston Brown, immigrants from Ireland. The son of a Presbyterian minister and schoolmaster, John was well educated, first at his father's Liberty Hall Academy, and then at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University). His studies at Princeton were halted, temporarily, as a result of the approach of English troops during the American Revolutionary War.

Brown became politically active after being admitted to the bar, and was elected to the Virginia state Senate, where he served from 1783 to 1788. The Virginia legislature sent him as a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1787 and 1788. When the U.S. Constitution became effective, he was twice elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, serving from 1789 to 1792.

As a Virginia Congressman, Brown introduced the petition for Kentucky Statehood. When Kentucky became a state in 1792, he resigned from the House on June 1, 1792. On June 18, Kentucky elected him to the United States Senate for a term ending in 1793. He was re-elected twice and served until 1805. He was President pro tem during the Eighth Congress. During Brown's Senate service, he moved to Frankfort, Kentucky.

John Brown died on August 29, 1837 in Lexington, Kentucky and was brought home to Frankfort for burial. In 1847, he was re-interred in the Frankfort Cemetery. The home he occupied in his later years is preserved as Liberty Hall Historic Site located at 202 Wilkinson Street in Frankfort, Kentucky.