Samuel Brown was a New Jersey loyalist, who came to the Niagara District in 1786, settling in the township of Stamford. His name appears on the provision list for that year. “Samuel Brown, wife, and one child,” reads the entry. This child was his eldest son, James, who had been born in New Jersey three years before.

In 1800 he removed to Norfolk, settling about the centre of Charlotteville. His family by this time consisted of five sons and four daughters. Four of the sons left Charlotteville and settled in Middleton, becoming four of the earliest pioneers of that township. One, Samuel, jun., was a very successful hunter and trapper, and accumulated considerable property, paying for it with the bounties he received from the Government for wolves’ scalps. For these a bounty of $6 each was received.