William Wallace BROWN, Congress, PA (1836-1926)

BROWN, William Wallace, a Representative from Pennsylvania; born in Summer Hill, Cayuga County, N.Y., April 22, 1836; moved with his parents to Elk County, Pa., in 1838; attended the common schools and Smethport Academy; was graduated from Alfred University, Allegany County, N.Y., in 1861; enlisted in the Twenty-third New York Volunteers in 1861; transferred to the First Pennsylvania Rifles December 18, 1861; appointed recorder of deeds of McKean County in 1864 and its superintendent of schools in 1866; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1866 and practiced; elected district attorney of McKean County the same year; moved in 1869 to Corry, Erie County, Pa., where he served three years as city attorney and two years in the city council; member of the State house of representatives 1872-1876; appointed aide-de-camp to Governor Hartranft in 1876 and was associated with the National Guard of Pennsylvania; moved to Bradford, Pa., in 1878 and continued the practice of law; elected as a Republican to the Forty-eighth and Forty-ninth Congresses (March 4, 1883-March 3, 1887); unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1886; resumed the practice of law; city solicitor of Bradford 1892-1897; auditor for the War Department 1897-1899; auditor for the Navy Department 1899-1907; appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1907, and served until 1910, as Assistant Attorney General, in charge of defense of Spanish treaty claims; resumed the practice of law in Bradford, Pa., where he died November 4, 1926; interment in Alfred Cemetery, Alfred, Allegany County, N.Y.

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