Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 01.djvu/472

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BROWN.BROWN.


♦'Two Years in Mexico"; ••Early Life in the Southwest"; " Indian Wars and Pioneers of Texas " ; " Tlie Life and Times of Henry Smith, the First American Governor of Texas,'" and "History of Texas, from 1685 to 1892" (2 vols., 1892).

BROWN, John Henry Hobart, 1st bishop of Fond du Lac and lir)tli in succession in the American episcopate, was born in New York city, Jan. 1. 18;}1. He graduated from the New York theological seminary in 1854, was ordained a dea- con, and became curate at Grace church, Brook- lyn, during which time he organized the church of the Good Angels, and. after his ordination as priest in 185."), took charge of the new church. In 18.56 he was made rector of the church of St. John the Evangelist in New York ; and in 1864 took charge of St. John's, Cohoes, N. Y. In 1868 he served the Albany diocesan convention as sec- retary, and in 1870 was promoted archdeacon of the Albany convocation. In 1874 the degree of D.D. was conferred upon him by Racine college. He was elected to be the first bishop of Fond du Lac, and was consecrated in Cohoes Dec. 15, 1875. Bishop Brown published a number of re- views, sermons and addresses. He died at Fond du L;ic. Wis.. May 2, 1888.

BROWN, John Howard, editor, was born at Rhinebeck, N. Y., Nov. 8, 1840; son of William Howard and Elizabeth (Conklin) Brown, and great-grandson of Maj. John Pawling, a hero in tlie battle with tl»e French and Indians under Montca.lm at Fort William Henry, Lake George. N. Y., 1757. He was educated at the Rhinebeck academy. Fort Edward institute, and Eastman college, Poughkeepsie, N. Y., being graduated at the last named institution in 1859, and remaining there as tutor for two years. He then studied law in New York city, and in 1864 went to Washington, D. C., as a news correspondent. In 1867 he removed south, edited a newspaper in Augusta, Ga., and engaged in the real estate business. He was married in 1866 to Cordelia, daughter of William and Elizabeth Surfleet of Lincolnshire, England, and in 1872 to Jeannie Hamilton, daughter of James C. and Lavanchie (Fitch) Derby of Aiken, S.C. He became a pub- lisher in New York city, issuing " All Round the World" (1873); Lester's " Life of Charles Sum- ner " (1874); Lester's "Our First Hundred Years" (1875); Deems's " W^ho was Jesus?" (1876); "Historical Register of the Centennial Exposition" (1876); John Russell Young's

  • ' Around the World with General Grant in

1877-'79" (2 vols., 1879-'80), and "The Soldier in Our Civil War" (1881). He then .spent two years in North Carolina for the benefit of his health, meanwhile making a trip through the south as correspondent of the New York Star.


While in North Carolina he engaged in general newspaper work. On his return to New York he originated, planned and edited six volumes of " The National Cyclopedia of American Biog- raphy" (1890-95), and on Oct. 1, 1896, removed to Boston, Mass., where he assumed the editorial management of "The Cyclopedia of Ameri<.'an I>iograi)hies," the name of the work being after- ward clianged to " The Biographical Dictionary of the United Stales." He is also the author of " American Naval iierues "' (1898).

BROWN, John Jackson, educator, was born at Amenia, Dutchess county, N. Y., Feb. 7, 1820. He was licensed to preach in the Methodist Epis- copal church, and presided over various pastor- ates in New York state. From 1857 to 1859 he was professor of natural sciences in Dansville semuiar3% and from 1859 to 1863 was principal of the school. In the last named year he accepted a similar position in the seminary of the East Genesee conference, and remained there until 1865, when he was called to the chair of natural science in the Falley seminary, Fulton, N. Y. This position he resigned in 1870 to become pro- fessor of physics and industrial mechanics in Cornell university, and remained there until 1871, when, on the establishment of Syracuse university, he accepted a similar chair in that institution. In 1889 ill-health compelled him to relinquish the active duties of his professor- ship, and he was appointed professor emeritus. The degrees A.M. and LL.D. were conferred upon him. He edited Humphrey's Journal of Pliotography for five years, and a department of the Northern Christian Advocate for ten years. He died at Syracuse, N. Y., Aug. 15, 1891.

BROWN, John K., civil engineer, was born at Greenwich, Ohio, Oct. 26, 1832. He acquired his education at the Ohio Wesleyan university and at Jeflferson college, Cannonsburg, Pa., taking a partial course in civil engineering in the latter iiLstitution. In 1856 he entered the railway ser- vice as rod-man, and in 1858 was advanced to the position of assistant engineer in charge of con- struction and survej's of the Atlantic and great western railway. He held various positions on several railways, and from 1876 to 1878 was prin- cipal assistant chief engineer on the Covington, Flemingsburg and Pound Gap railway. In 1880 he entered the service of the Union Pacific rail- way as assistant engineer on surveys and location of the Oregon short line, remained there four years, and, after serving in the same capacity on other railways, he became, in 1889, assistant engineer on the Missouri Pacific railway, in charge of construction. He superintended the building of the Arkansas river bridge at Fort Smith, the Red river bridge at Alexandria, La., and in 1893 was assistant engineer at Wichita, Kan.