Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/437

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made up of state officers, youth, aged men, and others usually exempt from military duty, but refused to send them out of the state when requisition for them was made by the confederate government. In October, 1864, he refused Gen. Sherman's request for a conference, denying that he had power to act without the permission of the legislature. On his release from the prison, where he had been confined by the national authorities at the conclusion of the war, he resigned the governorship, and, after a visit to Washington, in 1866, strongly advised his state to accept the situation and comply with the terms of reconstruction. This position made him unpopular, and for a time he acted with the republicans, supporting Gen. Grant in 1868, and being the defeated republican candidate for U. S. senator in the same year. After his defeat he was appointed chief justice of the Georgia supreme court, which office he resigned in December, 1870, and temporarily left public life. After that time he was president of the Western and Atlantic railroad company, and of several other large corporations, and promoted the development of the resources of his state. After 1872 he acted with the democrats, and in 1880 was chosen U. S. senator to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Gen. Gordon. In 1884 he was re-elected, with but a single opposing vote, for the term ending in March, 1891. After his election in 1880 he made a speech before the assembly, justifying his course in 1866, and declaring that the results of the war must be accepted as final; that the sentiments of the former slave-holding aristocracy must be rejected ; and that the negroes must be assured absolute civil and political equality. See "Life and Times of Joseph E. Brown," by H. Fielder (Springfield, Mass., 1883).


BROWN, Matthew, educator, b. in Northumberland CO., Pa., in 1776; d. in Pittsburg, Pa., 29 July, 1853. His father, who was of Scotch-Irish extraction, died when Matthew was two years old, and the boy was adopted by his uncle. William Brown, who lived near Harrisburg, Pa. He was graduated at Dickinson college, Carlisle, Pa., in 1794, and taught a classical school in Northumberland CO., where he became acquainted with Dr. Joseph Priestley and other well-known men. He began the study of divinity in 1796, and was licensed to preach by the Carlisle presbytery on 3 Oct., 1799. In 1801 he was ordained pastor of the united congregations of Mifflin and Lost Creek, and in 1805 became pastor of the Presbyterian church at Washington, Pa., and principal of the academy there. When the academy was chartered as Washington college, in 1806, Mr. Brown was made its first president. He resigned in 1816, still retaining his pastorate. After refusing the presidency of Centre college, Danville, Ky., he accepted, in 1822, that of Jefferson college, Cannonsburg, Pa. For several years he also assisted Dr. McMillan, the pastor at Chartiers, Pa., but, on the organization of a church at Cannonsburg, he took charge of it until failing health forced him to sever his connection with the college in 1845. From this time until his death, however, he preached frequently. Princeton gave him the degree of D. D. in 1823, and he received that of LL. D. from Hamilton in 1835, and from Jefferson in 1845. Dr. Brown published a "Memoir of 0. Jennings, D. D." (1832), and "Life of Rev. John McMillan, D. D.," besides numerous addresses and sermons.


BROWN, Moses, naval officer, b. in Newburyport, Mass., 20 Jan., 1742 ; d. at sea, 1 Jan., 1804. During the revolutionary war he commanded some of the largest privateers of New England, and was engaged in several battles. He is probably the Capt. Brown that commanded the "Diligent" during the engagements off Penobscot in July and August, 1779, and later in the same year captured four vessels under Capt. Gardiner, while he commanded the "Intrepid." On the establishment of the U. S. navy, the merchants of Newburyport built the " Merrimack," by subscription, for the government, and Capt. Brown was placed in command of her, his commission dating from 15 Sept., 1798. This vessel, under his captaincy, was one of the squadron commanded by Coms. J. Barry and S. Decatur, in 1798-'9, and 1800. The capture of the French vessels "Le Phenix," "Le Magicien," "Le Bonaparte," and " Le Brillante," during 1799 and 1801, was accomplished by him. When the reduction of the navy took place, he was among those who were dismissed ; but he continued to follow the sea until his death.


BROWN, Olympia, lecturer, b. in Prairie Ronde, Mich., 5 Jan., 1835. She went to Mount Holyoke seminary and to Antioch college. Yellow Springs, Ohio, where she was graduated in 1860. Bantering the Universalist theological school at Canton. N. Y., she was graduated and ordained in June, 1863, and in February, 1864, was installed as pastor of a church in Weymouth, Mass. In 1869 she became pastor of a church in Bridgeport, Conn., and afterward married Henry Willis. She has since been pastor of churches in the west, lectures frequently, and is now (1887) president of the Wisconsin woman suffrage association.


BROWN, Peter, Canadian journalist, b. in Scotland in 1784; d. in Toronto, 30 June, 1863. During his earlier years he was engaged in business in Edinburgh, and took an active part in politics, on the liberal side, at the time of the borough-reform agitation. He emigrated with his family to the United States in 1838, and for the five years following resided in New York. During a part of that period he was on the editorial staff of the "Albion," and he afterward became editor of the "British Colonist." In 1843 Mr. Brown removed to Toronto, where he established the "Banner," an organ of liberal Presbyterian views. This journal was edited with great ability for many years, and, besides vigorously supporting the claims of the Free Church party in the Presbyterian denomination, in opposition to the claims of the Established Church in the same body, also gave its support to the cause of political reform. Prom 1844 till 1849 Mr. Brown also contributed largely to the columns of the " Globe," which had been established by his son George. While in New York he published " The Fame and Glory of England Vindicated " (1842), which was intended as a rejoinder to Charles Edwards Lester's "Glory and Shame of England."—His son, George, Canadian journalist, b. in Edinburgh, Scotland, 29 Nov., 1818; d. in Toronto, 9 May, 1880, was educated at the high school and the southern academy of his native city. After finishing his studies he assisted his father in business, and emigrated with him to the United States. In New York George was for a time his father's publisher and general manager in his newspaper enterprise. In 1843 the former visited Canada, and, being promised the support of influential liberals, established the "Globe" newspaper, as a weekly, in Toronto, the first issue appearing on 5 March, 1844. Under his management this journal became a great success, and was soon issued as a daily. In 1864 he founded the "Canada Farmer," a journal devoted to agricultural interests, and he subsequently engaged largely in stock-raising at his model Bow Park farm. Mr. Brown first en-