Biography of Frank Brown, Jacksonville, Duval County, FL

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Transcribed from:  The History of Florida:  Past & Present, The Lewis Publishing Co., Vol. 
II, page 115, 1923.

BROWN, FRANK, the popular clerk of the Circuit Court of Duval County, is a representative 
of an old and honored family of this county, and was born at Jacksonville, the present Florida 
metropolis.  As a boy and a youth he had fellowship with adversity and heavy responsibilities, 
but in his native city and county he has worked his way forward, besides here having inviolable 
place in popular confidence and esteem.

Mr. BROWN was born at Jacksonville on the 28th of November, 1869, and is a son of NICHOLAS 
and ELLEN (QUAILS) BROWN, of whose four children two are living.  From an appreciative review 
that appeared in the Florida Metropolis, a leading Jacksonville newspaper, December 31, 1921, 
are taken the following quotations:

"FRANK BROWN, clerk of the Circuit Court of Duval County, was born and reared in Jacksonville, 
received his education in the public schools of his native county, and at the age of twelve 
was forced to support a widowed mother and younger sister.  He secured employment in the foundry 
and machine shops of T. MURPHY, and passed through all the hardships that could come to a boy 
charged at that age with the responsibility of caring for loved ones.  Anxious to secure an 
education, intensely interested in public affairs, reading the newspapers and studying the 
problems of government, he was enabled through the friendship and aid of Colonel J. J. DANIEL, 
with the help of Mrs. M. W. SHEPARD, principal of the Brooklyn and Riverside school, and of 
Professor CHARLES DOD, to continue his studies at night and become fitted for the serious 
affairs of live.  By hard work and constant attention to duty he rose rapidly in the esteem 
of his employer, and finally was made secretary and treasurer of the T. Murphy Iron Works, 
with which he was connected nearly twenty-nine years.

In 1901 Mr. BROWN was elected to the City Council, from the Third Ward, and was reelected 
for six successive terms, serving as president of the council.  He retired from the service 
of the Murphy Iron Works and resigned from the Council to assume the duties, in 1913, of 
clerk of the Circuit Court, to which position he has since been twice reelected."

The original election of Mr. BROWN to his present office occurred on the 5th of November, 
1912, and his reelections occurred respectively in 1916 and 1920.  He is a loyal advocate 
of the principles of the democratic party, is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, and 
he and his wife are communicants of the Protestant Episcopal Church.

On the 14th of September, 1891, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. BROWN and Miss DORA LEE 
HOBBS, who likewise was born and reared in Jacksonville and who is a daughter of the late 
CHARLES W. and CHARLOTTE C. HOBBS.  Of the six children born to Mr. and Mrs. BROWN four 
are living:  FRANK WINFIELD, who is, in 1922, a member of the City Council of Jacksonville, 
married Miss HELEN TAYLOR, and they have one daughter, HELEN L.  T. MURPHY BROWN, the 
second son, is serving under his father as deputy clerk of the Circuit Court.  ROBERT 
ATKISSON is a student in the high school, and DOROTHY LEE, youngest of the children, is 
attending the grammar school in her home city.