From Bell's History Of Northumberland County 1891: JOHN WOODS BROWN, deceased, was born in White Deer valley, Union county, Pennsylvania, December 1, 1826, son of Samuel T. and Nancy (Woods) Brown. He attended the Milton Academy, also the Ewensville Academy under the Rev. S. S. Sheddon, D. D. He entered Jefferson College in the spring of 1846, and graduated from that institution in 1848. He then read law one year with Samuel Hepburn of Milton, and afterwards entered the law school at Easton, Pennsylvania, under Judge McCarty and Henry Greer, and graduated in 1851, when he returned to Milton and engaged in practice. In 1853 he entered into co-partnership with W. C. Lawson, which relation continued successfully until 1880. After the great fire of that year in Milton neither partner cared to continue in the practice of law. Mr. Brown was an active and influential Democrat and a leader in the local councils of his party. In 1862-63 he represented Northumberland county in the House of Representatives in the State Legislature and occupied a prominent position in that body. He held a number of positions in civil life, in which his fidelity and conscientiousness were prominently manifested. He was the principal factor in the organization of the First National Bank of Milton in 1863, was elected its president, and continued in this office until his death. He was a remarkably quiet and unobtrusive man, yet possessed of that courage which always prompted him to follow the line of duty in a forcible, and oftentimes aggressive, manner. His conceptions of right and his condemnation of all things that reflected the image of impropriety made him a fearless advocate of good. January 29, 1851 he married Maria, daughter of William and Catherine Polk of Easton, Pennsylvania. Seven children were born to their union, four of whom are living. Mr. Brown died January 6, 1888.