Dr. John B. Brown came to the Ashpole area during early manhood. That's the most specific information I can find. He purchased property in the Leesville area from John W. Powell in 1862, a year before his marriage to Martha V. Ashley. Dr. Brown's first son, John Powell, was born in 1864 and his younger son, William Currie, was born in 1866. Martha died on February 18, 1870.

It appears that Dr. Brown moved into Ashpole itself in the mid to late 1880's as he purchased a lot from Stinceon Ivey near Ashpole Church in 1883. On this lot he built a house that he lived in until his death in 1905.

Photo credit: Rob Taylor, son of Wiley Taylor, Jr.

He had married Mary Francis Pitman, daughter of Henry Flowers Pitman, in 1876 but they had no children. In the intricate intertwining of the Pitman family tree, it turns out that Martha's sister Rosa was Mary Francis' mother.

Photo credit: Ancestry.com

In his later years Dr. Brown helped to establish the First Presbyterian Church in Ashpole and was its first clerk of session. His son, John P. Brown, and A. L. Jones each donated an acre of land for the first church, which was located where the Ed Hodges Station and corporate office is now located at the intersection of Walnut and Red Cross Streets.