Contra Costa County CA Archives Biographies.....Brown, Warren June 19, 1826 - May 14, 1889
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Steve Harrison raleighwood@juno.com February 14, 2009, 7:52 am

Author: W. A. Slocum & Company ?

HON. WARREN BROWN. This much respected argonaut of the State, and of Contra 
Costa as well, is the son of Hon. Elam Brown, whose biography will be found 
above, and was born in Morgan county, Illinois, June 19, 1826. On attaining the 
age of eleven years he was taken by his parents to Platte county, Missouri, 
where he received the education afforded by the common schools of the place; 
engaged in farming, and resided until his coming to California. At the date of 
which we write, gold had not yet been discovered, and California was a terra 
incognita to the Western people. All emigration was to Oregon, which, too, was 
considered the Ultima Thule of the American continent; it will then be 
understood by the reader how many were the consultations to take place in a 
family ere so arduous a journey should be undertaken. The mind of the head of 
the family being made up, after a long array of pros and cons, Mr. Brown, in 
company with his father, started from Missouri in the latter part of April, 
1846, almost to tempt fate, as it were, in the little-known land which lay 
between the confines of American civilization on the one hand, and far-off 
Oregon on the other. The train having duly met at its appointed rendezvous, the 
honored father of our subject was appointed its Captain, and to him fell its 
organization and conduct. "No man can tether time nor tide," says a close 
observer of human nature. "The ills that flesh is heir to" will follow all, be 
it at one's fireside or far away on the trackless ocean or boundless prairie. 
Our convoy proceeded safely and with scarcely a mishap of importance, until the 
North Fork of the Platte river was reached, when sickness became very 
prevalent, among the unfortunate victims of the scourge of typhoid fever being 
the subject of our narrative. What a blow was this to his father and companions 
may be readily imagined ; still it was impossible and impolitic to delay the 
entire expedition ; naught was therefore to be done but to place the invalid in 
a wagon and take to the nearest convenient station, which was Fort Bridger, 
where he was compelled to remain, while the train proceeded. It may be 
mentioned here that it was now that the command of Capt. Elam Brown took the 
road to California instead of that to Oregon, and thus truly what has been the 
loss of the latter country has been the gain of the first-named. Our duty, 
however, is with Mr. Warren Brown, who was left to recuperate at Fort Bridger. 
His recovery was slow, but thanks to youth, and a constitution inured to 
hardships, he at last was sufficiently restored to health to admit of his 
traveling; he therefore took his departure from the Fort October 12th, and 
continuing his journey to Oregon, arrived in Portland, December 9, 1846. Here 
Mr. Brown engaged in the cooper's business until September of the following 
year, when he proceeded to California and joined his father in the San Antonio 
redwoods, where he was employed in getting out lumber until June, 1848. On the 
discovery of gold, Mr. Brown was among the first to hie [?] to the New Dorado 
to seek his fortune. After mining successfully for a short time on the American 
river, he came back to Contra Costa, to return, however, in the following 
Spring; not long after he once more came to the county and settled in Martinez, 
where he opened a general merchandise establishment, and continued it for two 
years in partnership with his brother, Hon. T. A. Brown, the present Superior 
Judge of Contra Costa county, and N[apoleon] B[onaparte] Smith. In the Fall of 
1850, the subject of our memoir was elected to the office of County Surveyor 
the first to fill that position while in 1852 he was elected to the same 
functions, for a term of two years, which, however, he resigned in 1853, and in 
the Fall of 1854 was elected Member of Assembly for Contra Costa county, when 
he received five hundred and thirty-five votes, and served one term. He also 
was elected Sheriff of the county in 1869, and served until 1870-71. Mr. Brown 
next engaged in farming on the place now occupied by Mr. Raap, near Martinez, 
and, at the end of four years, purchased his present home of five hundred and 
fifty acres adjoining that of his father at Lafayette. Mr. Brown and his family 
are so well known and highly respected throughout the State, that any panegyric 
or sounding eulogium would be superfluous on our part; suffice it to say that 
in whatever walk of life our subject has traveled, he has always been found 
faithful to his trust and true to his purpose. He married in Martinez, Contra 
Costa county, October 16, 1854, Laura A. Hastings, a native of Ohio.

Additional Comments:
History of Contra Costa County, California 
San Francisco:  W.A. Slocum & Company, 1882
Page 534-535

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