Capt. Benjamin Brown, father of General John Brown, and of Judge A. G. Brown, was one of the most prominent among the early settlers of Ames. He was born October 17, 1745, at Leicester, Massachusetts. He was married in 1772, and he and his wife had many children.

In February 1775, when Benjamin Brown was thirty years old, he joined a group of “Minute Men”. In May, he was promoted to lieutenant in Colonel Prescott's regiment of the Massachusetts line, and in June he fought in the battle of Bunker Hill. In January 1777, Lt. Brown was promoted to captain in the eighth regiment of the Massachusetts line. He was, a brave soldier.

Around the year 1789, he moved with his family to a new settlement in Hartford, New York. He moved again in the fall of 1796 and sought a home in the Northwestern Territory. He reached Marietta in the spring of 1797 and in 1799 came to Ames Township with Judge Cutler. He was an important citizen during the time he lived in Ames. He held various township offices and did what he could to make the settlement better.

In 1817, because of poor health he went to live with his son, Gen. John Brown in Athens. He died there in October 1821. His wife, died in Athens in 1840, at the age of eighty-six.