Brown, J. J.

BROWN

Posted By: Joyce Hickman (email)
Date: 11/18/2007 at 19:19:52

J. J. Brown, railroad contractor, Council Bluffs, is a native of Ireland; was born in 1833, and in 1845 came to the United States with his parents, who settled in Springfield, Mass. He came to Chicago in the spring of 1849, thence to Dubuque, Iowa, in 1853, and in 1865 came to Council Bluffs, where he engaged as a contractor on the Chicago & North-Western Railroad. In Council Bluffs, in 1867, he married Miss Ryan, and by this union they have one daughter - Nora M., aged twelve years, now attending school in South Bend, Ind. In 1868, he engaged in the hardware business under the firm name of Brown & Ryan, in which he continued for three years, then sold out, and in 1870 went to Texas, where he built 200 miles of the International Railroad, now the Texas Pacific. In 1862, he enlisted in the Twelfth Iowa Infantry; in 1863, was transferred into the Sixth Iowa Cavalry, in which he held the rank of First Lieutenant. In 1865, he enlisted in the regular army as Captain of the Commissionary department, and the same year left the service, being in the army in all four years and six months. He is a supporter of the Democractic party. (From the 1882 History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa)