Albert Gallatin Browne was born in Salem, Massachusetts, on December 8, 1805, the son of James Browne and Lydia (Vincent) Browne . In 1833 he married Sarah Smith Cox, born on November 27, 1810, the daughter of Benjamin Cox and Sarah (Smith) Cox. Four of their children reached adulthood: Albert Gallatin, Jr. (1835-1891), Sarah Ellen "Nellie" (1841-1864), Alice (1843-1912), and Edward Cox (1853-1911); two sons, Benjamin Cox (1838-1840) and Francis Cox (1851-1852), died in infancy.
Prior to the Civil War AGB was a partner in the firm of Whiton, Browne and Wheelwright, ship-chandlers. During the War he became an agent of the United States Treasury, appraising contraband and other properties that fell into Union hands. The years spent in the South, primarily at the coastal city of Beaufort, South Carolina, contributed to AGB's continued poor health upon his return to Salem. He died on October 9, 1885, two weeks before the death of his wife.
During 1864 AGB's wife Sarah and three of their children, Nellie, Alice, and Edward, joined him in Beaufort. Nellie helped nurse wounded soldiers at a military hospital. She also became engaged to Colonel Lewis Ledyard Weld. Weld, from Hartford, Connecticut, had graduated from Yale College in 1854 and served as Secretary of the Colorado Territory before resigning to command the 41st. Colored Infantry. In June 1864 Nellie died of typhoid fever; in January 1865 Colonel Weld died of wounds received at Petersburg, Virginia.
Albert Gallatin Browne, Jr. graduated from Harvard in 1853 and attended Dana Law School. In 1854 he was jailed for participation in a riot concerning a fugitive slave named Anthony Burns. After law school he studied at Heidelberg University, receiving his Ph.D. in 1855. Upon returning to Boston he opened a law practice with John J. Andrew, and in 1861 was appointed military secretary to Governor Andrew. AGB, Jr. was also a journalist. As a reporter for the New York Tribune, he accompanied Albert Sidney Johnston's expedition to Utah against the Mormons in 1857. In 1874 he became managing editor of the New York Evening Post, resigning a year later. In the 1880s he was a correspondent for the New York Herald .
From the guide to the Papers, (inclusive), (bulk), 1802-1962, 1833-1885, (Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute)
