Colonel Hugh Brown
Maury County, Tennessee
DIED, on the
13th instance at his residence in Maury County, Tennessee, Colonel
Hugh Brown, in the 90th year of his age.
Col. Brown
was a native of North Carolina. He served in the Revolutionary War under General
Marion, and he was, for many years, a member of the General Assembly of his
Native State.
The
confidence reposed in him by his fellow citizens, furnishes the evidence that
he was early imbued with the love of liberty, and that spirit of independence
which constituted a prominent feature of his character.
At a very
early age, he made a profession of religion and united with the Presbyterian
Church, in which he was a consistent and prominent member until his death. The
precise time is not know to the writer, but it is supposed that he was a church
member for nearly or quite seventy years, and a ruling elder during the greater
part of the time.
He settled
in Maury County a few hundred yards from the spot on which he died, in the year
1814, and he was the nucleus of the Bethesda Church which grew up in the
neighborhood under the pastoral labors of a younger brother, the Reverend
Duncan Brown DD., who still lives in the same county. Having imbibed the spirit
of liberty in the Revolutionary War struggle, and cultivated his love of
freedom in the legislative hall when our republic was rising up from the
formation state, it is not surprising that Col. Brown should manifest a strong
partiality and an unusual zeal for Presbyterianism. He kniw what part Presbyterians
enacted in that memorable contest for freedom, and how much the framers of our
civil government were indebted to those principles which constitute the
distinctive features of Presbyterianism for the free institutions handed down
to us.
The most
striking feature in the Christian character of our deceased friend, was a
strong confidence in a superintending Providence and his ardent love for the
doctrines of grace set forth in the Confession of Faith of the Presbyterian
Church. His religion was not, however, a mere attachment to party; nor was it
periodical. He loved the sanctuary and "delighted in the law of the
Lord." Worship in his family and attendance on all the ordinances of God's
house, was as but a part of his life---as the superintendence of his farm and
the support of his family. But a few Sabbaths before his death, he occupied his
place in the house of God. When taken with his last illness, he was strongly
impressed with the belief that he would not recover, and, although his mind had
been failing for several months previous, he now spoke of death and his future
prospects with great cleatness and consistency. When his Minister first entered
his sick-room and inquired how he was, he replied, "I am very near my
father's house." He expressed much gratification that he had called, and
said that he had been very anxious to see him that he might relate his
experience, and as he was troubled with doubts. He then narrated with much
animation several incidents in his early life, which led him to commit himself
to God, and had convinced him of the efficiency of prayer. When asked why he
doubted, "Oh," he said, "I have done so many things that I ought
not to have done, and I have left undone so many things that I ought to have
done." A deep conviction of his own unworthiness, and an unwavering
confidence in the mercy of God in Christ characterized his conversation until
he was unable to speak. He suffered much but he was perfectly resigned, and
waited calmly for the announcement of the Bridegroom's coming, as one whose
lamp was trimmed and whose vessel was furnished with oil. At midnight the voice
was heard; but he was not startled, ---"Life's duty was done, as sinks the
clay, light from its load the Spirit flies," and goes into the marriage
supper of the lamb; where, as we fondly trust, it is commingling with kindred
spirits that have gone before, all dressed in the bright unspotted robes of the
redeemed.
The above
Obituary appeared in the Presbyterian Record, published at Nashville,
Tennessee, May 31, 1851.
The
following inscription is on the tombstone:
"Col.
Hugh Brown died May 13th, 1851, in the 90th year of his
age. Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, from hence-forth; yea, saith
the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their works do follow
them."
Transcribed
by Bradley M. Buie January 2000