Congress 
W
elcome to the Brown Family Club's section on "Famous and Notable Browns" which honors Browns and their kinfolk (including descendants) who have served in the United States Congress. The most famous Browns have been in government service and many have been elected to Congress from several states.If you know family information on any Browns or descendants who have been elected to public office, please send us details with as much family history as you know.
If you have information on a Brown or descendant who became well-known (in any state in any field), please send us a copy of it, along with any sources for the information (book, magazine, newspaper, etc.) to preserve in the Family Library.
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Henry Edward Brown Jr. was born 20 Dec 1935 in Bishopville, Lee County, South Carolina. His family moved to Moncks Corner, SC where he graduated from Berkeley High School in 1953. He attended Baptist College, Charleston, SC. He served in the South Carolina National Guard from 1953-1962. He was elected to the South Carolina General Assembly, serving from 1985-2000.
Henry was elected as a Republican to the House of Representatives of the 107th US Congress in 2000. His term ends in 2003.
James Sproat Brown was born 1 Feb 1824 in Hampden, Penobscot County, Maine. He moved to Cincinnati, Oh. in 1840 and studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1843 an began practice at Milwaukee, Wi. in 1844. He was elected Prosecuting Attorney of Milwaukee county in 1846 and Attorney General of Wisconsin in 1848 and 1849. He was elected Mayor of Milwaukee in 1861.
James was elected as a Democrat to the House of Representatives of the 38th US Congress in 1862 and served from 1863-1865. He lost a bid for reelection in 1864. He became ill and went to Europe to recuperate. He returned to the US in 1873 and resumed his law practice in Milwaukee. He died 15 Apr 1875 in Chicago, IL. He was buried at Forest Home Cemetery in Milwaukee.
James W. Brown was born 14 Jul 1844 in Pittsburg, Pa. He served as vice president of the Crucible Steel Co. and engaged in banking. He was a trustee of the Dollar Savings Bank.
He was elected as an Independent Republican to the House of Representatives of the 58th US Congress and served 1903-1905. He did not seek reelection. He later served as president of Colonial Steel Co.
James married Clara Palmer Howe. He died 23 Oct 1909 at Mouille, Mi. and was buried at Allegheny Cemetery, Pittsburg.
Jason Brevoort Brown was born 26 Feb 1839 in Dillsboro, Dearborn County, Indiana. He attended Wilmington Academy in Dearborn Co. and later studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1860 and began practice at Brownstown, In. He was elected to the Indiana State House of Representatives and served 1862-1866. He was elected to the State Senate in 1870. He was named Secretary of the Territory of Wyoming and served from 1873-1875. He moved to Seymour, In. in 1875 and was again elected to the State Senate, serving from 1880-1883.
Jason was elected as a Democrat to the House of Representatives of the 51st US Congress and to two more terms, serving from 1889-1895. During his tenure, he was Chairman of the Committee on Elections. He was defeated for a fourth term in 1894. He resumed his law practice at Seymore. He married Eliza Roof in 1854. Jason died 10 Mar 1898 in Seymour and was buried in Riverview Cemetery there.
Jeremiah Brown Jr. was born 14 Apr 1785 in Little Britain (now Fulton) Township, Lancaster County, Pa., a son of Jeremiah Brown Sr. and Hannah ???. He was a miller and farmer. He was elected to the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives in 1826. He was a delegate to the State Convention to revise the state constitution in 1836.
Jeremiah was elected as a Whig Party candidate to the House of Representatives of the 27th US Congress and reelected to a second term, serving from 1841-1845. He did not seek reelction. He served as an Associate Judge for Lancaster County 1851-1856.
He married Ann Kirk; they had three sons and two daughters. Jeremiah died 2 Mar 1858 in Goshen, Lancaster Co., Pa. and was buried at the Penn Hill Quaker Meeting House Cemetery, Little Britain, Pa.
John Brown was born 27 Jan 1736 in Providence, Rhode Island, a son of James Brown Jr. and Hope Power and a grandson of James Brown Sr. and Mary Harris. He owned a mercantile business. John laid the cornerstone of the College of Rhode Island in 1770., now Brown University, at Providence, RI. . He served as a trustee of the college from 1774-1803 and treasurer of the school 1775-1796. John was elected to the Rhode Island State House of Representatives and served 1782-1784.
