J. Sidney Brown, merchant of Denver and president of the J. S. Brown & Bro. Mercantile Company, was born in Ashtabula County, Ohio, on 10 June 1833, the son of Reuben Brown and Betsey Horton (Hill) Brown. His paternal ancestry traces to Henry Brown, who settled at Salisbury, Massachusetts, about 1639, and through Moses Brown, a Revolutionary soldier born in New Hampshire in 1750, and Reuben Brown, born in Vermont in 1797, who later removed to Ohio. His maternal ancestry descends from Gen. Robert Sedgwick, early colonist of Charlestown, Massachusetts, and a major general under Cromwell, as well as from the Hill and Bushnell families of Vermont and Ohio. Reuben Brown’s wife, Betsey Hill, was connected to Gen. Charles W. Hill of Ohio, Rev. Horace Bushnell of Connecticut, and Judge James Campbell of Michigan. J. Sidney was one of five children, with siblings Junius F., Adelia, Hannah, and Charles H. He married first Irene Sopris of Indiana, daughter of Richard and Elizabeth (Allen) Sopris, with whom he had five children; and second Adele Overton, daughter of John and Lucina (Otto) Overton, with whom he had another family. Through his wives, his descendants also trace to the Sopris, Teller, Otto, and DuBois families, each with Revolutionary or early colonial lineage.
J. Sidney Brown, president of the J. S. Brown & Bro. Mercantile Company, of Denver. The family of which this gentleman is a prominent member was founded in America by Henry Brown, who emigrated from England to Salisbury, Mass., about 1639. Representing the fifth generation in descent from him was Moses Brown, born in East Kingston, N. H., in 1750, a soldier in the Revolution. He married Mary Hobbs, of Poplin, N. H., and afterward removed to Strafford, in Orange County, Vt. Their son, Reuben, was born in Strafford in 1797, and when a young man located in Conneaut, Ashtabula County, Ohio, where he engaged in farming. He died in 1863. His wife, who was a daughter of John and Laura (Bushnell) Hill, was born in Starksboro, Vt., and died in Denver in 1889, aged eighty-seven. She was a sister of Gen. Charles W. Hill, of Ohio, who during Governor Todd’s administration was adjutant-general of Ohio, and assisted greatly in putting Ohio’s quota of soldiers in the field during the war of the Rebellion, and cousin of Rev. Horace Bushnell, of Hartford, Conn., and Judge James Campbell, judge of the supreme court of Michigan.
On the mother’s side Mr. Brown is a lineal descendant of Gen. Robert Sedgwick, colonist and soldier, who was born in England in 1600. The Sedgwicks came from among the mountains which form the borders of Lancashire, Yorkshire and Westmoreland, England, and suffered in the border wars of York and Lancaster. Gen. Robert Sedgwick, the ancestor of the Sedgwicks of New England, became an inhabitant of Charlestown, Mass., June 3, 1636, and in 1637 a freeman of that town. His residence was in the market place, now the square near the site of the Bunker Hill Bank. He was captain of the first “Trained Band” in Charlestown. He was chosen representative in 1637 and for several successive years served in that capacity, and as selectman of Charlestown. From 1641 to 1648 he commanded the “Castle.” In 1644 he was the first major of the Middlesex regiment. In 1645 he was commissioned to take care of the fortifications of the town and the harbor. He was elected major general May 26, 1652. In 1654 he visited England and engaged in the service of Cromwell as commander of a contemplated expedition against the Dutch of New York, but peace was made with them and he led the expedition against the French forts in Nova Scotia. He captured St. Johns, Port Royal and another fort. This vigorous action was so acceptable to Cromwell that the next year he was appointed to service in the West Indies. Jamaica had been captured and General Sedgwick was sent with a fleet to re-inforce General Venable. He arrived at the Barbadoes August 27, 1655, and learned that General Venable had been repulsed. A council was formed to govern the island and manage the affairs. He was made commissioner for the government and afterwards major general and governor. Carlyle said he was very brave, zealous and pious. He was one of the most distinguished men of his time. He was an enterprising merchant. He built wharves on the shore east of the old ferry—built ways and the old tide walls. In 1643 he joined the younger Winthrop in starting the first iron works in America.
Charlestown has cause to remember the public spirit of General Sedgwick. He took a warm interest in its welfare and was constantly in its service. His regard for education is seen in his gifts to the college. He was a representative of the liberal Puritans of New England; religion was in all his thoughts and yet he openly opposed the prevailing intolerance. “He was nursed in the London Artillery Garden and was stout and active in all feats of war.” While in London he joined the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company and after coming to America was active in organizing the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Boston, Mass., becoming its captain in 1640. He died in Jamaica May 24, 1656.
John Sidney Brown was next to the youngest of five children, the others being: Junius F., a member of the J. S. Brown & Bro. Mercantile Company; Mrs. Adelia Dayfoot, who died in Canada; Mrs. Hannah Gillett; and Charles H., who died in Denver. J. Sidney Brown was born in Ashtabula County, Ohio, June 10, 1833, the son of Reuben and Betsey Horton (Hill) Brown. He was educated in public schools. In 1858 he joined his brother in Atchison, Kan., and they engaged in the manufacture of lumber. In 1861 he began freighting between Atchison and Denver, and made two trips that year with an ox-train, and early in 1862 he came with a mule train and founded the present business. The freighting business he continued until 1870, when it was discontinued. In 1864 one of his mule-train was attacked by Indians and destroyed.
