Confederate Biography : THOMAS J. BROWN, Grayson County, TX

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Submitted by Susie McFarland Lemin - slemin@yahoo.com
19 October 2001
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TEXANS WHO WORE THE GRAY by Sid S. Johnson, p. 97

Thomas J. Brown, of Sherman, the eminent Texan jurist, was born in 
Jasper county, Georgia, July 24, 1836, and came to Texas in the winter 
of 1845 with his parents, who resided in Washington county until 1858, 
when they removed to Limestone.  The subject of this sketch was 
graduated in 1858 from the law department of Baylor University at 
Independence; was admitted to the bar by the supreme court of Texas, 
Jan. 5, 1859, and immediately therafter engaged in the practice of his 
profession at McKinney, in Collin county.  When the war came in 1861 
he entered the Confederate Army as second lieutenant of Troop E of Col. 
Robert Taylors cavalry regiment, was later promoted to be Captain and 
rendered capable and gallant service.  After the war he formed a 
partnership with Gov. J. W. Throckmorton, which continued until 1885.  
He removed to Sherman in 1872, where he has since resided.  He 
represented Grayson county in the House of the 21st and 22nd 
legisatures.  In August 1892, he was appointed distrct judge and 
elected to that position the following November.  In May 1893, Gov. 
Hogg appointed him chief justice of the court of civil appeals for the 
fifth supreme district, but before he qualified was made associate 
justice of the supreme court of Texas, and has by re-election held
that position ever since.  While in the legislature Judge Brown by 
his masterly advocacy of the rail-road commission bill acquired a 
statewide reputation as a practical statesman, and during his fourteen 
years service as a Justice of the Supreme Court he has easily 
disinguished himself as one of the greatest jurists in the history of 
the state.  He enjoys the confidence of the bar and the people.  Judge 
Brown was married in Collin county, Aug. 7, 1859 to Miss Louisa T. 
Estis.  Seven children have been born of this marriage, of whom four 
daughters are living.