Family life
Brown married Margaretta Mason, daughter of a Presbyterian minister of New York City, on February 21, 1799. They had five children together, only two of whom lived to adulthood:
Mason Brown (November 10, 1799 – January 27, 1867) was born in Philadelphia.
Orlando (September 26, 1801 – July 26, 1867) was born at Liberty Hall.
Alfred was born at Liberty Hall on February 23, 1803, and died on January 29, 1804;
a second Alfred was born on May 9, 1804, and died on July 30, 1805.
Euphemia Helen, their youngest child and only daughter, was born on May 24, 1807. She died of a calomiel overdose on October 1, 1814.
In 1810 Margaretta Brown and other women took over the teaching of the first Sunday School west of the Alleghenies (the first was established in Pittsburgh a year before) - this was for boys only. In 1816, the Browns helped found Frankfort's First Presbyterian Church; and, three years later, Margaretta Brown became the first superintendent of a Sabbath school for girls. In 1824, Margaretta Brown published Food for Lambs or Familiar Explanations of Some Religious Terms for her students to use.
Descendants of John and Margaretta Brown include Senator Benjamin Gratz Brown, the 20th governor of Missouri and vice presidential candidate in the 1872 election, and children's author Margaret Wise Brown.
