Bio, William H. Browne 
 
WILLIAM H. BROWNE, Biography / Harrison City, Clare Co, MI 
 
Submitted for use by USGENWEB Clare County, Michigan November 2002 
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Portrait and Biographical Record of Northern Michigan.  Chicago: Record 
Publishing Co., 1895. 
 
WILLIAM H. BROWNE, a prominent lawyer of Harrison, holds the responsible 
position of Treasurer of Clare County.  His residence within the limits of the 
county dates from April, 1880, at which time he located in Farwell.  He had but 
$24 as capital, and rather than take the chances in the practice of law, the 
returns from which must necessarily be very slow, he accepted the position of 
Principal of the public schools to finish the unexpired term of his predecessor.  
His work was so satisfactory that he was re-elected for the winter of 1880-81.  
 
At the close of the school year Mr. BROWNE came to Harrison, the county seat.  
For nearly six years he was in partnership with GEORGE J. CUMMINGS, but 
since January, 1892, he has been alone.  He has succeeded in building up a 
remunerative practice and a good reputation as a lawyer.  In politics he has 
always been an ardent supporter of the Republican party and has frequently 
been honored by his fellow-citizens by being intrusted with various public offices.  
In 1881 he was chosen Superintendent of the Poor, and served as such for eight 
years.  After six years in the capactity of Circuit Court Commissioner he declined 
further nomination.  For five years he served acceptably as Justice of the Peace.  
In 1892 he was elected County Treasurer, being the only successful Republican 
candidate on the county ticket, and in 1894 received the largest majority ever 
given to a Republican county candidate. 
 
Mr. BROWNE is unacquainted with the genealogy of his family, as he was but a 
babe when his father, WILLIAM BROWNE, went to California to seek his fortune 
in the gold mines, and died while there.  The mother, MARY, died when her son, 
WILLIAM, who was an only child, was eight years of age.  He was born in Erie 
County, N.Y., February 2, 1850.  A lady who had been a nurse in the family took 
him to Canada, and when he was four years old he became a member of a 
Canadian family, but was ill-treated, and at the end of six months ran away.  For 
a short time he was cared for by an Irishwoman at St. Catherines, after which he 
lived for a year with ALEXANDER MUIR, a ship-owner and shipbuilder of Port 
Dalhousie, Canada, then returning to the kind-hearted Irishwoman's home.  One 
day he wandered on board a vessel owned by Capt. D.N. MILLOTTE, of 
Leamington, Ontario, with whom he remained until the fall of 1864, when the 
Captain was lost on Lake Michigan. 
 
In the spring of 1865 W.H. BROWNE went to Ohio, and for two years worked at 
Put-in-Bay and Toledo, then returned to Canada.  In April, 1867, he came to 
Michigan and stopped at Pontiac, where he obtained employment as a farm hand 
with G.M. SHATTUCK.  He was now seventeen years of age, and began to 
realize the importance of a good education.  While working as a farm hand he 
attended school and made such good progress in his studies that he soon 
obtained a certificate entitling him to teach, and this vocation he followed for the 
next five winters in the vicinity of Wall Lake, Oakland County.  In the summer he 
either attended a school or worked for farmers. 
 
It was in 1877 that Mr. BROWNE commenced to study the profession which he 
has since followed.  He entered the office of Hon. HENRY M. LOOK, and later 
studied with Messrs. ROBINS & DAVIS, of Pontiac, during this time acting as 
Deputy County Clerk for over a year.  In 1878 he was admitted to the Bar, but 
after that entered the senior class in the law department of the University of 
Michigan, and was graduated with the Class of '79.  He then went to Petosky, 
where he remained only a short time, and on account of ill-health made a trip to 
Canada.  From August, 1879, he worked on the County Poor Farm in Oakland 
County until December, when he obtained a school and taught for a term.  Then, 
as previously stated, he became a resident of this county. 
 
On Christmas Day, 1881, Mr. BROWNE married ELLA M., daughter of M. LAKE, 
a farmer of Oakland County, where she was born in 1858.  By her marriage she 
has become the mother of two sons and a daughter, namely: WILLIAM H., 
THEODORE M. and ETHEL A.  In his social relations Mr. BROWNE is a Royal 
Arch Mason, a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Uniformed 
Rank of the Knights of Pythias, the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the 
Knights of the Maccabees.  He is a young man of good ability and a high sense 
of his duty to his fellow-men, who have shown their confidence in him by 
honoring him with a high position.  In religious faith he is a Congregationalist, 
while his wife belongs to the Presbyterian denomination.