BROWN FAMILY:
An Inventory of Their Papers at the Minnesota Historical Society
Manuscripts Collection
OVERVIEW
| Creator: | Brown (Family : Brown, John Harrison, 1824-1890), creator. | |
| Title: | Brown family papers. | |
| Dates: | 1848-1972 (bulk 1855-1920). | |
| Language: | Materials in English. | |
| Abstract: | Family histories (Brown, Carr, Maxfield, Gaston, and Marlow), genealogies, speeches, memorials, court calendars, newspaper articles, correspondence, autograph book, legal briefs, petitions, biographies, and printed miscellany documenting the lives of three Minnesota lawyers: John B. Brown, his son Calvin Luther, and grandson Montreville Jay. | |
| Quantity: | 0.75 cubic feet (2 boxes, including 3 v.). | |
| Location: | See Detailed Description for shelf locations. |
BIOGRAPHICAL/HISTORICAL NOTE
John Harrison Brown
John Harrison Brown was born May 1, 1824 in Mt. Holly, Vermont. He spent his youth in New Hampshire, where he later taught school and studied law. In 1855 he moved to Shakopee, Minnesota, where he became the first school master of School District No.1 of Scott County (1855), was admitted to the bar in June, 1856 served as county attorney (1860-1861 and 1869-1870), served as a captain in the Civil War, and published a small newspaper called the Spy (1868-1870).
In 1871 Brown moved to Willmar, Minnesota, where he practiced law and started Willmar's first newspaper, the Willmar Republican (January 28, 1871). He served as Kandiyohi County attorney until 1875 when the governor appointed him the first judge of the 12th judicial district of Minnesota. Brown held this position until his death (January 20, 1890).
John Harrison Brown married Orissa M. Maxfield on February 5, 1850. Seven children were born to this marriage: Frank Kossuth, Horace W., Calvin Luther, Emilie Idella, Dorrie Fannie Sophia, Mattie Alzina, and Jennie Leona.
Calvin Luther Brown
Calvin Luther Brown son of John Harrison and Orissa Brown, was born April 26, 1854, in Goshen, New Hampshire. The following year (1855) the family moved to Shakopee, Minnesota. Brown grew up in Shakopee and in 1871 moved with his family to Willmar, Minnesota. As a young man Brown taught school (1873-1874) and was a railway mail clerk on a route running between Winona and Marshall, Minnesota (1874-1875). In 1875 Brown decided to study law. He was admitted to the bar in 1876 and began his practice in Willmar. Brown moved to Morris, Minnesota in 1878, serving as prosecuting attorney for Stevens County (1882-1887).
In 1887 Brown introduced a bill in the Minnesota legislature that established the 16th judicial district, adjacent to his father's district, and was appointed district judge. He served in this position until his election as associate justice to the Minnesota Supreme Court in 1898. He was reelected to this position in 1904 and 1910. In 1912 Brown was elected chief justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, a position he held until his death (September 24, 1923).
Calvin Brown married Annette Marlow on September 1, 1879. Four children were born to this marriage: Montreville Jay, Alice, Edna Marie, and Margaret Elizabeth.
Montreville Jay Brown
Montreville Jay Brown was born June 13, 1884 in Morris, Minnesota, the son of Calvin Luther and Annette Marlow Brown. In high school he achieved recognition for his public speaking and athletic ability. He refused an appointment to West Point in 1902 and completed his education at the University of Minnesota instead.
Brown was admitted to the bar on June 11, 1909 and moved to Bemidji, Minnesota. He served as a Bemidji school board member, city attorney, and as a member of the Beltrami County draft board during World War I, a role he repeated in Ramsey County during World War II. He was elected Grand Master of the Minnesota Masons in 1933, a position held by his father in 1894 and his grandfather in 1887.
Brown was appointed assistant attorney general of Minnesota and moved to Minneapolis in 1918. He resigned from this position in 1923 and returned to private practice. He moved to St. Paul in 1926 where he lived and worked until his death (June 4, 1971).
Montreville Brown married Minnie Stinchfield on Nov. 19, 1910. Four daughters were born to this marriage, Alice Katherine, Louise Stinchfield, Margaret Annette, and Joanne Marie.
