John Willcox Brown (1833 - 1914)

Born 17 Jul 1833 in Petersburg, Virginia

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 21 Feb 1914 at age 80 in Afton, Albemarle County, Virginia

Problems/Questions Profile managers: James McGehee [send private message] and Anne Genova [send private message]

Biography

Lieutenant John Brown served in the United States Civil War.
Enlisted: Apr 19, 1861
Mustered out: Mar 15, 1863
Side: CSA
Regiment(s): 12th Regiment, Virginia Infantry, Co. E

Library of Virginia

Accession number: 87

John Willcox Brown Reminiscences, 1904-1913

• Biography for the collection:

John Willcox Brown was born 17 July 1833 in Petersburg, Virginia, to John Thompson Brown (1802-1836) and Mary Willcox Brown (1810-1868).

He attended the University of Virginia from 1851 to 1853.

When the Civil War began, he enlisted in Company E, 12th Virginia Infantry as a 2nd lieutenant. He rose to the rank of 1st lieutenant, then declined reelection to that post in 1862. Brown received a medical discharge in February 1863. Later that year, he was appointed a lieutenant of artillery in the Richmond defenses. In 1864, Brown was made inspector of ordinance and director of army work at Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond, Virginia. In 1865, he was appointed a lieutenant colonel of artillery.

After the war, he returned to Petersburg, and in 1869 Brown moved to Baltimore, Maryland, where he became one of that city's leading bankers. He retired to Elsham in Nelson County, Virginia, where he died 21 February 1914. On 21 May 1867, in Richmond, Virginia, he married Ellen Turner McFarland (b. 22 Mar 1846 in Richmond, Virginia - d. 1 Sept 1930 in Buffalo, New York) and they had at least three children.

From Find A Grave

From The Library of Virginia

Brown, John Willcox.

Reminiscences, 1904-1913.

Accession 87. 1 volume (54 leaves)

• Reminiscences, 1904-1913, of John Willcox Brown (1833-1914) of Afton, Chesterfield County, Virginia, concerning Virginia's post-Civil War debt controversy and loss of a large private mortgage investment operation due to the failure of the state legislature to repeal Virginia's usury law.
• The failed effort of an English contractor to purchase the James River and Kanawha Canal due to the Virginia general assembly.
• Brown's post-Civil War recovery plan for the state.
• Why Jefferson Davis (1808-1889) was never tried on charges of treason.
• Robert E. Lee's (1807-1870) polite refusal to become managing director of the Richmond, Virginia, branch of the Universal Life Insurance Company.
• Brown's personal relationships with slaves before and freedmen after the Civil War.
• Includes a transcript of a letter, 23 December 1868, from Robert E. Lee to J. Willcox Brown, and a letter, 18 March 1913, from Brown to H. R. McIlwaine (1864-1934), Virginia State Librarian.

Research Notes

• From death certificate - died Albemarle, Virginia, at age 80, occupation banker, married, informant, J. Thompson Brown of Wilmington, Delaware.
• Buried Lively Community Cemetery, Chester, Virginia.
• John was born in 1833. He passed away in 1914.

Sources

• Orphaned profile accepted Mar 2016
• From Smith Family Tree.ged imported on Sep 29, 2012 by Lisa Greer (Smith)
• Genealogical Notes About the Dunn Family of Petersburg, Virginia February 1959 By Richard McIlwaine DunnPage 29
• Find A Grave: Memorial #102203185
• Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970. Louisville, Kentucky: National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.
• "Virginia, Death Certificates, 1912-1987," database with images, FamilySearch
• "A Virginia Heritage", by Eleanor Brown Merrill, Privately Printed, 1968. Library of Congress Card Catalog Number 68-54707, Press of Whittet & Shepperson, Richmond, Virginia. Brown Chart, page 15. Found in the public domain.
• John Willcox Brown Reminiscences, 1904-1913
• grave stone
• North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000
• Military: "U.S., Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861-1865"
  Historical Data Systems, Inc.; Duxbury, MA 02331; American Civil War Research Database
  Ancestry Record 1555 #997174 (accessed 28 March 2022)
  Name: John Wilcox Brown; Enlistment Age: 27; Birth Date: 1834; Enlistment Date: 19 Apr 1861; Enlistment Place: Petersburg, Virginia; Enlistment Rank: 2nd Lieut; Muster Date: 19 Apr 1861; Muster Place: Virginia; Muster Company: E; Muster Regiment: 12th Infantry; Muster Regiment Type: Infantry; Muster Information: Commission; Rank Change Date: 1 May 1862; Rank Change Rank: 1st Lieut; Muster Out Date: 15 Mar 1863; Muster Out Information: disch; Side of War: Confederacy; Survived War?: Yes; Residence Place: 31 Bollingbrook St, Petersburg, Virginia; Title: The Virginia Regimental Histories Series.