Warren Brown (politician)

Warren Brown was born in Hampton Falls, New Hampshire, the only child of John Berry and Sarah March Leavitt Brown. He was educated in the North School in Hampton Falls, the old Rockingham Academy in Hampton, and Phillips-Andover Academy in Andover, Massachusetts.[1]

Brown married Sarah Gertrude Norris on January 1, 1867.[2] Sarah was a native of Raymond and Dover, New Hampshire, and a daughter of Daniel L. Norris and Sophia (Osgood) Norris, born November 17, 1841. She was raised by her aunt Lavinia Osgood Meserve (Mrs. Samuel) in Lowell, Massachusetts, where she received her education. She subsequently moved to Hampton, where she taught in the public schools until her marriage. Warren and Sarah had five children:

• Unnamed male (August 4, 1868 – August 4, 1868)
• Harry Benson (June 8, 1870 – June 18, 1903)
• Arthur Warren (July 20, 1873 – 1960) married Frances Wadleigh (1881–1966) on October 11, 1906
  • Their children:
  • Charles Warren Brown (July 16, 1909)
  • Lois Wadleigh (May 2, 1911)
  • Harold Arthur (July 31, 1913)
  • Elinor Frances (December 12, 1915)
  • Ernest Norris (January 13, 1918
  • Winthrop Marshall (February 3, 1921)
• Gertrude Norris (May 17, 1878 – May 17, 1896)
• Mildred Leavitt (April 3, 1880 – December 5, 1965) married Roscoe Franklin Swain (1881–1946) on June 11, 1908
  • Their children:
  • Marjorie Morrill (July 9, 1909 – July 16, 1909)
  • Pearl Elizabeth (February 2, 1911 – November 23, 1986)
  • Kenneth Warren (August 9, 1913 – September 6, 2003)
  • Dorothy Gertrude (June 30, 1918 – February 17, 2011)

Sarah Brown died on January 24, 1917, after celebrating the couple's Golden Wedding anniversary on January 1 of that year. She was eulogized by her husband as being a "person of great executive ability and force of character."

Brown had a lifelong interest in agricultural matters. He managed and worked one of the largest and most productive farms in Rockingham County. His farm included orchards, salt marsh, dairy cattle, sheep and gardens sufficient to maintain his family and the employees for whom he provided room and board.

Brown was president of the New Hampshire State Agricultural Society for eleven years, treasurer of the New England Agricultural Society for twenty-five years, trustee of the New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts for 24 years, including four years served as chairman of the board.

In addition to agricultural interests, Brown was active in state politics. He was a state senator in 1872–73, a member of the state's Executive Council from 1879 to 1881 during the term of Natt Head as Governor, and a delegate to the 1884 Republican National Convention in Chicago, Illinois.[2] He was a state representative in 1887, and a presidential elector in 1908. He was also a Freemason.[2] Brown was a stockholder and active promoter of the electric railways in southern New Hampshire,[3] and owned and operated a sawmill on his estate.

Brown was a true native son, descended from many of the original settlers of the New Hampshire Seacoast Region, and very interested in his town's history. He wrote a two-volume history of Hampton Falls: History of Hampton Falls, N.H. Volume I and History of Hampton Falls, N.H. Volume II. Volume I spans from 1640 to 1900, while Volume II spans from 1900 to 1917.

Brown died September 19, 1919. He was buried in the family lot in the Westview Cemetery of Hampton Falls. He was predeceased by his wife Sarah, his daughter Gertrude and his son Harry.