Bios: WILLIAM BROWN: Lawrence County, Pennsylvania

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  Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Lawrence Co transcribers.
  Coordinated by Ed McClelland

  Copyright 2004.  All rights reserved.
  http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
 
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  Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens
  Lawrence County Pennsylvania
  Biographical Publishing Company, Buffalo, N.Y., 1897
  
  An html version with search engine may be found at 
  
  http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/lawrence/1897/
  
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    [p. 587] Lawrence County, although not including coal-mining as one of her
  chief industries and sources of wealth, for she is not so favorably situated
  as some of her sister counties in that respect, and depending mainly on her
  surpassing agricultural and manufacturing interests for her excellent
  showing, yet has no small number of mines and banks still untouched. Without
  doubt the largest and best conducted mine in the county is the one at Chewton
  in the southern part of Wayne township, which the P. & W. Co. operates. The
  mine is only a three-foot vein but is advantageously worked by means of an
  incline; it is situated on the bluffs above Chewton. The mines were put in
  operation and have since been superintended by William Brown, the subject of
  this biography, whose acquaintance with mines and mining methods is
  unsurpassed by that of anyone in this region. The P. & W. Co. was indeed
  fortunate in obtaining the services of such a mining expert, for if there is
  any success to be had in the development of a mine, he is the one to find it
  and secure it.
    
    The gentleman named above was born in Schuylkill Co., Pa., Sept. 10, 1844,
  and was a son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Potter) Brown, who were both natives
  of Dudley, England, and tenants on the estate of the Earl of Dudley. The
  father of Elizabeth Potter was a mine operator, leasing his mine from the
  Earl of Dudley; it was practically equivalent to being a mine owner in this
  country, for, as evervone knows, in the Old Country there are very few men of
  small holdings, and nearly everybody leases from the landed proprietor who is
  generally found in the ranks of the nobility. Thus Mr. Potter was in very
  comfortable circumstances and gave his children all the advantages that could
  be readily obtained where he lived at that time. His father was a soldier in
  the British Army under the Duke of Wellington, at Waterloo, as was also our
  subject's grandfather, Brown. William Brown's father, Thomas, mentioned
  before, was a lad of about seven years when that decisive Victory over the
  French took place, which sent the ambitious world-conqueror to the Island of
  St. Helena, and he remembered well the talk of the victory and the fact that
  his father was a participant. From that tender age he began working in the
  mines, and his whole life was devoted to that industry. Thomas Brown
  emigrated with his family from England about 1837 or 1838, settling first in
  Nova Scotia, where he remained a few years, but he was not taken with the
  country and the climate was too cold to please him. Coming from there to New
  York, via the Boston & Fall River route, he shortly afterwards settled near
  Pottsville, Schuylkill Co., Pa., where he had charge of extensive mines, and
  where our subject was born. Later he moved to Lock Haven, Pa., where he
  resided a few years, going from there to Irving Station, and thence to
  Freeport, located on the Allegheny River, where he was prominent in mining
  circles, and accumulated a comfortable competency in real estate and other
  property. Intending to spend his declining years among his kinsfolk in Nova
  Scotia, he sold his property in Pennsylvania and in 1866 moved to that
  British province. He found, however, that he could not live contented on the
  Queen's soil, for he was not in harmony with the institutions of the
  Dominion, having become a naturalized citizen of the United States, and a
  true sympathizer of the "Stars and Stripes." On his return to the States he
  settled at Leetonia, Ohio, which place continued to be his home until his
  death in 1873 at the age of sixty-four.
    
    Our subject lived in Schuylkill County until be was eight years of age,
  when his parents moved to Lock Haven, remaining there a few years and
  eventually going to Irving Station and finally taking up their residence in
  Freeport. In all of these places he attended the common schools, and finished
  his education at the age of sixteen, thereupon becoming a mine-worker,
  commencing at the lowest station and working his way to the top. When nearly
  of age, Mr. Brown enlisted in Co. C, 14th Reg. Pa. Vol. Inf., under Col.
  McCombs, serving one year in the emergency. The bloody battle of Antietam was
  the only one in which his regiment participated during its year of service, it
  being employed the rest of the time in chasing the enemy from point to point,
  but never succeeding in bringing on an engagement more than a slight
  skirmish. He was mustered out at Harrisburg at the close of the war.
    
