FORT BROWN (Houston County). Fort Brown was built around 1834 in northeastern Houston County by Reuben Brown for his wife Sarah (Parker) Brown and family and for others of the Daniel Parker family. Sarah was one of Daniel's daughters. Around 1833 the Parker family group had started from Illinois for Texas with the intention of organizing the Pilgrim Church there. The congregation settled for a time at the Reuben Brown Fort before moving on to the north and west, settling in what was still at that time Houston County (near what is now Elkhart in Anderson County). The Parkers were also associated with Fort Houston in Palestine and eventually settled at Fort Parker, Limestone County. Reuben and family remained in northeastern Houston County, establishing a community named Refuge. The Refuge cemetery remains and Reuben and wife and other settlers of Fort Brown are buried there.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Houston County Cemeteries (Crockett, Texas: Houston County Historical Commission, 1977; 3d ed. 1987). Houston County Historical Commission, History of Houston County, Texas, 1687-1979 (Tulsa, Oklahoma: Heritage, 1979).