SCOPE AND CONTENTS
John H. Brown's papers largely document his service as Kandiyohi County Attorney and as 12th judicial district judge (1875-1890), and include his commission to the 19th Company of the New Hampshire 9th Infantry Regiment (1848); court calendars (November 1881-September 1886); memorials (1890); a newspaper obituary of his wife Orissa (August 16, 1915); and correspondence (1855-1893).
Calvin L. Brown's papers largely concern his career as prosecuting attorney for Stevens County (1882-1887), as 16th judicial district judge (1887-1898), and as associate justice and chief justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court (1898-1923). They include legal opinions, speeches, and writings (undated and 1913-1923); legal documents and various printed miscellany (1873-1924); correspondence (1881-1920); a scrapbook (1876-1920); and an autograph book (1876-1894) kept by his wife Annette.
Montreville J. Brown's papers include three high school orations (undated and 1897), a newspaper clipping related to his case before the U.S. Supreme Court; a brief autobiography (1967); and the text of a memorial (1972). Montreville Brown served as Bemidji's city attorney and as a Minnesota assistant attorney general (1918-1923).
ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
Availability:
The collection is open for research use.
Preferred Citation:
[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Brown Family Papers. Minnesota Historical Society.
See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.
Accession Information:
Accession number: 14,379
Processing Information:
Processed by: Frank Hennessy, March 1991
Catalog ID number: 990017138260104294
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
| Box | |||||||||||
| P1804 | 1 | Family history and genealogy. | |||||||||
| Includes historical sketches of the Marlow, Gaston, Carr, Maxfield, and Brown families. The Carr, Maxfield, and Brown families progressed along parallel lines, coming to the Boston, Massachusetts area in the early 1600s, moving to New Hampshire in the 1760s, and finally to Minnesota in the mid-1800s. The sketches are accompanied by genealogical charts and lists of sources from which the information was taken. Also included is a Brown family genealogy removed from an 1864 family Bible. | |||||||||||
| John H. Brown, undated and 1855-1893, 1915. | |||||||||||
| Includes a synopsis Brown wrote of a charge given to a grand jury by the judge of the 7th judicial district and the full text of a charge given to another grand jury; photocopies of cases from Minnesota Reports in which John H. Brown was the judge and his son Calvin, was a lawyer (1879 and 1881); court calendars (November 1881-September 1886) of the 12th judicial district; memorials presented in Brown's honor by the bar associations of Chippewa, Lac qui Parle, and Yellow Medicine counties (1890); a newspaper obituary (August 16, 1915) of Brown's wife Orissa; and correspondence (1855-1893). The correspondence includes a letter from Brown's mother, Sophia Morse Brown, in which she discusses the Shakopee, Minnesota area and Brown's plans to move there; two letters from Brown to Orissa (October 10, 1865 and June 20, 1887), the first while stationed in Madison, Wisconsin during the war, and the other while on a trip to Chicago; and a letter to Orissa (March 16, 1893) from their son Horace in Argyle, Minnesota discussing Orissa's forthcoming visit. | |||||||||||
| Calvin L. Brown: Legal opinions and writings, undated and 1913-1923. | |||||||||||
| Includes a paper discussing the three 1912 presidential candidates, Taft, Roosevelt, and Wilson; a speech on Minnesota's geography, resources, and industry; the text of a sentence imposed by Brown at a murder trial; a letter to Pedro Diaz Colordrero, Buenos Aires, Argentina, describing the United States judicial system; a speech before the Minnesota Crime Commission addressing improvements in criminal procedures; an article from Commercial West (June 24, 1922) on the prevention of crime; a welcoming speech given at a meeting of visiting state and federal judges (August 1923); and a book of reprints from the Morris Tribune (1922-1923) of Brown's historical contributions to the settlement of west central Minnesota, Stevens County, and the city of Morris. | |||||||||||
| Calvin L. Brown: Documents and miscellaneous papers, undated and 1873-1924. | |||||||||||
