Biography/History

The papers of the Charles Newton Brown family consist of the papers of Charles Newton Brown; of his wife, Nellie Melvina Williams Brown; and of their son, Irving Henry Brown. Biographical data on each of the three follows.

Charles Newton Brown

Charles N. Brown was instrumental in organizing several institutions and associations, including the Madison Park and Pleasure Drive Association for which he served as secretary for twenty years and later as treasurer; and the Commercial National Bank, for which he was a vice-president and secretary of its board of directors. He was also at times vice-president of the Commercial Trust Company, secretary of the Northwestern Building and Loan Association, and secretary of the Dane County Abstract Association. His other civic activities included service as treasurer for fifteen years of the Madison General Hospital, life member and curator of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, and chairman of the Society's finance committee in 1924.

In addition he was a member of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, the Madison Club, and the University Club, serving as a director of the latter from 1916 until his death. Brown also owned property in downtown Madison and in the University area which he leased as apartments.

Chronology

1855, April 13	Charles Newton Brown born to Robert Williams and Ann Lavantia Brown in Brookfield, Madison County, New York. Later moved to a farm in Dane County, Wisconsin
1868	Graduated from Albion Academy, Albion, Wisconsin.
1870	Enrolled in Milton College
1871	Transferred to University of Wisconsin
1873	Taught in rural schools of Wisconsin
1878	Principal of Horicon High School
1879	Returned to University of Wisconsin to study law
1879-1905	Alderman for Madison's first ward
1881	Graduated from law school at University of Wisconsin, was admitted to the bar, and opened law practice in Madison
1884 May 6	Married Nellie Melvina Williams
1885 May 10	Son Charles Williams born
1886-1925	Court Commissioner
1888 October 29	Son Irving Henry born
1899 September 1	Charles Williams died
1907	Brown helped Cyrus Henry Brown of Westerly, Rhode Island, compile the Brown Genealogy of Many of the Descendants of Thomas, John, and Eleazer Brown, Sons of Thomas and Mary (Newall) Brown of Lynn, Massachusetts, 1628-1907
Dates unknown	Notary Public for several years
1925 December 31	Charles Newton Brown died

Nellie Melvina Williams Brown

Nellie Melvina Brown was a member of the First Congregational Church, Madison. With her sister, Jennie M. Williams, she owned apartment buildings on East Johnson, North Hamilton, and Lake streets in Madison.

Chronology

1856 September 25	Nellie Melvina Williams born in LaFayette, New York, to Henry Cole Williams and Diana Thomas Williams; later moved to Madison, Wisconsin
1876	Graduated from the University of Wisconsin, and taught high school until her marriage
1884 May 6	Married Charles Newton Brown
1951	Honored as University's oldest alumna
1951 May 2	Nellie Melvina Brown died at the age of 95

Irving Henry Brown

Since his childhood Irving was interested in the life styles of the gypsies in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Later opportunities to travel enabled him to study these nomadic peoples more extensively and helped him earn the reputation of the American authority on gypsies. To study these peoples he traveled to India, the Far East, Latin America, Andalusia, and to North Africa several times where he lived in the tents of the Ouled Nail Tribe.

His bibliography of published works is quite extensive. In addition, Irving wrote quite a few poems and books that were not published, many of which were on topics other than the gypsies. His published works include Nights and Days on the Gypsy Trail, 1922; Le Conte de Lisle: a Study on the Man and His Poetry with Original Adaptations in English Verse, 1924; Gypsy Fires in America, 1924; Deep Song, 1929; and Romany Road, 1932. He translated Blasco Ibanez's Enemies of Women in 1918 and the play Pasteur by Sacha Guitry in 1921. Minor articles were contributed to Forum, Travel, Survey Graphic, Romance Review, Bookman, Journal of Philosophy, Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society, New York Times Magazine, The Britannica, and The Portal, A Paper for Girls of the Methodist Book Concern.

Irving was a member of the Beta Gamma Chapter of Delta Tau Delta, Authors' Guild of the Authors' League of America, and American Association of University Professors, and was the American correspondent for the Gypsy Lore Society of England.

Chronology

1888 October 29	Irving Henry Brown born to Charles Newton and Nellie Williams Brown in Madison, Wisconsin
1907	Graduated from Madison High School. Entered the University of Wisconsin
1911	Received B. A. degree in French and Spanish from the University of Wisconsin; his undergraduate thesis was entitled “Edgar Allan Poe and His Disciples in France”
1912	Received M.A. degree from the University of Wisconsin
1912-1915	Instructor at the University of Wisconsin
1915	Began study for Ph.D. degree at Columbia University
1915-1916	Fellow in Romance Language at Columbia University
1916 June 4	Married Mary J. Sullivan, an actress from Oak Park, Illinois
1916-1917	Instructor in languages at Union College, Schenectady, New York
1918	Teacher at Culver Military Academy in Indiana
1918 October 8	Son William Woodberry born
1918-1919	Associate professor and acting head of the Department of Romance Languages at Western University, London, Ontario
1918 (or 1921)	Received Ph.D. from Columbia University
1921 January 23	Daughter Elizabeth Maiya born
1919-1924	Associate professor at the University of Cincinnati; after leaving Cincinnati was appointed assistant professor at Columbia University
1938 May 31	Irving and Mary Brown were divorced after a long separation
1940 December 28	Irving Henry Brown died of tuberculosis at Tucson, Arizona