Cabell County, West Virginia Biography of Douglas W. BROWN ************************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: Material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor. Submitted by Valerie Crook, , May 1999 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 143-144 DOUGLAS W. BROWN is a member of a Huntington law firm that handles perhaps as large a corporation and general practice as any other firm in the state. Mr. Brown has helped earn the high reputation and prestige of this firm, and his abilities have earned him wide popularity in the profession, which accounts for his present dignified honor of being president of the West Virginia Bar Association. Mr. Brown was born in Western Virginia, at Hillsville, Carroll County, August 11, 1877. His ancestors were Scotch people and early sought a home in the western portions of old Virginia. The Huntington attorney has good reason to cherish the memories of both his grandfathers. His grand- father Rev. Lee O. Brown was born in Virginia in 1813, was a minister of the Presbyterian Church, preaching in Wythe and Carroll counties and located in Carroll County in 1852. In Carroll County he settled in the Pine Creek vicinity, becoming pastor of the Bethesda Presbyterian Church, and at the same time he opened a school of the higher grades for young men, a school he named "Stu- dium." A few years later he removed to Hillsville, where he became pastor of a Presbyterian congregation and also a member of the faculty of the noted Ben Thompson Academy. Rev. Lee C. Brown died in Carroll County in 1888. He married Pauline Hoge, a native of Virginia, who also died in Carroll County. Their son, Douglas B. Brown, was born at Mechanicsburg, Giles County, Virginia, September 16, 1840, and was about twelve years of age when his parents removed to Carroll County. He acquired a very thorough academic training at the Studium and at the Ben Thompson Academy, and in 1859 began the study of law in the office of Col. A. J. Steadman, diligently prosecuting his studies until the spring of 1861. He volunteered with the first company of soldiers that went out from Carroll County under Capt. W. E. Jennings. This company became part of Kemper's Brigade, in Pickett's famous division, and Douglas B. Brown was one of the soldiers who participated in that immortal charge up the long hill at Gettysburg. He continued in the service until his command was surrendered at Appomattox in April, 1865. After the war Douglas B. Brown devoted his time largely to educational work, though he was always a news- paper publisher and for a number of years was principal of schools at Dover, Delaware. Then returning to his home county in Virginia, he was county superintendent of schools of Carroll County twelve years. From 1885 until 1892 he was a proof reader in the Government printing office at Washington. He spent his last years at Hillsville, where he died October 26, 1916. He was a democrat and a very devout Presbyterian. The crowning success of his life was his influence upon others, particularly the young. He was noted for his promptitude, punctuality and devotion to duty, and as a teacher he was distinguished as much by the in- spirational qualities of his leadership as by the facts of learning. He was an instructor of rare tact and ability, and as father of a family it was his chief purpose and ambition to train and educate his children for real usefulness, and it was his good fortune that he lived to see them all fully embarked upon such careers, performing the part of in- telligent and virtuous citizens, and earning both the esteem and respect of society. Douglas B. Brown married Miss Mary L. Lindsey, who was born in Carroll County, September 13, 1841, and is still living, at the age of eighty years, at Hillsville. Of their children the oldest is Robert Lee, a teacher in the public schools at Hillsville. Charles H., the second son, is general agent at Columbus, Ohio, for the Norfolk & Western Rail- way Company. Bessie is the wife of Jesse H. Fugate, a merchant of Radford, Virginia. William H. lives at Nor- folk and is tidewater manager of the New England Coal & Coke Company. Douglas W. Brown, youngest of the family, received most of his early education in Washington, D. C., attending high school there until the senior year. He graduated in 1893 from the Wytheville Male Academy at Wytheville, Virginia. He then entered the law office of Frank S. Blair, former attorney general of the State of Virginia, at Wytheville. Mr. Brown was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1898. His professional career has been entirely in West Virginia. After his admission he practiced at Williamson in Mingo County until 1909, and in the latter year came to Hunting- ton and formed a partnership with C. W. Campbell, and Gary N. Davis, under the firm name of Campbell, Brown & Davis. In 1919, there was a merger of the firms of Enslow, Fitzpatrick & Baker (Mr. Herbert Fitzpatrick be- ing the sole survivor of such firm, and Campbell, Brown & Davis under the firm name of Fitzpatrick, Campbell, Brown & Davis. On March 1, 1922, Mr. Campbell retired from the practice of law, and the present firm of Fitzpatrick, Brown & Davis was formed. This law firm is state counsel for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Company. Other prominent corporate interests represented by them as attorneys are the Western Union Telegraph Company, American Railway Express Company, Columbia Gas & Electric Company, American Car & Foun- dry Company, C. & P. Telephone Company, Huntington Na- tional Bank, First National Bank of Huntington, Hunting- ton Development & Gas Company, Fidelity & Casualty Com- pany, Standard Accident & Insurance Company, and Hunt- ington Water Company. The firm is also financially in- terested in many business affairs. Mr. Brown besides the honor he enjoys as president of the West Virginia State Bar Association is a former presi- dent of the Cabell County Bar Association, former vice president for West Virginia and member of the American Bar Association. He is a democrat, a member of the Pres- byterian Church, Huntington Rotary Club and Guyandotte Club. During the war he was one of the "Four-Minute" speakers in Cabell County, and was ready with his time and means to further every patriotic drive. On October 2, 1902, at Williamson, Mr. Brown married Miss Mary G. Williams, daughter of John E. and Flora A. G. (Glidden) Williams. Her father was a leading coal operator at Williamson, where he died, and her mother is still living there. Mrs. Brown is a graduate of the Chicago Conservatory of Music and a proficient violinist. Six chil- dren have been born to their marriage: Walter L., born in 1903, is a graduate of the Huntington High School and now a sophomore in the University of Virginia. John E., born in 1905, is a student in the Augusta Military Academy at Fort Defiance, Virginia. Flora, born in 1907, is in the Huntington High School. The three youngest children are Charlotte, born in 1909, Douglas W., Jr., born in 1912, and Campbell, born in 1915.