Brown, Oswell C.

BROWN

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 6/17/2021 at 22:00:07

Source: History of Warren County, Iowa, by Gerard Schultz and Don L. Berry, The Record and Tribune Co., Indianola, Iowa, 1953, p.290

OSWELL CHASE BROWN
Oswell Chase Brown was born in West Bedford, Coshocton county, Ohio, Sept. 17, 1855, and died in Indianola, Iowa, Jan. 30, 1940, h aving been a member of the Warren County bar for over 60 years. He was graduated from the West Bedford academy and taught seven terms of school in Coshocton county before coming to Indianola April 15, 1876, to study law. He was admitted t o the Warren County bar Aug. 22, 1878, and soon after was appointed deputy county auditor. He was elected auditor i n 1883 and reelected in 1885. In 1888 he was elected city solicitor for Indianola, and in 1890, county attorney, serving two terms. On April 24, 1879, he married Jennie Hamilton, daughter of James and Minerva Hallam Hamilton, and granddaughter of David Hallam of the pioneer banking firm of Hallam & Son, which later reorganized as the First National bank of Indianola. Mrs. Brown was born Oct. 25, 1859, in Longpoint, Ill., and died July 27, 1946, at 605 West Ashland avenue in Indianola, the Brown residence for over half a century. They were parents of three children: Robert Cooper, born Dec. 6, 1881, who died Oct. 10, 1901, in his senior year at Simpson college; Gertrude, now Mrs. Ralph Henderson, Sioux City, Iowa, who was born Aug. 25, 1883, and graduated from Simpson college in 1904; Margaret (Mrs. George C. Goode), born April 18, 1885, and died Jan. 10, 1933. One grandson, George Brown Goode, was born June 27, 1915, and died Aug. 4, 1933. There are three granddaughters: Mrs. Royal Daniel and Mrs. Richard Hoover, Pittsburgh, Pa., and Mrs. Paul Strawn, Sacramento, Calif. Mr. Daniel is managing editor of the Sun-Telegraph in Pittsburgh, Mr. Hoover is business manager of the Pittsburgh Play House, and Mr. Strawn is employed in the California tax commission. Mrs. Gerald E. Korn, Levittown, Long Island, is a great-granddaughter. Mr. Korn is an associate editor of Collier's Weekly magazine.
Mr. Brown was a Republican, devoted unconditionally to the Republican philosophy of government instilled in him by his father, George Brown, who was one of the organizers of the party in Coshocton county, Ohio. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and in this, too, he was keeping faith with his family traditions. He was a direct descendant of George Brown, who came from England in 1740 and settled on Pipe creek in Carroll county, Maryland., and in whose hospitable big stone house Robert Strawbridge, founder of Methodism in Maryland, was a welcome guest. The Strawbridge church, the first Methodist church to be built in Maryland, stood on Pipe creek near the Brown tract, and members of the Brown family were among the early subscribers.
At the time of Mr. Brown's death the Warren County Bar association adopted resolutions setting forth in part that "the association found in him a profound student of law; that his approach to problems of every day practice was practical and enlivened by a humorous outlook; that the law for his clients, associates and colleagues was never dull; that Mr. Brown was reliable and faithful to all his obligations and he personified all the best in the legal profession; that with him passes one of the last ties between the pioneer practitioner and the present bar."

History of Warren County, Iowa from Its Earliest Settlement to 1908, by Rev. W. C. Martin, Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1908, p.398
OSWELL CHASE BROWN
Oswell Chase Brown, by the consensus of public opinion and by the proof of the legal records of the state, is accorded a place among the distinguished lawyers of his district and has made a particularly enviable record in his practice before the supreme court. He was born in Coshocton county, Ohio, September 17, 1855, of the marriage of George J. and Lorinda (Parrott) Brown, the former a native of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, born October 7, 1825, while the latter was born in New Brunswick, August 13, 1833. The Brown family is of English origin, while the Parrott family is of Irish descent. George J. Brown traced his ancestry back to Richard Brown, of the Seventh Maryland Continental troops in the Revolutionary War. In his early days George J. Brown engaged in teaching bookkeeping and commercial law in Washington and Jefferson College and later in life followed merchandising, in which business he met with gratifying prosperity. He was a man of ability and wielded a wide influence in his community. He possessed clear insight into questions of general importance, was sound in his views, correct in his conclusions and loyal and progressive in his citizenship. He became one of the organizers of the Republican Party in Ohio and always remained one of its stalwart champions. Both he and his wife were devoted members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mrs. Brown acquired an academic education and was a lady of culture and refinement. The death of the father occurred in 1902 at West Bedford, Ohio, when he had reached the advanced age of seventy-nine years, and his wife has also passed away.
Oswell C. Brown, the eldest in their family of nine children, attended the West Bedford (Ohio) Academy and was also a student in Simpson College. On the 15th of April, 1876, he arrived at Indianola, Iowa, and became a law student in the office and under the direction of the firm of Williamson & Parrott, well known attorneys here. On the 22d of August, 1878, he was ad­mitted to the bar before Judge Leonard, who then sat upon the district bench, and after teaching school for a year or two he entered upon the practice of his profession in Indianola. About three years later he was appointed deputy auditor under W. F. Warthen and filled that position for three years on the expiration of which period, in 1885, he was elected to the office of auditor of Warren County on the Republican ticket, and received public endorsement of his capable service in a reelection in 1885. Upon his retirement from that position he resumed the private practice of law, in which he has continued to the present time. He has, however, been called to different offices. In 1890 he was elected county attorney of Warren County and was reelected for a second term, thus holding this position for four years. He was also elected to the office of city solicitor of Indianola in 1888, and as in the other instances, he was reelected to a second term to this position. He has been and is a very successful lawyer, his clientage connecting him with the most important interests in the court. He has practiced extensively before the supreme court of the state and enjoys the fullest respect of the judges of that court. He has much natural ability and is a man of wide reading and scholarly attainments. He is a hard student and is never contented until he has mastered every detail of his cases. He is a believer in the maxim, "there is no excellence without great labor," and he follows it closely. He is never surprised by any unfore­seen discovery by an opposing lawyer, for in his mind he weighs every point in his preparation of cases and fortifies himself as well for defense as for attack. There are few lawyers who win a larger percentage of their cases before either judge or jury than he does. He convinces by his concise statements of law and facts rather than by attempts at word painting and so high is the respect for his legal ability and integrity that his assertions in court are accepted and are seldom questioned seriously. He has achieved this position at the bar by his individual effort, united with habits of untiring industry and the devotion of his best service to his clients' interests. As a counselor he deservedly takes high rank and his accurate knowledge of the law is conceded by the members of his profession whom he meets in the practice.
On the 24th of April, 1879, Mr. Brown was married to Miss Jennie Hamilton, who was born at Long Point, Illinois, October 25, 1859, and came with her parents, James and Minerva (Hallam) Hamilton, to Warren county, Iowa, in 1860. Mr. and Mrs. Brown have become the parents of three children. Robert C., the eldest, died October 10, 1901 in his twenty-first year. He was a member of the class of 1902 in Simpson College, where he was pur­suing the classical course. He possessed much natural intellectual force and well developed talents, and was considered especially proficient as a Greek scholar. Gertrude, born August 25, 1883, is now the wife of James C. Smith, a druggist of Lohrville, Iowa, and is a graduate of Simpson College. Margaret H., born April 18, I885, is at home. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have one child,
Margaret D., three years of age.
In his political views, a stalwart Republican, Mr. Brown was for many years active in the interests of his party and has delivered many strong and able campaign addresses. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity, in which he has attained the degrees of capitular Masonry and both he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.