Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 01.djvu/459

BROWN.BROWN. district court, where the great shipping and admiralty business of New York is centred, and where the determination of questions of mari- time, commercial and international law, and of revenue and bankruptcy cases are brought to trial. His reported decisions exceed fifteen hun- dred. Those made in shipping and admiralty cases are held in high regard in the U. S. su- preme court. Among his notable opinions are those in the cases of The Ambrose Light (25 Fed- eral Reporter, 408), and of Charles A. Dana (68 Federal Reporter, 886). He was elected a mem- ber of the Phi Beta Kappa society, of the Century association, and of numerous other societies in New York, and president of the Torrey botanical club of New York. He took a prominent part in founding and carrjdng on the New York botanical garden, and devised and maintained the publication of Britton & Brown's " Illus- trated Flora," of the northern part of the United States and Canada (3 vols., 1896-"98); an important botanical work, being the first com- plete work of the kind published in the United States. He retired from the bench in 1901.

BROWN, Albert Gallatin, statesman, was born in Chester district, S. C, May 31, 1813. He removed with his parents to Mississippi, where he received an academic education. He was admitted to the bar in 1834, in 1835 was elected a member of the state house of represen- tatives, and was returned to that body by suc- cessive elections imtil 1839, when, having been elected a representative in the 26th Congress, he took his seat in that body. During the years 1841-'43 he was judge of the circuit superior court. In 1843 he was elected governor of Mississippi, and held the ofiice by continuous re-election for five years. In 1848 he was elected as representative in the 31st Congress, and was re-elected to the 32d and 33d congresses. In 1853 he was elected to the United States senate. He was chairman of the committee on the District of Colimabia in the 35th Congi-ess, and a member of the committee on Indian affairs and that on enrolled bUls, He was re-elected in 1859, but served only untU the breaking out of the civil war, when he was expelled and entered the Con- federate army, where he was given the rank of captain, and in 1863 was elected a Confederate states senator, serving in the 1st and 2d con- gresses. His speeches were collected and pub- lished in 1859. He died at Jacksonville, Miss., June 12, 1880.

BROWN, Alexander, banker, was born in Baltimore, Md., Oct. 25, 1858; son of George S. Brown, banker. He was graduated from Prince- ton college in 1878, and passed the following two years in European travel. In 1880 he returned to the United States and entered the banking

house of Alexander Brown & Sons, established in 1811, became a member of the firm in 1882, and its head in 1890. He became inspector-general of Maryland with the rank of brigadier-general in 1893. and held other offices.

BROWN, Alice, author, was born at Hampton Falls, N.H.,Dec. 5, 1857; daughter of Levi and EHzabeth Lucas (Robinson) Brown; and grand- daughter of Levi and Sarah (Drake) Brown. She was graduated from Robinson seminary, Exeter. N.H., in 1876, and became a member of the staff of the Youth's Companion in 1885. She is the author of: " Stratford-by-the-Sea " (1884): "Fools of Nature" (1887); "Three Heroines of New England Romance," with Harriet Prescott Spofford and Louise Imogen Guiney (1895); " Meadow Grass " (1895); " Robert Louis Steven- son, A Study," with Louise Imogen Guine}- (1895); " The Rose of Hope" (1896): " The Road to Castaly," poems (1896); '• Life of Mercy War- ren " (1896^; " By Oak and Thorn " (1896); " The Day of His Youth" (1897); "Tiverton Tales" (1899); " Margaret Warrener " (1903).

BROWN, Allan Danvers, educator, was born in Batavia, N.Y, Sept. 3. 1843; son of Joshua Lawrence and Diana (Osborne) Brown, grand- son of Cyrus Brown of Jaffrey, N.H., and a de- scendant of Thomas Brown, one of the original settlers of Concord, Mass., in 1630. He was edu- cated at the military school, Hampden, Conn, entered the naval service as act- ing midshipman, Sept. 26, 1860; was made midshipman, July 16, 1863; ensign, April 28, 1863, mas- ter, Nov. 10, 1865; lieutenant, Nov. 10, 1866; lieutenant- com- mander, March 13, 1868; commander, Jan. 22, 1880; and was retired June 24, 1891. His last command was the Kearsarge on an expe- dition to South American waters. He was for a time head of the department of astronomy, sur- veying and navigation at the U.S. naval academy and for four years assistant superintendent of the U.S. naval observatory. He was ordained a dea- con in Protestant Episcopal church in 1892 and a priest in 1895. He was missionary at the Church of the Good Shepherd, Barre, Vt-, 1894-'96, and in 1896 was elected president of Norwich univer- sity, Northfield, Vt. He received the degree of LL. D. from the University of Vermont in 1897 and in May, 1898, he was temporarily assigned to the Boston naval station as equipment oflScer.

-^

\