lawyer, businessman, politician, b. Jefferson County. He was the son of Thurlow Weed Brown (q.v.). He graduated from the Univ. of Wisconsin (LL.B., 1880), moved to Wausau, and set up a law practice. In 1885, he and two partners formed the Wausau Law and Land Association, a firm dealing in real estate throughout northern Wisconsin, as well as in Michigan, Minnesota, the Pacific coast, and the South. One of the most powerful businessmen in northern Wisconsin, Brown was among the organizers of the Wausau Street Railway, the Marathon Paper Mills Co., the Wausau Sulphate Fiber Co., and the Chisholm Electric Co. (Minnesota), and was an active promoter of the Wisconsin Valley Electric Co. A consistent opponent of governmental restrictions on business, he campaigned to eliminate tariff restrictions and fought state control of Wisconsin water-power rights. Originally a Republican, he became a Democrat in 1888 and served as state assemblyman (1891-1892) and state senator (1893-1896). In 1908 he was the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate. He was president of the state bar association in 1909. L. Marchetti, Hist. of Marathon Co. . . . (Chicago, 1913); Wausau Daily Record-Herald, Sept. 19, 1917; N. Brown, Critical Confessions (Wausau, 1899).

The Wisconsin Historical Society has manuscripts related to this topic. See the catalog description of the Neal Brown Papers for details.

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]