Author: Brown, Erastus
Biography:
BROWN, Erastus (fl 1806-25)
Although his poem The Trial of Cain was reprinted quite frequently in the period, there is very little information about Brown beyond what can be inferred from his publications. The first work recorded is a broadside lamenting the death of his wife Esther Brown at Alford MA in 1806; their only child is named as Amanda in that poem. He was probably the Erastus Brown born at Stockbridge MA on 21 July 1782, the son of Phineas and Sarah (Patterson) Brown. His name appears in the census of 1810 as living at Alford with a wife and three children under 10 but no record of either marriage has been found. He seems to have stayed in the same area, publishing mostly broadsides about local events, until at least 1825. (ancestry.com 23 July 2025; findmypast.com 23 July 2025) HJ