Bio: Joe R. Brown, Desoto & Caddo Parish Louisiana Source: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northwest Louisiana The Southern Publishing Company, Chicago & Nashville, 1890 Submitted by Gaytha Carver Thompson ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** Joe R. Brown, of the firm of Brown & Hobgood liverymen of Mansfield, La., is a native of the town in which he is now residing, his birth occurring on May 31, l853. His parents Israel and Elizabeth A. (Hayes) Brown, were born in South Carolina and emigrated to Louisiana settling at Mansfield, in De Soto Parish. The father was a planter and contractor and built the tap railroad from Mansfield to the Junction and Pierce and Payne Colleges of Old Pleasant Hill, besides putting up all the brick buildings in Mansfield, with the exception of one. He was trustee of the Female College, was financier of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was also the owner of several large plantations. He passed from life in 1885, his widow still surviving him, being a resident of Mansfield. Five of their nine children also now survive him, their names being: R. B. Carr (of Shreveport), Joe R, Mrs. Alice B. Jackson (of Shreveport), James H. (Of Mansfield), and Ernest I. (of Monticello, Ark) Joe R Brown was reared and schooled in Mansfield, completing his education with a commercial course in New Orleans, after which he acted as bookkeeper for a Mansfield firm, he being a member of same for some time. He then spent five years in the sheriff's office, and the following eight years was in the wholesale grocery business in Shreveport. He returned to Mansfield after the death of his father, and was engaged in planting until September, 1888, when he opened his present livery stable, which he has, since successfully conducted. He is the owner of several tracts of land, cultivates 450 acres and keeps in stables twenty head of horses and all kinds of first-class vehicles. He is the senior proprietor of Mansfield & Coushatta Stage and Passenger Line, also Bedford & East Point, connecting with other lines. He is also the agent for the Waters, Pierce Oil Company. He was a member of the city council for a time, and was married in 1889 to Miss C. M Preston, of Monticello, Ark., who died in 1890. Mr. Brown is one of the ling spirits of Mansfield and is an energetic pushing man of business. His partner Mr. C. Hobgood, was also reared in De Soto Parish and is doing a large and extensive dry goods business in San Marcos, Tex., having gone there the first of the present year.