Brown is remembered by those who enjoyed her acquaintance as having the fair skin and brown hair of her Celtic ancestors, with large, expressive hazel eyes. Quiet and domestic, she was a devoted wife and an affectionate mother, sacrificing her own health to promote the comfort of her husband and their children.

For a while, after going to Indiana, Edghill Burnside and his brother taught school and assisted the land surveyors. The following year Union County was organized, with the town of Liberty as its county seat, and Edghill Burnside was elected an associate judge of the circuit court. These courts were composed of a president judge, learned in the law, elected by the Legislature, and two associate judges, elected in each county by the people. These "side judges," as they were called, generally made no pretensions to any particular knowledge of the law, but still they had the power to over-rule the president judge, and give the opinion of the court. Sometimes they "out-guessed" the president, giving the most preposterous reasons imaginable for their decisions, as, in one instance, that a writ of scire facias to revive a judgment would not lie, unless it was sued out within a year and a day. The associate judges also individually exercised minor judicial power in their respective localities, and Judge Burnside soon became noted for his success in reconciling angry litigants when called upon to weigh their respective cases in the scales of justice. Disputed claims between neighbors were adjusted by compromise, and the log cabin in which he administered justice was in truth a court of conciliation. Gaining the confidence of his fellow-citizens, and becoming acquainted with legal documents and judicial proceedings, Judge Burnside was persuaded to accept the office of clerk of the county courts, which he held by