newspaperman, politician, b. Canandaigua, N.Y. He became a printer's apprentice in 1829 and worked in newspaper offices in New York, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. In 1841 he moved to Wisconsin and engaged in mining in Iowa County. Purchasing the Mineral Point Democrat in 1845, he moved it to Madison in 1846, and made it the organ of the "Tadpole" or "Progressive" faction of the party. He supported the unsuccessful state constitutional attempt in 1846, and in the 1850's aligned himself with the William Barstow (q.v.) faction of the Democratic party. In 1852 the Democrat was merged with the Wisconsin Argus as the Wisconsin Argus and Democrat and Brown was made editor. He sold his interest in the paper in 1855 but returned as associate editor in 1859 and later the same year was also associate editor of the Wisconsin Patriot. He was a regent of the Univ. of Wisconsin (1855-1857). In 1860 he established the Daily People's Press in Milwaukee, and continued as editor when, after a few months, it was consolidated with the News as the Daily People's Press and News. Under Brown's brief editorship the paper was outspoken in its support of Stephen A. Douglas, but when the paper changed hands in July, 1861, Brown was dropped from the staff. In 1862 he moved to California where he edited various newspapers but achieved a reputation as a "Copperhead" and was eventually forced to flee the state when the San Francisco Democratic Press was mobbed after Lincoln's assassination. He later edited papers in Oregon and Washington and was mayor of Seattle (1879- 1880). He retired in 1881 and died in Anaconda, Mont. H. A. Tenney and D. Atwood, Memorial Record of the Fathers of Wis. (Madison, 1880); Wis. Mag. }list., 3, 9; D. C. McMurtrie, Early Printing in. Wis. (Seattle, 1931); Anaconda (Mont.) Standard, Feb. 9, 1900; WPA field notes.Learn More
Dictionary of Wisconsin History
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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]