    Resuming the work and duties of civilian life, Mr. Brown removed with his
  parents to Nova Scotia, where he at once took a prominent part in the mining
  industry, and, according to the regulations of the company and the laws of
  the Dominion, became a member of the militia company stationed there. He was
  offered an officer's commission, but refused it, for he was only obliged to
  spend one-seventh the time as a private as he would have as an officer. When
  his parents again removed to the States at the end of a year, Mr. Brown
  remained behind four months longer, as the wages he was receiving were quite
  remunerative, and he did not know just how soon he might do as well in his
  native country. When he finally did come back to this country, he settled
  with his parents at Leetonia, which continued to be his home for many years.
    
    From his boyhood up Mr. Brown has taken an intense interest in mining, a
  taste that was largely hereditary, for his ancestors for a number of
  generations in both branches of the family had looked to mining as the means
  of supporting themselves and family; so it was natural that when choosing his
  walk in life he selected that to which he was the best adapted by birth and
  training. His knowledge has been gained by experience in all the grades of
  work, and also from the best works on practical mining, written by men whose
  authority in such matters is supreme. Our subject is known as one of the most
  efficient experts in mining matters in the Ohio Valley, being called into
  consultation when new mines are to be opened and old ones are to undergo
  development in new directions. When it was decided by the B. & O. and P. & W.
  Co. to open mines of their own to supply their motive power, the officials of
  the road, who were old schoolmates and intimate friends of Mr. Brown and knew
  well his excellent standing among mine operators, turned to him for his
  opinion as an expert on the venture, and to locate, open and develop their
  mines. He accordingly selected a spot on the bluffs above Chewton, where the
  three-foot vein of excellent steam coal should be opened, and superintended
  the construction of the incline and of the chutes by which the coal is
  distributed with no unnecessary handling, and with a speed and efficiency
  that is truly surprising, as it is very unusual. Mr. Brown has unusual tact
  in managing men. Having begun at the bottom of the ladder he knows their good
  points as well as their faults, their natures and their needs, and at the same
  time possesses executive ability to employ them to the best advantage of his
  employers, looking always to the rights and privileges of the men, and
  respecting them. When he must use the iron hand of discipline and show his
  authority, the sting of the blow is tempered by its judicious use. It was
  through Mr. Brown's management that the mines at Leetonia were nearly trebled
  in their output by putting in an incline; the measure was eventually worked
  out there in less than half of the time it would ordinarily have taken.
    
    Mr. Brown was married in Leetonia to Emma Byerly, a native of
  Washingtonville, Columbiana Co., Ohio, and daughter of Christopher and
  Barbara (Grimm) Byerly, the former of whom died May 6, 1897. The Grimms were
  among the pioneers of Leetonia, Washingtonville, the suburb of that city
  being located on the old Grimm farm. The union of our subject and his
  excellent companion has been blessed with six children, namelyÑArthur, who is
  his father's clerk and bookkeeper at the mines; Curtis, who is learning the
  machinist's trade and a noble young man; Charles Clyde, Lillie May, and Ada
  Edna. Mr. Brown was reared an Episcopalian and still adheres to that faith.
  Mrs. Brown is a member of the M. E. Church, while Arthur, the eldest son has
  united himself to the Lutheran Church. In politics Mr. Brown is a Republican
  and has been a local leader in the various towns in which he has lived. He
  has served as president of the school board, and has been a member of the
  town council. He is treasurer of the Miners' Society, and was always elected
  their spokesman in convention and assemblies. He serves in county
  conventions, and was a member of the delegation that attended the unveiling
  of the Garfield Monument. Socially he is a member of the Knights of Pythias,
  Welcome Lodge, No. 279, at Washingtonville, Ohio.
    
    Mr. Brown has always taken a lively interest in educational matters,
  serving frequently on school boards and giving his best talents in such
  services. He was a member of two library associations in Washingtonville, and
  is now a member of the association at Wampum, the borough across the river
  from his present home. He is a reader and thinker, giving especial attention
  to general scientific subjects, as well as to all that pertains to mines and
  mining, his chosen vocation. As a practical mine operator, and a fitting
  representative in many particulars of one of our most important industries,
  the publishers take pleasure in presenting Mr. Brown's portrait in connection
  with this, a brief outline of his life and works, his likeness appearing on a
  preceding page.