| The documents include Brown's second grade teaching certificates (1873 and 1874); his appointment by the post office as a route agent on the railroad line between Winona and Marshall (November 27, 1874); his admission to the bar (February 22, 1876); articles of copartnership between Brown and George Darling (March 2, 1880); admission as attorney of the United States Circuit Court for the district of Minnesota (May 7, 1880); a petition requesting the governor to appoint Brown as judge of the 16th judicial district (March 4, 1887); a petition nominating Brown as candidate for judge of the 16th judicial district (1894); a hunter's license (October 30, 1899); and a petition from the Bar of the 7th congressional district requesting Brown to become a candidate for associate justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court. | |||||||||||
| Miscellaneous papers include court calendars for the 16th judicial district (1893 and 1897); points and authorities presented by Brown in two cases involving motions for a new trial (1879 and 1881); newspaper clippings; biographies of Brown from the National Cyclopaedia of Biography and De Lestry's Western Magazine (September 1898); a book containing memorials read in Brown's honor at the opening of the Minnesota Supreme Court (January 8, 1924); and other printed miscellany. | |||||||||||
| Calvin L. Brown: Correspondence and autograph book, 1881-1920 and 1876-1894. | |||||||||||
| The bulk of the correspondence concerns family matters, particularly Brown's inquiries regarding the family genealogy. Correspondents include his mother, Orissa . Maxfield Brown (April 30, 1893); a great aunt, Mary Burdick, and her daughter Lucinda Johnson (1893-1894); another aunt, Mary M. Lombard, and her daughter Ella Perry (April 7-18, 1893); the town clerk of Henniker, New Hampshire (May 21, 1893); the Minnesota Society of Sons of the American Revolution (January 6, 1893); and the United States Bureau of Pensions (June 12, 1893). | |||||||||||
| Also included are two letters from Ignatius Donnelly (May 12, 1881 and April 14, 1890), the first relating to settlement of a legal judgment against Donnelly, the latter acknowledging the receipt of a letter from Brown; two letters from Governor Knute Nelson (February 21, 1893 and September 8, 1894) requesting Brown to assist as a judge in the 11th and 13th judicial districts; a letter from Warren Upham, Minnesota Historical Society librarian, thanking Brown for donating a newspaper volume; a letter from Chief Justice Charles Start (September 21, 1912) concerning his decision to decline the nomination for another term; and three letters Brown wrote to Montreville (November 9, 1909, February 23, 1910, and November 6, 1912). | |||||||||||
| There is also a bound autograph book (1876-1894) kept by Annette Marlow Brown. | |||||||||||
| Montreville J. Brown, undated and 1897-1972. | |||||||||||
| Includes the text of three high school orations by Brown (undated and 1897); a newspaper clipping (1923) related to Brown's representation of the state of Minnesota before the United States Supreme Court in a suit brought by the state of North Dakota against Minnesota over damages caused by a drainage project along the Mustinka River; a brief autobiography written for a high school reunion at Bemidji High School (November 1, 1967); and a memorial read at memorial exercises for deceased members of the Ramsey County Bar Association (April 28, 1972). | |||||||||||
| Box | |||||||||||
| 142.G.1.2F-1 | 2 | Army Commission and Scrapbook, 1848, 1876-1920. | |||||||||
| Includes John H. Brown's commission as captain of the 10th Company of the New Hampshire 9th Infantry Regiment (May 1, 1848) and a scrapbook containing material focused primarily on Calvin L. Brown (1876-1920). The scrapbook includes newspaper clippings covering various cases handled by Calvin and his father John; Calvin Brown's election as judge of the 16th judicial district (1887); his election as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Minnesota Masons (1894); and his election as a state supreme court justice (1898). Also contained in the scrapbook are drawings, photographs, newspaper obituaries for John H. Brown (January 1890) and Alexander Marlow (March 1894); and various printed miscellany. | |||||||||||
CATALOG HEADINGS
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.
- Topics:
- County attorneys -- Minnesota -- Kandiyohi County.
- County attorneys -- Minnesota -- Stevens County.
- Persons:
- Brown, Annette.
- Brown, Calvin Luther, 1854-1923.
- Brown, John Harrison, 1824-1890.
- Brown, Montreville Jay, 1884-1971.
- Brown, Orissa Maxfield.
- Carr family.
- Gaston family.
- Marlow family.
- Maxfield family.
- Organizations:
- Freemasons -- Minnesota.
- United States. Army. New Hampshire Infantry Regiment, 9th. Company, 10th.
- Places:
- Willmar (Minn.)
- Morris (Minn.)
- Bemidji (Minn.)
- Occupations:
- Lawyers -- Minnesota -- Bemidji.
- Lawyers -- Minnesota -- Morris.
- Lawyers -- Minnesota -- Willmar.
- Judges -- Minnesota.
- Titles:
- Willmar Republican.
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