Sacramento County
Biographies
JOHN QUINCY BROWN
JOHN QUINCY BROWN.--Among the leading members of
the legal profession in Sacramento is inscribed the name of John Quincy Brown,
attorney-at-law, and commissioner of public works of Sacramento. He was born in Sacramento, his parents being
John Quincy and Anna Mary (Williams) Brown.
The father, John Quincy Brown served the city of Sacramento as mayor
from 1881 to 1887, and also filled the position of county recorder, public administrator,
levee commissioner and other official positions which demanded the time and
attention a conscientious citizen such as he. He was born in Kentucky in the year 1829, and
in 1850 crossed the plains to California.
At the age of twenty-four he was elected to fill the position of public
administrator, and when twenty-six was elected county recorder of Sacramento
County. For sixteen years, or four
terms, he served as a member of the board of trustees of the Napa State Asylum
for the Insane, a position he was filling at the time of his death on December
20, 1892. His father William B.C. Brown,
grandfather of our subject, was a large planter in the Blue Grass State,
extensively interested in tobacco growing.
A son, William B. Brown, a younger brother of John Quincy Brown, also
came to California in 1860, and became very prominent in the state. He served as state comptroller [sic] during
the Irwin administration and he was three times Presidential elector on the
Democratic ticket. Our subject’s mother
was a daughter of Joel Price and Margaret Williams of Missouri. Joel Price Williams came to California in the
pioneer gold days and was a prominent mining man in the early history of the
state. He came of a very prominent
family in Missouri, members of the family having served in the Indian wars, and
also in the Mexican War. There were two
children in the family of John Quincy and Anna M. (Williams) Brown: John Quincy Brown of this sketch, and a girl
who died at the age of six years. The
mother passed away on November 2, 1915.
The father was the first general manager for the California State Board
of Trade and was one of the original twenty-four trustees of Leland Stanford
University. His death in 1892 removed
one of California’s most worthy and influential citizens.
Much of the boyhood of our subject was
taken up studying in the city schools of Sacramento, and he also attended the
St. Augustine Episcopal Military Academy at Benicia and the Golden State
Academy at Oakland. After graduating
from the University of California with the degree of PH. B., he joined his
father, who was then general manager of the Capital Gas Company, and acted as
assistant manager. During the years he
was with the company he served in different positions. From 1892 to 1897 he was
assistant clerk of the board of supervisors in San Francisco. He was graduated from the Hastings College of
the Law, San Francisco, in 1901, with the L.L. B. degree, and then went to
Kansas City, and there remained until 1908, when he returned to Sacramento.
From 1909 to 1914, Mr. Brown served as
deputy district attorney of Sacramento County.
In 1917 he was appointed a member of the civil service commission of
Sacramento and was elected president of the commission, serving as such until
July, 1919. That year, he was elected
commissioner of public works and on July 1, 1919, was elected president of the
city commission and in this capacity acted as mayor of Sacramento.
On November 28, 1888, Mr. Brown was united
in marriage with Miss Jessie Brown, a daughter of Dr. J. T. Brown, of
Independence, Jackson County, Mo. Two
sons have blessed the home of Mr. and Mrs. Brown. Harry Edgar is a graduate of Stanford
University, and by profession is an attorney-at-law. He is now in the general-manager’s orders
department of the Southern Pacific Railroad.
During the World War he enlisted in the Grizzlies; later he was
transferred to the Bureau of Information, was sent over-seas, and served in
France and in the Army of Occupation in Germany for two years. The younger son, John Quincy, Jr., graduated
from the University of California in 1918, with the degree of A.B., and later
from the law department of this university with the degree of J.D. He is now associated with J.W.S. Butler, and
is United States commissioner for the northern district of California, He
married Miss Harriett Moreland, the daughter of Bishop Moreland of the northern
diocese of California. He was a aviator during the
late war, in the hydroplane service, with the rank of ensign.
Mr. Brown is a Republican in politics; and
fraternally he is a member of the Sutter Club and the Del Paso Country Club;
while Mrs. Brown is a prominent member o the Independence Chapter, Daughters of
the American Revolution. Her sister,
Mrs. W.L. Webb, has been state historian of the daughters of the American
Revolution for the past four years. Mr.
Brown was one of the organizers of the University Club of Sacramento, and
served on the board of governors and as president and treasurer of the club
during the time of its existence. The
University Club occupied a prominent position in the social life of
Sacramento. It was one of the greatest
sufferers of any like institution on account of the exigencies of the World
War, for nearly all other members either enlisted or were drafted, excepting
only about forty-two members. When the club was disbanded, its furniture was
presented to the Sacramento Post of the American Legion for use in their new
club rooms.
Transcribed
by Louise E. Shoemaker, October 08, 2007.
Source: Reed, G. Walter, History of Sacramento County, California With Biographical Sketches,
Pages 408-411.
Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA. 1923.
© 2007 Louise E. Shoemaker.