The first location of the firm in Denver was on Blake street near Fifteenth, where they remained until 1876, and then removed to their present location on Wazee street. In 1893 the firm was incorporated under the name of the J. S. Brown & Bro. Mercantile Company, of which J. S. Brown is president, J. F. Brown vice-president, H. K. Brown secretary, F. S. Brown treasurer and F. A. Hall general manager. The firm erected the first roller flouring mill and grain elevator in Colorado, on the present site of the Crescent mill. They were interested in the organization of the Bank of San Juan, at Del Norte, also in the founding of the banks at Alamosa and Durango, and took an active part in the organization of the Denver Tramway Company. In 1882 they embarked in the stock business in the Platte Valley, where they are still extensively interested. The Brown-Iliff Cattle Company have a large ranch near Snyder, Colo., between South Platte River and the Wyoming state line, the range being owned principally by the land company of which J. F. Brown is president.
In the building of railroads Mr. Brown is interested. He was a director in the South Park line, assisted in the building of the Denver Pacific Railroad, between Denver and Cheyenne, was a promoter, director and vice-president of the Denver & New Orleans Railroad, and assisted in other enterprises of an important nature. Only one man in Denver has been engaged in the same line of business continuously for a longer period than Mr. Brown.
Mr. Brown was married to Miss Irene Sopris, in Denver, in 1868. She was born in Indiana, a daughter of Richard and Elizabeth (Allen) Sopris, and died in January, 1881, leaving five children, viz.: Frederick S., treasurer of the J. S. Brown & Bro. Mercantile Company; Elizabeth, Mrs. A. B. Inglis, of Paterson, N. J.; Edward N., who is with J. S. Brown & Bro.; Katherine and William K., the latter a member of the class of 1900, Sheffield Scientific School, of Yale University.
The present wife of Mr. Brown was Miss Adele Overton, who was born in Wisconsin. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1871, with the degree of B. S., and the same year came to Colorado, where she was assistant principal in the Denver high school. She is a member of the Daughters of the Revolution and treasurer of the Colorado State Society. She is the mother of five children now living: John Sidney, Jr., Ben Overton, Carroll Teller, Alice and Irene. The father of Mrs. Brown, John Overton, was born near London, England, May 11, 1822, and died at Parker, South Dakota., May 14, 1888. His parents, Robert and Maria (Roy) Overton, came to America and died in Wisconsin. He was their youngest child and only son, and was eighteen years old when he came to this country. His wife, Lucina Otto, was born in New York in 1824, and died in Parker, S. Dak., in 1892. She was a daughter of John Otto and Maria (Teller) Otto, the latter a descendant of Dr. Isaac Teller, a Revolutionary soldier. Senator Teller’s father, John Teller, late of Morrison, Ill., was a brother of Maria (Teller) Otto; while Senator Jerome B. Chaffee was a son of John Otto’s sister. The originator of the Teller family in America was William Teller, born in 1620 in Holland, emigrated to America in 1639, settled in Fort Orange and appointed by the king of Holland a trustee for a tract of land there, but in 1664 he returned to New York City and married Mary Douchen. From them descended Dr. Isaac Teller, who lived on the corner of Chambers and Broadway, New York, and died while serving as a surgeon in the Revolution. He married Rebecca Remsen, of Brooklyn. Their son, Remsen Teller, who was born about 1769, married Catherine MacDonald, of Ballston Spa, N. Y., daughter of David and Sarah (DuBois) MacDonald, and granddaughter of Col. Louis DuBois, of Ulster, N. Y., who was a colonel in the Revolution. Remsen and Catherine Teller had a daughter, Maria, who married John Otto, a native of Schoharie County, N. Y., and a son of Franz Otto, who served during the entire period of the Revolution.
The originator of the Otto family in America was Rudolph Otto, born in Baden-Baden, Germany, in 1715, and settled in Schoharie County, N. Y., in 1741. He had two sons, John and Franz, or Francis. The latter, born in 1757 and died at the age of ninety-six, married Barbara Schultz, later moving to Mount Morris, Livingston County, N. Y. Among their nine children was John, born in 1796. He was a brother of Mrs. Elizabeth Chaffee, who was the mother of Jerome B. Chaffee, United States senator and one of the most prominent mining men of the state of Colorado.
In fraternal relations Mr. Brown is a Knight Templar Mason. He is a member of the Sons of the Revolution. Politically he gives his affiliation to the silver branch of the Republican party. As a director he has been actively interested in the Colorado Cattle Growers’ Association, and has done all within his power to promote the industry which is so vitally connected with the welfare of the state. He attends the First Congregational Church and contributes liberally to its support, as, indeed, he does to all enterprises of a religious and philanthropic nature.
Source
Portrait and biographical record of Denver and vicinity, Colorado : containing portraits and biographies of many well known citizens of the past and present : together with biographies and portraits of all the presidents of the United States.. Chicago: Chapman Pub. Co., 1898.