Godfrey Brown was born enslaved in Brunswick County, Virginia, in 1768 and, longing for freedom, was freed by his master on March 7, 1820. By working long hours for planters, he saved $5,600.00 and bought his family out of slavery. On March 23, 1822, he purchased 254 acres in Caesar Creek Township, Greene County, Ohio, where he and his sons cleared the land, built log houses, and began the Brown Settlement, which also included a school and the Middle Run Baptist Church and at one time was home to more than one hundred families. In 1822 he organized Middle Run Baptist Church, the first Negro Baptist church in Ohio, named for its location between two streams, and he served as its minister for 24 years while it also functioned as a station on the underground railroad; the church later moved to Xenia, Ohio, in 1889. Brown died on January 31, 1843, and was buried in Brown Cemetery seven miles southeast of Xenia; at his death he owned 654 acres of land in Van Wert, Shelby, and Greene Counties, and only a small cemetery now remains of the Brown Settlement.