The earliest letters in this collection were written by Hugh Brown (1776 -- 1847), a native of Ayr, Scotland. Brown immigrated to the United States about 1820 and settled on a farm in New York. Subsequently, he was employed as an overseer by the Delaware & Hudson Canal and Railroad Company. His wife Mary Gibson (1798 -- 1877), in Iowa, joined him in New York in 1823.

Several of this couple's children were born in Scotland; several were born in the United States. The best-known son was Major Hugh G. Brown (1835 -- 1901), born in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, and died at Keosauqua, Iowa. With his brothers and widowed mother, he settled in Iowa in the late 1840's. He was a member of Company E, 15th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, rose through the ranks to a commission, and became an aide on the staff of Major General E.O.C. Ord. Major Brown's brothers include James A. Brown of Vinton, Iowa, and Alex Brown (also a major) of Keosauqua. Both of these men were in service with Iowa regiments during the Civil War, and both were still living at the towns mentioned above when their brother Hugh died in 1901.

(Most of the information in the two preceeding paragraphs comes from the correspondence offered here. Some facts were gained from the booklet cited below.)