Browne, William Phineas, 1804-1869

William Phineas Browne was born July 8, 1804 and died January 13, 1869. He was born in Vermont but around the age of 18 he moved to Pennsylvania at the invitation of his cousin John B. Ives who was a contractor on the Union Canal. At the age of 21 W. P. Browne began to study law under Enoch D. Woodbridge and Phillip C. Tucker. When he was 27 he moved to North Alabama where he was a partner once more with John Ives on the Muscle Shoals Canal. Upon completion of the Muscle Shoals Canal he and John Ives moved to New Orleans to build the New Orleans Canal.

In 1835 Browne moved to Mobile where he purchased real estate and became a building contractor. By the year 1837 he was worth over $200,000. The depression of property and defective titles brought him to the verge of bankruptcy.

In 1848 he moved to Shelby County. He contracted most probably with J. Newton Smith to manufacture iron and mine coal. It is known that their first furnace was in blast prior to 1853. Evidence shows that Union General Wilson destroyed these works in April 1865. During the latter part of the Civil War he sold the mines, but continued to operate them under lease, until his death.

He was married in 1846 to Margaret Elizabeth Warwick Stevens. They had seven children, Claudia Grace, Margaret (Ruby) Stevens, William Bradford, Cecil, Nina, Arthur and Elizabeth Backus.

Nina Browne-De Cottes was born February 23, 1858 and died in 1936 of bronchial pneumonia. She was the daughter of William Phineas Browne and Margaret Elizabeth Warwick Stevens Browne. Mrs. De Cottes edited the woman's department of the "Montgomery Advertiser" from 1890-1908. She was the first female on the "Advertiser" staff. She was married February 8, 1877 to John MacMurphy De Cottes. They kept her sister Margaret (Ruby) Lewis' daughter Claudia until her marriage. There is no mention of them having any children of their own.