The family removed to
Mahoning County, Ohio, soon after William was born. He taught school in
Ohio, and then in
Copiah County, Mississippi, until 1861. During the
American Civil War he fought with the 88th and the 125th Ohio Volunteers. After the war, he removed to
Virginia City, then the capital of the
Montana Territory. He was Chief Clerk of the Territorial Legislature, and also engaged in gold mining. A few years later, he returned to
Youngstown, Ohio. He was a delegate from Ohio to the
1872 and
1876 Democratic National Conventions. In 1874, he was aide-de-camp to Gov.
William Allen, with the rank of colonel. In 1875, he was elected to the
Ohio State Senate. From 1875 to 1880, he published
The Vindicator in Youngstown. In 1880, he removed to
New York City and became a partner of
Benjamin Wood, co-publishing the
New York Daily News. Brown was a delegate from New York to the
1884 and
1888 Democratic National Conventions; and a member of the
New York State Senate (5th D.) from 1890 to 1893, sitting in the
113th,
114th,
115th and
116th New York State Legislatures. In 1895, Brown funded a monument to
newsboys in
Great Barrington, Massachusetts. The monument features a 5-foot tall bronze statue of a newspaper carrier, on top of a ten-foot tall base. The monument features a watering trough for horses, dogs and cats. After the death of Benjamin Wood in 1900, his widow Ida Wood ousted Brown from the management of the paper, and Brown retired to an estate in
Great Barrington, Massachusetts, where he engaged in horse and cattle breeding. He died there on December 13, 1906. ==References==