FULTON COUNTY OHIO - BIOS: BROWN, Levi Walter (published 1879)
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by
Maggie Brown Moerdyke
DitsyMM@aol.com
November 30, 1998
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Biographical Sketch for Levi Walter Brown, Probate Judge for three terms
Wauseon, Fulton Co., OH 1879 - This sketch was published in Glasgow, Scotland
as an introduction and greeting to the Brown family when L. W. Brown was
stationed there by then President Benjamin Harrison who appointed him as U. S.
Consul.  There were beautiful artists portraits of each family member Levi W.
Brown, his third wife Esther Stone Brown, children Ruth Brown, Wilma Brown,
Walter Brown, Maynard, Albert, George and Charles [submitters grandfather]
also in the article.


AN AMERICAN CONSUL - How the United States is Represented in Glasgow

Consul Levi W. Brown of Ohio and His Interesting Family - Uncle Sam Provides
Good Quarters at Glasgow - A Consul's Varied Duties (Special Correspondence)
Glasgow, August 29 - One of the first United States consuls to be appointed
during the present administration was Levi W. Brown, of Wauseon, O, who now
represents Uncle Sam at Glasgow.  This is said to be one of the most lucrative
offices in the gift of the government.  It is, however, is a slight mistake or
the others must be poor indeed.  With a salary of $3,000, the very best that
could be done with the perquisites does not bring $7,000 a year.

There is one thing that may be truly said of this United States consulate and
that is the offices are the finest in appearance and most convenient of any in
Europe.  As a rule these offices are shabby, dingy and most poverty stricken.
Why should Uncle Sam select a man capable of representing the country in a
creditable manner and then give him an office which takes away the dignity of
his position by its very ordinary appearance?  Many a man has been appointed
to a consulate who would in the proper sort of surroundings have commanded all
the respect and recognition due to an important and great country.  But with a
very meager salary with which to do any entertaining and such a poor showing
in the way of a consulate, the representatives of the United States cannot
keep up with the pompous dignitaries of other countries.

The consulate of Glasgow, however, is a very nice neighborhood removed from
the din and noise of the main thoroughfares and in a part of the city where
rents are low.  Nothing could be nicer than the situation of the building
which is on the corner of Washington and West Regent streets both wide clean
quiet streets.  The building itself is a five story graystone affair, very
much like all the other buildings in Glasgow.  Our consul has a suite of three
rooms on the ground floor, all light, pleasant and comfortably furnished.
Judge Brown has added furnishings which help greatly in make the reception
room appear homelike and comfortable.

The government does not provide a residence for the consul, and if the rents
in Glasgow were very high our consul on his meager salary would not be living
in the fashionable part of the city.  As it is, he has a nice three story
house in the west end.  This is about two miles from the office.

Judge Brown is to return to America on a short business trip in a few days and
it is with the pleasure of a schoolboy that he thinks of it.  When asked the
other day if he intended to take an active part in the coming campaign, he
said that was an undecided question.

Consul Brown was a member of the Republican state central committee of Ohio
for several years.  He was also a member of the state executive committee and
chairman of its finance committee.   He was probate judge in his country for
three terms.  He has also taken active part in church affairs, is a member of
the M. E. Church and has been a lay delegate to every lay conference held
since that provision has been incorporated into the church government.  He was
also a member of the general conference in 1880.

The judge is the firm friend of his party and a warm personal friend of both
Governor Foraker and Senator Sherman.  His hand is always extended to
Americans and as he himself says "His latchstring is always out to his
countrymen."  Socially he and his family have been well received and have made
many warm friends among the Scotch people.  The judge is a member of the new
club, which is nonpolitical.

Mrs. Brown, who was previous to her marriage a Miss Esther Stone, of New York
State, enjoys the life in Scotland very much.  The Climate, which is
particularly trying to most Americans seems to agree with her perfectly.  The
whole family have enjoyed excellent health during their sojourn in Scotland
and that is saying a great deal for there are a good many of them.

There are seven children, including the eldest son Charles M. Brown
[submitters grandfather] who is still in Wauseon.  He has just graduated and
will enter business.  The next is Miss Wilma E. Brown a charming young woman
who shines in Glasgow society quite as gracefully as she did in that of her
native town.  George Clayton Brown, who only arrived from Ohio last month is
the next son.  He is very much pleased with his father's post, but will return
and enter business in partnership with his elder brother in the course of a
few months.  Maynard Dalton is the next son, he is his father's deputy.

Albert M., a younger son, is attending the Kelvinside academy in Glasgow.
This is an excellent school for boys, and his portrait will show that they
have a good example of what bright American boys are like.  Walter Converse,
although still a very small boy, bids fair to fill some high political
position someday for he is now a  most perfect diplomat.  Ruth Armstrong
Brown, the baby, a "bonny wee Scotch lassie," came as a New Year's gift to the
family on Jan. 1, 1890.  She is a beautiful child and the pride of the family
as well as of all who know her.

The accompanying portrait of Levi W. Brown has been taken since he came to
Glasgow.  He has changed the cut of his beard.  He formerly wore a longer
beard without the mustache.

When he first came to Glasgow, all the papers were writing about the arrival
of the new consul and a number printed the his portrait made from photographs
and sketches.  A Dundee paper could get neither, so they published with their
article a portrait of a typical Brother Jonathon with a long hooked nose,
thin, angular features and the regulation chin whiskers.  The judge took it as
a good joke and has kept the sketch and when any one asks him for a photograph
he hand that to them as a good likeness.

It was once said of Bret Harte who was the predecessor of Francis H.
Underwood, the predecessor of the present consul, "that the only man that did
not know the location of the United States consulate was the United States
consul," as he spent so much time in London.  That never could be said of the
present consul.

The most interesting outing he has had was on the Fourth of July this year
when, together with three other consuls, their family and about forty others,
he went to the battlefield of Bannockburn for a Forth of July celebration.
They had fireworks and a regular American day of it.

Among the greatest trials of the Glasgow office is the trouble with the
cattlemen and in many cases their wives.  On the ships coming into Glasgow
with live stock, to every twenty-five head of cattle shipped from America
there is one man allowed or provided for until they get to Scotland.  Then he
must get back.  And in most cases they spend, lose, or drink their money then
fly to the consul to get them home.  This, however, is not the most trying
part, for they sometimes bring their wives with them and desert them, very
often taking this means of ridding themselves of them.  Of course they apply
to Judge Brown and as this government makes no provisions for them, very often
he pays their passage home not knowing whether he will ever be repaid or not.
Sara Bliss.


Where do I begin?  While teaching in England, I made it a point to visit the
home my great-aunt Ruth Armstrong Brown was born while her father Levi W.
Brown (of whom this article pertains) was U. S. Consul in Glasgow, Scotland -
the home over the years has been a private residence, an orphanage, and, in
1976, a school with the headmistress residing in private quarters on the third
floor.  I brought back photos to share with my family and indeed my great-aunt
recalled the memories spoken so fondly upon their return to Ohio of the house,
it's stained glass window in the bathroom (which was still intact and
beautiful as shown in one of the pictures I had taken), the large kitchen, and
parlor.  Of course, by this time many of the rooms on the first two levels had
been converted into classrooms yet the house was still very much in a
wonderful neighborhood and very stately in appearance.  Lovingly submitted and
every grateful to be a member of such a wonderful family of Brown's and all
those who married into the family - thank you for blessing me with such a
wonderful family line of ancestors and descendants alike!!      Maggie Brown
Moerdyke


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