Brown, William R. (William Reynolds), 1816-1874

William Reynolds Brown was born in March 8, 1816, in Virginia. In 1833 he was apprenticed to a carpenter in Mount Carmel, Illinois, where he remained until April 1841. He and Charles T. Cavileer then traveled to St. Louis, where they joined Benjamin T. Kavanaugh, superintendent of Methodist missions to the Dakota and Ojibwe in Minnesota, on a trip to that state. Kavanaugh had promised Brown a year's carpentry work at the mission. On May 18, 1841, they arrived at Red Rock, located on the Mississippi River directly east of the Dakota village of Kaposia. That autumn Brown married Martha A. Boardman. Cavileer and Brown soon began farming on claims near the Red Rock mission, where Brown continued to do carpentry work and also served as justice of the peace. Around 1846 Cavileer sold his portion of the farm to Brown and dissolved the partnership. In 1851 Brown moved to St. Paul and engaged in land speculation. During the panic of 1857, he lost all of his wealth, said to be near $50,000. He then returned to farming.

Brown served with Companies G and H, Sixth Minnesota Infantry. He was mustered into the regiment on August 16, 1862, aged 46, and was mustered out on August 19, 1865. His wife died during his absence, and upon his return he remarried, to Clara A. Parker of Newport, Minnesota. They settled in Newport where he operated a carpentry shop and engaged in land speculation. Brown also served several years as Newport's justice of the peace.

William R. Brown died on November 25, 1874.

Biographical information was taken from Loehr, Rodney C., ed., Minnesota Farmers' Diaries: William R. Brown, 1845-46 ; Mitchell Y. Jackson, 1852-63 (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 1939), pp. 2-5.

From the guide to the William R. Brown and family papers., 1840-1972 (bulk 1855-1900)., (Minnesota Historical Society)