John Ross Browne
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John Ross Browne (February 11, 1821 in Beggars Bush, Dublin,
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
– December 9, 1875 in
Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...
), often called J. Ross Browne, date of birth sometimes given as 1817, was an Irish-born American traveler, artist, writer and government agent. In the late 1970s,
Ralston Purina Ralston Purina Company was a St. Louis, Missouri,–based American conglomerate with substantial holdings in animal feed, food, pet food, consumer products, and entertainment. On December 12, 2001, it merged with Swiss food-giant Nestlé's Fri ...
opened a chain of seafood restaurants named after Browne, called ''J Ross Browne's Whaling Station''.


Biography

John Ross Browne was the third of seven children born to Thomas Egerton Browne, an Irish newspaper editor, and his wife, Elizabeth (Buck) Browne. Thomas Browne was an ardent nationalist who ran afoul of the British government and was sent to prison, but released on condition of his leaving Ireland. In 1833 the family emigrated to the United States.J. Ross Browne Collection
Online Archive of California, accessdate 5 January 2013.
They settled in
Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...
, where Thomas became a schoolteacher and eventually editor and proprietor of the '' Louisville Daily Reporter''.John E. Kleber, ''The Encyclopedia of Louisville'' (Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 2001), 134. Browne briefly attended
Louisville Medical Institute The Louisville Medical Institute was a medical school founded in 1837 in Louisville, Kentucky. It would be merged with two other colleges into the University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in ...
, an experience that inspired his first book, ''Confessions of a Quack'' (1841). In 1842, after working several years on a riverboat, he signed on to a whaling ship. In 1846 he published the book ''Etchings of a Whaling Cruise'' at
Harper & Brothers Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins based in New York City. History J. & J. Harper (1817–1833) James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishin ...
, New York,John Ross Browne
Library of Ireland Compendium of Irish biography, 1878, accessdate 5 January 2013
which earned him recognition as an artist and writer, and is thought to have influenced
Herman Melville Herman Melville (Name change, born Melvill; August 1, 1819 â€“ September 28, 1891) was an American people, American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance (literature), American Renaissance period. Among his bes ...
. He married Lucy Anne Mitchell in 1844. The couple had nine children. In 1849, at the time of the
California Gold Rush The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California fro ...
, Browne moved to California and worked in various jobs for the government, as an agent for the Treasury Department, surveyor of customs houses and mints, investigator of Indian and Land Office affairs, and official reporter for the state constitutional convention. He published parts of these experiences in the popular press as ''From Crusoe's Island'' (1864).Browne, John Ross
From Crusoe's Island: a Ramble in the Footsteps of Alexander Selkirk
Harper and Brothers, New York, 1864, accessdate 5 January 2013
He then went on a trip to Europe and the Middle East, published his impressions serially at ''
Harper's Magazine ''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. (''Scientific American'' is older, b ...
'' and then in book form as ''Yusef'' (1853). Browne and his family moved in 1861 to Germany, an experience that resulted in ''An American Family in Germany'' (1866), with Browne's side trips detailed in ''The Land of Thor'' (1866). In 1863 he returned to the American West, vividly describing
Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, AlÄ­ á¹£onak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
,
Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sonora), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is d ...
and other regions in his ''Adventures in the Apache Country'' (1869). He was appointed Minister to China in 1868, but was recalled in 1870. Browne died December 9, 1875, in Oakland, California. The style of his writings influenced a number of authors such as
Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 â€“ April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...
,
Bret Harte Bret Harte (; born Francis Brett Hart; August 25, 1836 – May 5, 1902) was an American short story writer and poet best remembered for short fiction featuring miners, gamblers, and other romantic figures of the California Gold Rush. In a caree ...
and
Dan De Quille William Wright (1829–1898), better known by the pen name Dan DeQuille or Dan De Quille, was an American author, journalist, and humorist. He was best known for his written accounts of the people, events, and silver mining operations on the Com ...
.


Published writings

* 1841 – ''Confessions of a quack, or, The auto-biography of a modern Aesculapian'', James B. Marshall Publisher, Louisville, Kentucky, 1841. * 1850 â€
''Etchings of a whaling cruise: with notes of a sojourn on the island of Zanzibar, to which is appended a brief history of the whale fishery, its past and present condition''
Harper and Brothers, New York, 1850, * 1850 â€
''Report of the debates in the Convention of California''
Printed by J.T. Towers, Washington, 1850, * 1853 â€
''Yusef: or, The Journey of the Frangi; A crusade in the East''
Harper and Brothers, New York, 1853 * 1858 – ''Indian affairs in the Territories of Oregon and Washington: letter from the Secretary of the Interior, transmitting, in compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 19th instant, the report of J. Ross Browne, special agent, on the subject of Indian affairs in the Territories of Oregon and Washington'', January 25, 1858, referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs and ordered to be printed. Ex. doc. / 35th Congress, 1st Session, House of Representatives, no. 39, Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1858, * 1860 â€
''A Peep at Washoe''
Harpers New Monthly Magazine, December 1860. * 1860 – ''Report of the Secretary of the Interior, communicating, in compliance with a resolution of the Senate, the correspondence between the Indian Office and the present superintendents and agents in California, and J. Ross Browne, Esq.: together with the report of the Commissioner of Indians Affairs, inclosing the same to the department.'' Executive Document of the Senate, Congress of the United States, 1860, * 1861 – ''The Old Sea King: or, the wonderful adventures of Little Miché'', Harper's Weekly, no. 212, January 19, 1861, p. 44–45, * 1861–1862 – ''The Coast Rangers: a chronicle of adventures in California'', Paisano Press, Balboa Island, Calif. 1959, reprinted from Harper's New Monthly Magazine, volumes 23–24, 1861–62. Part 2 title: "The Indian Reservations" * 1864 â€

