Charles Hiram Brown (July 20, 1858 – January 6, 1933) was an American lawyer and judge from New York.

Early life and education

Brown was born on July 20, 1858, in

West Winfield, New York West Winfield is a village in the town of Winfield in Herkimer County, New York, United States. The population was 826 at the 2010 census. The village is indirectly named after General Winfield Scott. The village is south of Utica. History An ...

, the son of merchant-miller Hiram Clark Brown and Alice Ann Stuart. He was a descendant of '' Mayflower'' passenger Peter Browne. Brown attended the West Winfield Academy. He was apprenticed in the printing trade when he was 12, working in the trade until 1875. That year, he went to the Hungerford Collegiate Institute in

Adams Adams may refer to: * For persons, see Adams (surname) Places United States *Adams, California *Adams, California, former name of Corte Madera, California *Adams, Decatur County, Indiana *Adams, Kentucky *Adams, Massachusetts, a New England town ...

. He graduated from there in 1877. He also taught in school for one term. In 1878, he began studying law in the office of Mills, Palmer & Morgan in Little Falls. He was admitted to the state bar in 1880, and in 1881 he opened a law office in Richburg.

Career

Brown was an active member of the Republican Party, serving as Chairman of the Republican County Committee. He was town supervisor of Bolivar in 1888 and 1889. In 1889, he was elected

District Attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a l ...

of Allegany County. He was re-elected to the office in 1892 and 1895. In 1891, he moved to

Belmont Belmont may refer to: People * Belmont (surname) Places * Belmont Abbey (disambiguation) * Belmont Historic District (disambiguation) * Belmont Hotel (disambiguation) * Belmont Park (disambiguation) * Belmont Plantation (disambiguation) * Belmon ...

, then one of the two county seats, and managed to have Belmont declared the sole county seat. Brown was assistant United States attorney for the Northern District of New York from 1897 to 1898. He then served as United States attorney, first for the

Northern District of New York The United States District Court for the Northern District of New York (in case citations, N.D.N.Y.) serves one of the 94 judicial districts in the United States and one of four in the state of New York. Appeals from the Northern District of New ...

then for the Western District of New York. He served as a justice on the

New York Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the trial-level court of general jurisdiction in the New York State Unified Court System. (Its Appellate Division is also the highest intermediate appellate court.) It is vested with unlimited civ ...

from 1907 to 1928.

Personal life

Brown was warden of his local Episcopal Church. He was a member of the

Freemasons Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

, the Royal Arch Masonry, the

Knights Templar , colors = White mantle with a red cross , colors_label = Attire , march = , mascot = Two knights riding a single horse , equipment ...

, and the Shriners. In 1881, he married Alice C. Smith of Adams. They had two children, Charles H. Jr. and Harold Stuart. Harold worked as a lawyer in Buffalo as part of the law firm Locke, Babcock, Hollister & Brown. Brown died at his home on January 6, 1933. He was buried in Forest Hills Cemetery.

References

External links

*
The Political Graveyard
' {{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Charles H. 1858 births 1933 deaths People from Winfield (town), New York People from Allegany County, New York 19th-century American lawyers 20th-century American lawyers United States Attorneys for the Northern District of New York United States Attorneys for the Western District of New York County district attorneys in New York (state) New York Supreme Court Justices 20th-century American judges Town supervisors in New York (state) New York (state) Republicans 20th-century American Episcopalians American Freemasons Burials in New York (state)