Brown, Henry B., fl. 1850-1859.

Artist commissioned by John R. Bartlett to sketch California scenes and Indians. Relative of San Francisco postmaster Jacob Bailey Moore. Later, American consul to Bermuda (ca. 1854-1859). Often mistakenly identified in reference sources as artist Harrison B. Brown of Maine or as former slave Henry Box Brown.

Brown was an artist commissioned by John Russell Bartlett to gather information about and make sketches of Calif., as a part of the commission to chart the U.S-Mexican border, and to travel to northern Calif. to sketch views of landscapes and Indian life.

Biographical Information

Henry B. Brown is believed to have been born in Cambridge, Massachusetts in January 1816. In the early 1840s, Brown worked as a portraitist, engraver, and illustrator. Brown arrived by ship in San Francisco in May 1851 and set up residence in the Post Office building where he began working for postmaster Jacob Bailey Moore. In late 1851, Brown left San Francisco to tour the California countryside, making illustrations of scenery and points of historical interest. Brown travelled through mining camps and settlements along the Yuba River east of Marysville, and in the vicinity of Grass Valley and Nevada City.

In 1852, John Russell Bartlett, Commissioner of the United States and Mexican Boundary Commission, was introduced to Brown by Jacob Bailey Moore. Bartlett commissioned Brown to gather information on native languages and create drawings and sketches of California scenery and the various Indian peoples and their activities. Throughout 1852, Brown travelled up the Sacramento River valley to Shasta City capturing images and local vocabularies for Bartlett.

In 1854, several of Brown's drawing were published in Bartlett's Personal Narrative of Explorations and Incidents in Texas, New Mexico, California, Sonora, and Chihuahua . From 1854 to 1859 Brown resided in Bermuda and in 1856 was appointed U.S. Consul for Bermuda. He resigned three years later and nothing was heard of him again.

Several 20th century biographical dictionaries of American artists conflate Henry B. Brown's identity with both New England artist Harrison B. Brown and escaped slave and abolitionist Henry Box Brown. The research of Dr. Thomas C. Blackburn in preparation of a study of Henry B. Brown and his California drawings has largely untangled this confusion, and is the basis of the preceding biographical sketch.