Dade County History Book

Lemuel A. and Sarah Duncan Brown

Lemuel A. and Sarah Duncan Brown

Lemuel Alonzo {-1825) and his wife Sarah Duncan Brown came to Dade County shortly after 1850 with at least one child named William Theodore (1848-1927), from Anderson, South Carolina. In 1880 we find them in Johnson Crook in the Rising Fawn area among families whose descendants are friends today with descendants of Lemuel and Sarah.

This couple had at least six other children, all born in this area: Elizabeth who died as an infant; John Wesley (1852); Milly A. (1854) who married Jeff (T.J.) Gatlin in 1873; Mary Ann (1856) married William H. Cuzzort (?); Martha C. L. (1858) married Jeff Ridley; Rufus Lorenzo (1860-1929) married Catharine Riordan in 1884; and Milton Thomas (1856) married Emma Warren in 1884.

W. T. (Uncle Bud) left Dade County at an early age, during the Civil War. He travelled west, settling in Arkansas, Texas and eventually New Mexico. Correspondence with his family finally stopped and for years they missed him and wondered about him.

It wasn’t until 1945 my mother, daughter of Rufus Brown, received a letter from his son in New Mexico. He had written to the County seat in Trenton and through H.F. Allison found her address.

Several years and many letters later his son, Charlie Brown and his wife came to Dade County in 1951. The clan gathered from five states for a wonderful “get acquainted” reunion at the home of Tom and Dessie McKaig Massey in New Salem.

The descendants of W. T. today are scattered from the Mississippi River throughout the west, all the way to Alaska. We’ve never lost contact with them again.

Lemuel was a Confederate soldier, Tennessee Regiment, 34th Division. He enlisted in May, 1862, was captured May, 1864 and released May, 1865.

Sarah Duncan’s mother lived to be 110 years and ten days old. I can well remember that being proudly repeated in the conversations of my grandfather “Rufus” and other kindred.

We’ve been unable to locate the graves of Lemuel and Sarah but have been told they were buried in the McKaig Cemetery at Guinn Springs, part way up the Newsome Gap Road to Lookout Mountain. This cemetery is near where the Browns made their home for many years.

We’re in touch with only a few of our cousins outside of the Rufus Brown line. Wish we knew more about them.

Written by Margaret C. Bradford Rising Fawn, Georgia 30738