Source: HISTORY OF THE PAN-HANDLE OF WESR VIRGINIA 1879
Page 356

     THE BROWNING FAMILY The history of t his family, is briefly detailed in a letter from Judge Lewis Browning, to the writer, dated in March 1879. The Judge in this letter says, "My great grandfather came from England; and settled in Maryland, where my grandfather, my father and myself were born in Frederick county. In 1812, my grandfather purchased the farm of Zacheus Biggs, know as Mingo Bottom. The lands in West Virginia were originally taken up be settlement rights, and the titles afterward made by the state of Virginia. This tract was first settled by a Mr. McMechen; hence the name of the run emptying into the Ohio river nearly opposite the rolling mill on the Ohio side. A man by the name of Bernard Dougherty purchased the right of McMechen, and paid for it in continental money, which soon depreciated and became worthless. Dougherty procured a warrant from the state, thereby securing his title. He sold it to John Beard, who sold it to Zacheus Biggs, and he sold it to my grandfather, who moved to it, together with his three sons, Lewis, Joseph and Jeremiah, with their families, in the fall of 1812, after a wearisome journey in wagons. This as before the National road was built. My grandfather purchased six hundred and fifty acres in one tract, for which he paid twenty dollars an acre- considered a very high price at that time."

     "My father and uncle, Jeremiah, were both local preachers of the Methodist church. They had appointments to preach almost every Sunday. After working all the week, they would ride sometimes eight or ten miles on Sunday ;morning, preach and return in the evening. My grandfather's house was, for a number of years, the place for week-day preaching by circuit preachers supplied by a conference held in Baltimore once a year. They had to go once a year to attend this conference. The trip was made on horseback, and took four weeks."

     "My grandfather, Jeremiah Browning, died on this farm, aged ninety years. My grandmother died at eighty-six, my father died in his eighty-eighth year, and my mother in her seventy-eighth year. All of them with other friends, are buried in a family cemetery on the farm. Seth Clark, a son-in-law of my grandfather, occupied the ferry portion of the farm for a number of years. As to myself, I was born on this same farm, November 4, 1806, and have lived on it ever since, and am a farmer by profession."

     When the constitution of Virginia was amended, giving the people the right to elect their own Justices, Judge Browning was one of the first justices elected, which office he held for twelve years, being re-elected twice, and acting as presiding justice the last four years, when the war broke out and upset the judicial system of the state. After the adoption of the present constitution of West Virginia, giving the people the right to elect their presiding justice or judge, he was at the first election chose to fill that office for four years, and at the expiration of his first term he was re-elected for a second term, which he is now serving out. Judge Browning enjoys the respect and confidence of his fellow citizens for his quiet, candid honesty and sterling integrity.