John was named a Delegate to the Continental Congress in 1784 and 1785 but did not serve. He was elected as a Federalist to the House of Representatives of the 6th US Congress and served from 1799-1801. He then resumed operation of his business.
He was one of the Americans who destroyed the British warship Gaspee in Narrangansett Bay in 1772. He was caught and sent to Boston for trial but his brother Moses helped get him released. This was one of many incidents leading to the Revolutionary War.
John married Sarah Smith. They had four children. His daughter Abigail ("Abby") married John Francis and their son John Brown Francis was a US Congressman. John's nephew, Benjamin Brown, was also a US Congressman.
John Brown was born 12 Aug 1772 near Lewistown, Mifflin County, Pa., a son of William Brown Sr. and Mary Scott. He was a grandson of James and Mary Brown of Chester Co., Pa. John moved to Lewistown, Pa. in 1800 where he became a miller operated a sawmill. He was elected to the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives and served from 1809-1813.
John was elected to the House of Representatives of the 17th US Congress and reelected for a second term, serving from 1821-1825. He moved to Limestone, Buncombe County, North Carolina in 1827 where he was a farmer and in real estate. John married Jane Kelso and they had one son. He died near Skyland in Buncombe Co. and was buried in Riverside Cemetery, Asheville, NC.
John Brown was elected to the Maryland State House of Delegates in 1807 and 1808.
He was elected as a Jeffersonian Democrat Republican to the House of Representatives of the 11th US Congress in 1808 and to a second term, serving from 1809 to 1810, when he resigned before close of the 11th Congress to accept an appointment as Clerk of the Court of Queen Annes County, Md. He held that office until his death at Centerville, md. 13 Dec 1815. He was buried in Chesterfield Cemetery.
John Brewer Brown was born 13 May 1836 in Philadelphia, Pa., a son of Madison Brown and Eleanor Fassitt Pratt. He attended Centerville Academy in Md. and Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1857. He set up practice in Queen Annes County, Md. He was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates in 1870 and to the Maryland State Senate, serving from 1888-1892.
John was elected as a Democrat to the House of Representatives of the 52nd Congress to fill a vacancy and served from 8 Nov to 3 mar 1893. He declined to seek reelection and resumed his law practice. He died 16 May 1898 at Centerville, Md. and was buried at Chesterfield Cemetery.
John Robert Brown was born 14 Jan 1842 near Snow Creek, Franklin County, Virginia, a son of Frederick Rives Brown and Jane Prunty and a grandson of John Brown and Sarah Rives. John attended private schools. He enlisted as a private in the Confederate States Army during the War for Southern Independence. After the war, he formed a partnership in 1870 with his father in the tobacco business at Shady Grove. He moved to Martinsville, Henry County, Va. in 1882 where he continued in the tobacco business and also engaged in banking. John was elected Mayor of Martinsville and served 1884-1888.
John was elected as a Republican to the House of Representatives of the 50th US Congress and served 1887-1889. He was defeated in a reelection bid in 1888. He died 4 Aug 1927 in Martinsville and was buried at Oakwood Cemetery there.
John W. Brown was born 11 Oct 1796 in Dundee, Scotland. He immigrated to the United States in 1802 with his father and settled at Newburgh, NY. He was elected as a Jacksonian Democrat-Republican to the House of Representatives of the 23 US Congress and reelected to a second term, serving from 1833-1837. He was one of several aliens elected to the US Congress.
John Young Brown was born 28 Jun 1835 in Claysville, Hardin County, Kentucky, a son of Thomas Dudley Brown and Elizabeth Young. He graduated from Centre College, Danville, Ky. in 1855. He then studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1857. He set up practice at Elizabethtown, Ky.
John was elected as a Democrat to the House of Representatives of the 36th US Congress but because he was under the age required by the Constitution, he did not take his seat until the second session. He was on the Senator Douglas National Committee during the presidential election of 1860. During the War for Southern Independence, he became a cavalry colonel in the Army of the Confederate States of America.
