Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/439

Rh he was elected to congress from Pennsylvania to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of Samuel Sitgreaves, and served by successive re-elections till 2 March, 1815.

BROWN, Samuel R., author, b. in 1775; d. in Cherry Valley, N. Y., 15 Sept., 1817. He was a volunteer in the war of 1812, and afterward edited, until 1815, a newspaper called the "Patriot," at Cayuga, N. Y. Pie published "A View of the Campaigns of the Northwestern Army" (1814); "History of the War of 1812"; and "The Western Gazetteer; or. Emigrant's Directory" (1817).

BROWN, Samuel R., missionary, b. in Connecticut in 1810 ; d. in Monson, Mass., in 1880. He was graduated at Yale in 1832, and in 1838 went as a missionary to China, and founded the first Protestant school in that country, the Morrison Chinese school for boys, at Canton, of which he was the head from 1838 till 1847. He returned to the United States in 1847, but in 1859 again went out as a missionary, and was stationed at Yokohama, where he was one of the earliest Christian teachers. He translated the Bible into Japanese, and a number of Japanese books into English, prepared grammars entitled "Colloquial Japanese " and "Prendergast's Mastery System applied to English and Japanese," and wrote many articles on Chinese and Japanese subjects.

BROWN, Solyman, author, b. in Litchfield, Conn., 17 Nov., 1790; d. in New York about 1865. He was graduated at Yale in 1812, was ordained a Congregational minister in 1814, and preached and taught school until 1833, when he removed to New York, where he preached Swedenborgianism. After 1833 he practised dentistry in that city. He published an essay on American poetry, together with some miscellanies (1818); "Dentologia," a poem on the diseases of the teeth (1833) ; and "Dental Hygeia," a poem on the general laws of health (1838). He was co-editor of the "Journal of Dental Science." He was a friend and, for many years, a correspondent of Fitz-Greene Halleck.

BROWN, Staley, Canadian merchant, b. in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1801 ; d. 14 April, 1877. The family emigrated to Nova Scotia and settled in Yarmouth about 1813. After being engaged for many years as a successful merchant, he was elected to the assembly in 1843, and at once nominated to the legislative council. In January, 1856, he became receiver-general in the Conservative administration of James W. Johnston, and held office until the fall of the cabinet in 1860. From 11 March, 1874, until 19 Jan., 1875, he was president of the council, and afterward provincial treasurer.

BROWN, Tarleton, soldier of the revolution, b. in Barnwell District, S. C, in 1754; d. in 1846. He served through the war of independence, attaining the rank of captain. His "Memoirs," with notes I)y Charles J. Bushnell (New York printed, privately, 1862), contain interesting and original information in relation to the events of his time in the Carolinas.

BROWN, Thomas, colonial author, b. about 1740. He was a resident of Charlestown, Mass. In 1757 he was captured by the Indians, after being wounded in an engagement between the French and English. He was held in captivity for nearly four years, and then returned to his father's house. The narrative of his adventures, written by himself (Boston, 1760), is perhaps the rarest of American books of its class. Its title-page reads: "A Plain Narrative of the uncommon Sufferings and Remarkable Deliverance of Thomas Brown of Charlestown in New England; who returned to his Father's House in the Beginning of Jan. 1760, after having been absent three years and about eight months: Containing An Account of the Engagement between a Party of English commanded by Major Rogers, and a Party of French and Indians in Jan. 1757, in which Capt. Spikeman was kill'd; and the Author . . . left for dead on the field. . . . How he was taken Captive by the Indians, and carried to Canada, and from thence to the Mississippi, etc." The only copy that has found its way into open market of late years brought $30 at the sale of the Brinley collection in 1879.

BROWN, Thomas, lawyer, b. in Ohio about 1819; d. in Brooklyn, N. Y., 13 June, 1867. He passed the earlier years of his life upon his father's farm, was graduated at Franklin college, and studied law in Cleveland, where, for a time, he practised his profession. He took a prominent part in the free-soil movement of 1848, and in 1850 abandoned the profession of law, and, in connection with Col. John C. Vaughn, established the "True Democrat," the free-soil organ of northern Ohio. In 1853 he withdrew from that paper, which, in the course of the next year, became the "Cleveland Leader," and established the "Ohio Farmer." When his friend, Salmon P. Chase, became secretary of the treasury, Mr. Brown was appointed special agent of the treasury department for the Pacific coast. In that capacity he first went to San Francisco in 1862, and while there he corrected irregularities in the management of the mint, marine hospital, and custom-house. At the time of his death he was supervisor and special agent of the treasury department in New York city.

BROWN, Thomas, naval officer, b. in Delaware; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 28 Nov., 1828. He entered the service as midshipman, 37 April, 1801, was promoted a lieutenant, 21 March, 1807, master, 1 March, 1815, and captain. 3 March, 1825. He commanded the schooner "Gov. Tompkins" in several engagements with the enemy on Lake Ontario in 1814. In 1819-'21 he commanded the ship "Peacock" in the Mediterranean.

BROWN, Thomas Storrow, Canadian insurgent, b. in St. Andreas, New Brunswick, 7 May, 1803, of New England loyalist parentage. He was a prosperous hardware merchant in Montreal. His strong democratic tendencies led him to ally himself with the "Sons of Liberty," a French-Canadian political organization which undertook to release Lower Canada from British rule. Papineau and the other French-Canadian leaders of the revolutionary movement gladly welcomed recruits of English descent, and Mr. Brown soon became general of the order. The first conflict was in street riots in Montreal, and Brown received a blow that destroyed one eye and subsequently caused his total blindness. Warrants having been issued for the arrest of the principal agitator's. Brown, among others, escaped to the banks of the Richelieu, where the people were eagerly waiting to take up arms. He commanded the rebels at the battle at St. Charles, where they were routed by the loyal troops. He escaped across the frontier, and, settling in Florida, was employed in various public capacities in that state. In 1844 the Canadian government entered a nolle prosequi in his case, and he returned to Montreal. In 1862 he was appointed chairman of a commission to investigate the condition of the public departments of Canada, and in 1864 an official assignee. He retired, in 1876, owing to his loss of sight, but continued to take an active interest in social movements. In spite of his blindness and his advanced age he is still one of the most active leaders of the temperance move-