(East Tennessee and the Civil War by Oliver Perry Temple)
East Tennessee and the Civil War by Oliver Perry Temple
https://www.amazon.com/Tennessee-Civil-Oliver-Perry-Temple-ebook/dp/B005WKG8B8?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B005WKG8B8
Neill Smith Brown was born on April 18, 1810 near Pulaski, Giles County, Tennessee, and died in Nashville, Tennessee. His grandfather, Angus Brown, came from Scotland to America in time to fight under Francis Marion in the American Revolution. His parents, Duncan Brown and Margaret (Smith) Brown, emigrated from Robertson County, North Carolina, to Tennessee, in 1809.
Neill began work on a farm at the age of seven years and with his small savings managed to attend school now and then, but before his seventeenth year he had learned little more than reading and writing. He was then able to spend two sessions at the Manual Labor Academy in Maury County.
Securing funds for further education by teaching school, Neill Brown next studied law with Chancellor Bramlett, was admitted to the bar in 1834, and began the practise of law in Pulaski. A year later he moved to Texas, opening a law office in Matagordo, but, disappointed, soon returned to Tennessee, and is next heard of when he enlisted in Robert Armstrong's brigade of Tennessee troops for service against the Seminoles in Florida.
Joining the anti-Jackson movement, which was led by those in the state whom Jackson had discomfited in politics, Brown was nominated elector on the Whig presidential ticket in 1836, and in 1837 was elected to the state legislature, where he was the youngest member. Defeated for Congress in 1843 by Aaron V. Brown, Democrat, in the so-called "Brown" race, he was elected governor over the same competitor in 1847, the youngest governor of the state up to that time. Again defeated by a Democrat in 1849, he was sent as minister to Russia in 1850. After three years he returned to the state legislature as speaker of the House.
The Whig party of the state was now disintegrating, as its old anti-Jackson leaders disappeared, and Brown, though taking no active part in politics after 1856, allied himself with the Democrats.
Though opposed to secession, he took office in 1861 under the state government of Tennessee as a member of the military and financial board. When the Union forces captured Nashville in 1862, he was imprisoned for a time by Andrew Johnson, the military governor. During the remainder of the conflict he was neutral in action but with Southern sympathies.
His last public service was as delegate to the Tennessee constitutional convention of 1870, of which his younger brother, John Calvin Brown, was president.
Brown died on January 30, 1886, and is interred at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Nashville, Tennessee.
Neill Smith Brown's administration as governor was not as notable as his best work, which extended throughout his life, was his unvarying and constructive support of the public schools before and after the Civil War. He aided in securing grants from the Peabody fund, upon which Peabody College was later established. Neill Brown was a successful lawyer for fifty years except for the frequent diversions into politics which he made in early life. His fame and influence were due in large part to effective oratory. Another his chief achievement was in founding of Tennessee's Whig Party of which Brown was an active member from the start. Even after he took no further part in politics, former Whigs continued to regard him as one of their greatest leaders.
(East Tennessee and the Civil War by Oliver Perry Temple)
The Browns in America were small farmers and strict Presbyterians.
At the start of his political career Brown joined the anti-Jackson movement, and was nominated elector on the Whig presidential ticket in 1836. In 1837 he was elected to the state legislature, where he was the youngest member. Participating in the so-called "Brown" race, Brown was defeated for Congress in 1843 and then he was elected governor over the same competitor in 1847, becoming the youngest governor of the state up to that time. Again defeated by a Democrat in 1849, he was sent as minister to Russia in 1850.
After three years he returned to the state legislature as speaker of the House. By that time old anti-Jackson leaders had disappeared and the Whig party of the state was disintegrating. For that reason Brown, though taking no active part in politics after 1856, allied himself with the Democrats.
Quotations: He said of himself: "I had a native ambition to rise from obscurity and to make myself useful in the world, to shine and be distinguished. . My poverty pushed me on. I started life on nothing, was as poor as any man in Tennessee who ever became at all known. "
Quotes from others about the person
Brown was "one of the most amiable characters and brightest minds in Tennessee history, " but failed of opportunity to round out his public career on account of the decline of the Whig party after he reached the age of forty.
Brown married in 1839 Mary Ann Trimble, daughter of Judge James Trimble of Nashville, who was a man of position and influence and opposed to secession. There were eight children.
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