He was elected to the 40th US Congress but the yankee radical Republicans declared his seat "vacant" because of "alleged disloyalty" because he, like all loyal Southerners, had defended THEIR country. They treated all Southern Democrats in the same way during the so-called "reconstruction" period after the War for Southern Independence. He was again elected to the 43rd Congress and to a third term, serving from 1873-1877. The yankee Republicans censured him on 4 Feb 1875 for the use of "unparliamentary language. This was a memorable speech he made before the House denouncing General Benjamin Butler, then a congressman from Massachusetts. Butler became notorious when he was commanding the yankee forces that occupied New Orleans. He issued orders declaring that any women who showed disdain for the yankee occupiers were to be treated as "women of the streets". Decent Christian ladies who disliked having their city occupied by a foreign army were therefore treated as common street sluts and whores.
John denounced Butler in a speech that "...was said to be a masterpiece of invective and gained nation-wide attention." He became known as one of the most outstanding orators and statesmen of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. "As an advocate, he had few equals."
John was elected as the Commonwealth's 26th Governor in 1890 and served 1891-1895. He was defeated by a Republican candidate for reelection.
He married Rebecca Dixon in 1860, a daughter of US Senator Archibald Dixon. John died 11 Jan 1904 at Henderson, Ky. and was buried in Fernwood Cemetery there.
John Young Brown Sr. was born 1 Feb 1900 near Geigers Lake, Union County, Kentucky. He was named for John Young Brown who was governor when he was born (his parents are unknown to our historian at this time -- but he was not a son of the governor). He served in the US Army during World War I. John graduated from Centre College, Danville, Ky. in 1921 and from the University of Kentucky Law Department in 1926. He was admitted to the bar that year and set up practice in Lexington, Ky. as well as farmed.
He was elected as a Democrat to the Kentucky State House of Representatives from Lexington, serving 1930-1933. He served as Speaker of the House in 1932; and 1946-1947, 1954-1955, 1962-1963, 1966-1967. During his tenure, he served as majority floor leader. He was defeated for election in the primary in 1973. He lost a bid for the Democratic nomination to the US Senate in 1960.
John was elected as a Democrat to the House of Representatives of the 73rd US Congress and served one term, 1933-1935. He was defeated for reelection in 1934 and resumed his law practice.
John's son John Young Brown Jr. was elected Governor of Kentucky in 1978. He became head of the Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant chain and a multi-millionaire. John died 16 Jun 1985 in Louisville and was buried there in Lexington Cemetery.
Joseph Edgar Brown was born 11 Feb 1880 in Jasper, Marion County, Tennessee, a son of Congressman Foster Vincent Brown and Lula Elvira Farrior. Joseph attended Baylor School at Chattanooga, Tn. and graduated from Cumberland University, Lebanon, Tn. in 1902. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1904. He set up practice in Jasper and then moved to Chattanooga in 1907.
Joseph was elected as a Republican to the House of Representatives of the 67 US Congress and served 1921-1923. He did not seek reelection. He served as Chairman of the Republican State Executive Committee, 1922-1924. He was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1924. He died at Chattanooga 13 Jun 1939 and was buried in Forest Hills Cemetery.
Lathrop Brown was born 26 Feb 1883 in New York City, NY, a son of Charles S. Brown and Lucy Nevins Barnes. He graduated from Groton School, Ma. in 1900 and from Harvard University in 1903. He then engaged in the real estate business. He served in the New York National Guard for five years.
Lathrop was elected as a Democrat to the House of Representatives of the 63rd US Congress, serving from 1913-1915. He was defeated for relection. He was appointed Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior 1917-1918. During World War I, he served as a private in the US Army Tank Corps. He became President Woodrow Wilson's joint secretary of the Industrial Conference in 1919. He was a delegate to the Democratic Party National Conventions in 1920, 1924 and 1936. He studied monetary theory at Harvard University's Graduate School, 1928-1932. He moved to California in 1946 and settled on a cattle ranch. He was elected to the sheriff's posse of Monterey County in 1947. He served as a member of the committee to supervise the Graduate School of Public Administration of Harvard University in 1954 and 1955.
Lathrop married Helen Hooper. In the 1920s Lathrop bought McWay's Saddle Rock Ranch and built the first of two houses at what is today "Waterfall Overlook" In 1961 Helen Hooper Brown donated the entire property of some 1,800 acres to the state for a park, stipulating that it be named for Julia Pfeiffer Burns, "a true pioneer." Their ranch then became the Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park.
Lathrop died 28 Nov 1959 at Ft. Myers, Fl. His ashes were interred at Manasota Memorial Park Cemetery, Sarasota, Fl.
CONTINUED in Part 3
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