Charles Robert Brown was born near Tazewell, in Tazewell County, VA, on September 29, 1864. He was the son of William H. Brown, the grandson of William Brown, and the great-grandson of Low Brown, who was one of the intrepid pioneers of the Middle West, fighting with George Rodgers Clarke in Illinois and was with Lewis and Clarke in their expedition into Montana. The Brown family was of Scotch extraction. They came to this country during the colonial period and settled in Virginia.

With such ancestral background and worthy lineage, Charles Robert Brown was born, the only son in a family of five children. Due to careful parental training and the influence of the church, the principles of the Christian faith were deeply implanted in his life during childhood. When only a young man, he became deeply impressed with his need of salvation. Hearing of a Methodist revival which was in progress in a small country church some distance from his home, he decided to attend. At the altar of that little church, he found the Lord. So deep was the work of grace which he experienced on that occasion, and so complete was the change wrought in his heart, that he never afterward doubted that the "Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth." In later years when he would refer to this experience, as he often did, in sermon or exhortation, his face would light up with a peculiar radiance, and his heart would overflow with spiritual fervor and eloquence.

He was educated in the public schools of Tazewell and at Emory and Henry College. On leaving college in the year 1888, and having heard the call to enter the ministry, he applied for a license to preach, and in 1889 he was admitted on trial in the Holston Conference. His first appointment was to Honaker, \'a., where he served one year. He then spent one year at Coopers, W. Va. His next appointment was to the East Fifth Avenue Church, Knoxville, Tenn., where he labored for two years. He was then for one year pastor of the Rockwood Church at Rockwood, Tenn., and the next two years he was at Welch, W. Va. Due to falling health he found it necessary to take a rest, and accordingly he held the supernumerary relation for three years. In the year 1900, anxious to resume the work to which he believed the Lord had called him, he applied for work again. He received an appointment to Pocahontas, Va., but again his health failed, and he was forced to retire permanently from the active ministry. He then moved back to Tazewell, the place of his birth, where he remained until his death.

Although his health would not permit further strenuous activity as a preacher, yet during the long period of his supernumerary relation he rendered invaluable service to the church. For many years he was superintendent of the local Sunday School; he was a loyal supporter of the church, giving liberally of his means, which were by no means meagre, and he knew how to be a wise and brotherly counselor to his pastor. Being a man of Christian character and fine judgment, and of wide information and business ability, he was always a potent force in the community for righteousness and civic betterment. Not least among the valuable services which he rendered were the comforting words spoken and the fervent prayers offered with the sick and sorrowing of his community. His presence was a benediction in times of grief.

Brother Brown knew how to pray, for he knew his Lord. No one could have prayed as he prayed without knowing Him to whom his petitions were directed. His prayers in the congregation were clothed in beautiful language, that flowed with perfect ease and simplicity, giving to the hearer the impression of friend in fellowship with friend.

His wife was Miss Sallie Cooper of Coopers, W. Va., to whom he was united in marriage on December 29, 1891. She was a woman of superior character, a beautiful Christian life. She was the center of a truly happy home, where the three children, Charles Robert, Jr., Mary, and May, who survive, were brought up in the "nurture and admonition of the Lord." In September 1922 the delightful circle of the earthly home was broken and made sad by Mrs. Brown's passing to the eternal home above. She was joined in the new home by her husband on April 23, 1929, when he, too, was taken.

Brother Brown was a man of great faith, of high ideals, and of lofty purpose. His love of the good and the true was always apparent, but his whole nature seemed to revolt at the very appearance or suggestion of evil. His faithfulness to those committed to his care was ever beautiful, and the genuineness of his loyalty to the church inspired confidence in the sincerity of his religious profession. With unshaken faith in the promises of God, and in quietness of spirit he said good-bye for the last time to his children whom he so dearly loved and departed to take his place in the family circle of the Heavenly Home.

Submitted By: W. P. Eastwood – Holston Conference Journal – 1929 – PP: 96 - 97