Wayne County, NC - Heritage Series

Reprinted with permission of the Mount Olive Tribune and cannot be 
reproduced without permission. 
Transcribed by Barbara Kawamoto.

                 Claude Brown, Mount Olive Photographer

"Our Heritage"
By Claude Moore

   When I came to Mount Olive College 23 years ago there were many persons 
still alive who knew and remembered well the late Claude Orville Brown, the 
renowned photographer of more than 50 years in Mount Olive.  Many homes in 
the area still have photographs, which are as clear today as they were 80-90
years ago.  He traveled mostly by bicycle until a few years prior to his 
death in 1938.  At that time he purchased a small car and hired a driver.  
This is when he was making pictures of school children.

   Claude O. Brown was born at Hallsville in Duplin County in 1870 and was 
the son of David B. Brown (1845-1923), a Confederate soldier (artillery) 
and his wife Sarah Elizabeth Farrior (1848-1902).  His grandparents were 
Isaac Brown (1815-1879) and Sallie Southerland (born 1826).  His family 
moved from Hallsville to Cypress Creek and then to Wolfscape Township, Duplin
County, about five miles east of Mount Olive.  Nothing is known of his early
education but his parents recognized that he enjoyed reading widely and that
he had native talent in art and in writing poetry.  The late Mrs. Nora Lewis
states that Claude Brown and her nephew toured Europe one summer on bicycles
and would stop periodically to pick fruit to help pay their way.  He also 
had an avid interest in astronomy.

   We do not know the date exactly when Claude O. Brown set up his shop in 
Mount Olive, but I am inclined to believe that it was around 1900.  He rode 
his bicycle to and from his parent’s home, five miles from the town and in 
1910, he moved to Mount Olive.  His shop was located upstairs at the 
southeast corner of James and Center streets and his sign read, "C. O. Brown,
Art and Photographs."  Since he was single he lived at several different 
places, but when he died in 1938, he had rooms at the home of Mrs. Minnie 
Kornegay.

   C. O. Brown traveled far and wide on the train making photographs of 
families and individuals. He was a pioneer in coloring photographs and doing
charcoal portraits.  During the 1970 centennial of the founding of Mount 
Olive, numerous photographs done by him were on exhibit.  In fact, I have
a few in my museum at Turkey that were done in the community and in Faison.

   I am indebted to Mrs. Eva Brown Lee, a niece of C. O. Brown, for much of 
the data in this article.  She is the daughter of the late William Henry and
Nettie Bryd Brown and she has a number of photographs done by her uncle.  
She lives on East Pollock Street in Mount Olive.  A brother of C. O. Brown, 
Julius Brown, never married, and a sister, Bertha Pauline Brown married 
Oliver Faulk.  Besides Mrs. Eva Lee, William Henry and Nettie Brown had a 
son, Henry Brown of Faison and three other daughters, Mrs. Sadie Brock of 
Faison, Mrs. Fannie Ellis of Faison and Mrs. Pattie Bell (deceased).

   Mr. Brown received a number of awards for his outstanding photographs and
he published his poems in several magazines.  The late Albert Clement of 
Clement’s Studio in Goldsboro said years ago that he was a genius in 
photography.

   C. O. Brown was brought up in Bear Marsh Church and while in Mount Olive,
he attended the First Baptist Church.  When he died the Rev. J. P. Gully, 
the pastor of the church, conducted his funeral service.  He was buried in 
the old Brown Cemetery in Wolfscape Township.

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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by
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