John Robert BROWN, Congress, VA (1842-1927)

BROWN, John Robert, a Representative from Virginia; born near Snow Creek, Franklin County, Va., January 14, 1842; attended private schools in Franklin and Henry Counties; entered the Confederate Army in 1861 as a private in Company D, Twenty-fourth Regiment, Virginia Volunteers; formed a partnership with his father in the tobacco business at Shady Grove in 1870; moved to Martinsville, Henry County, in 1882 and continued in the tobacco business; also engaged in banking; mayor of Martinsville 1884-1888; elected as a Republican to the Fiftieth Congress (March 4, 1887-March 3, 1889); unsuccessfully contested the election of Claude A. Swanson to the Fifty-fifth Congress; reengaged in the tobacco business; retired from active business pursuits; died in Martinsville August 4, 1927; interment in Oakwood Cemetery.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present