Harper and Brothers, New York, 1864 * 1864 â€
California's Indians: A Clever Satire on the Governments dealings with its Indian Wards
Published by Harper Brothers in 1864, reprint. * 1864–1865 – ''A tour through Arizona: San Francisco, California to Casa Grande, Arizona in October and November of 1864.'' Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Oct.–Dec., 1864, Jan.–March, 1865, * 1865 â€
''Washoe Revisited''
Harpers New Monthly Magazine, May, 1865. * 1865 – ''Down in the cinnabar mines; a visit to New Almaden in 1865'', Harper's New Monthly Magazine, October 1865, (v. 31, no. 185), * 1865 – ''The Bodie Bluff mines located in Mono county, California belonging to the Empire gold & silver mining co. of New York. With pen and pencil'', Clark & Maynard, New York, 1865, * 1865 – ''A trip to Bodie Bluff and the Dead Sea of the West.'' Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Sept. 1865, no. 184, * 1866 – ''An American Family in Germany'', Harper and Brothers, New York, 1866, * 1866 – ''The Reese River country'', Harper's New Monthly Magazine, June 1866 (v. 33, no. 193), * 1867 â€
''The Land of Thor''
Harper and Brothers, New York, 1867 * 1867 â€
''Report of J. Ross Browne on the mineral resources of the states and territories west of the Rocky Mountains''
United States Department of the Treasury, Washington, General Printing Office, 1867. , part of ''Reports upon the mineral resources of the United States'' * 1868 – ''Explorations in Lower California'', Three papers in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, October, November & December 1868, * 1869 – ''Adventures in the Apache Country: A Tour Through Arizona and Sonora, with Notes on the Silver Regions of Nevada'', Harper & Brothers, 1869. Also published in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, no. 173 (Oct. 1864) – 178 (Mar. 1865) (also numbered v. 29–30) * 1869 – ''Sketch of the settlement and exploration of Lower California'', H. H. Bancroft, San Francisco, 1869, – Also included as Part 2 of "Resources of the Pacific Slope" * 1869 â€
''Resources of the Pacific slope. A statistical and descriptive summary of the mines and minerals, climate, topography, agriculture, commerce, manufactures, and miscellaneous productions, of the states and territories west of the Rocky mountains''
coauthor Alexander S. Taylor, D. Appleton and Company, New York, 1869 * 1870 – ''The policy of extending local aid to railroads, with special reference to the proposed line through the San Joaquin Valley to the Colorado River'', Alta California printing House, San Francisco, 1870, * 1872 – ''Reclamation of marsh and swamp lands and projected canals for irrigation in California: with notes on the canal systems of China, and other countries'', Alta California printing House, San Francisco, 1872, * 1872 - Some of his illustrations are used by the American Publishing Company in ''
Roughing It ''Roughing It'' is a book of semi-autobiographical travel literature by Mark Twain. It was written in 1870–71 and published in 1872, as a prequel to his first travel book ''The Innocents Abroad'' (1869). ''Roughing It'' is dedicated to Twa ...
'' by
Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 â€“ April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...
. * 1875 – ''Address to the territorial pioneers of California, on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the admission of the State into the Union'', San Francisco News Letter and California Advertiser, San Francisco, 1875,


See also

* Mowry Massacres * 1860 Wiyot Massacre


References


Further reading

* Browne, Lina Fergusson, ed., ''J. Ross Browne: His Letters, Journals, and Writings'' (Albuquerque, N.M.: University of New Mexico Press, 1969) * Csiscilla, Joseph, "J. Ross Browne." ''Nineteenth-Century American Fiction Writers'' (DLB 202). Ed. Kent P. Ljungquist. Detroit: Gale Research, 1999. pp. 57–64. * * Wild, Peter (2003). ''J. Ross Browne''.
Boise, Idaho Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown are ...
: Boise State University "Western Writers Series" #157. pp. 49. *''The Mark Twain Encyclopedia'' edited by J. R. LeMaster, James Darrell Wilson, Christie Graves Hamric, Garland Publishing, Inc., New York and London, 1993


External links


Contributions to ''Harper's Magazine''




* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Browne, John Ross 1821 births 1875 deaths People from Ballsbridge 19th-century Irish people Irish writers American humorists American travel writers American draughtsmen Holy Land travellers People of the California Gold Rush 19th-century American journalists American male journalists 19th-century male writers Ambassadors of the United States to China Irish emigrants to the United States (before 1923)