James Stephens Brown
{{Short description|American politician (1858–1946)}}
{{about|the Tennessee politician|the Mormon pioneer|James Stephens Brown (Mormon)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}
James Stephen Brown Jr. (July 6, 1858{{spaced en dash}}January 6, 1946) was an American Democratic politician. He served as the Mayor of Nashville, Tennessee, from 1906 to 1910.
Early life
Brown was born in Paris, Tennessee on July 6, 1858.{{cite news |title=James Stephen Brown |date=January 7, 1946 |issue=1538 |newspaper=Certificate of Death |publisher=Department of Public Health, State of Tennessee, Division of Vital Statistics}} He attended the University of Tennessee before entering the United States Naval Academy in September 1875.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2ngtAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA82 |title=List of Officers of the Navy of the United States and of the Marine Corps, from 1775 to 1900: Comprising a Complete Register of All Present and Former Commissioned, Warranted, and Appointed Officers of the United States Navy, and of the Marine Corps, Regular and Volunteer. Comp. from the Official Records of the Navy Department |date=1901 |page=82 |publisher=L. R. Hamersly & Company |access-date=2023-05-27}} Brown graduated from the Naval Academy in 1880.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f1rOAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA178 |title=The University of Tennessee Record |date=1898 |page=178 |publisher=University of Tennessee |access-date=2023-05-27}}
Career
Brown served aboard {{USS|Tennessee|1865|6}} and {{USS|Lancaster|1858|6}}. He was part of the U.S. delegation at the coronation of Tsar Alexander III of Russia in May 1883.
Brown resigned his commission as an ensign in February 1889 and became a lawyer in Nashville, joining the firm of Champion, Head, and Brown.{{cite news |title=J.S. Brown, Ex-Mayor of Nashville, Dies. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/143572290/?terms=%22James%2BStephens%2BBrown%22 |accessdate=June 23, 2018 |work=The Tennessean |date=January 7, 1946|page=14|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration }}
During the Spanish–American War, Brown returned to active duty as a lieutenant junior grade from May to October 1898.{{Cite web |url=http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nashvillearchives/mayors.html |title=Friends of Metropolitan Archives of Nashville and Davidson County, TN |access-date=2013-03-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313015642/http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nashvillearchives/mayors.html |archive-date=2016-03-13 |url-status=dead }}
Brown served as Mayor of Nashville from 1906 to 1910.{{cite news |title=Brown, Former Nashville Mayor, Dies |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/282238818/?terms=%22James%2BStephens%2BBrown%22 |accessdate=June 23, 2018 |work=The Jackson Sun |date=January 7, 1946|page=9|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration }} He subsequently moved to Memphis.
Personal life and death
Brown was married to Madeline Pattie McComb on November 6, 1895. They had three children: James S. Brown, III, Worthington Brown, and Berta Brown Radford. He was Presbyterian.
Brown died on January 6, 1946, at his home in Memphis. He was buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Nashville.
References
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{{succession box | before = Thomas Owen Morris | title = Mayor of Nashville, Tennessee | years = 1908–1909 | after = Hilary Ewing Howse}}
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{{Mayors of Nashville}}
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Category:20th-century mayors of places in Tennessee
Category:United States Navy officers
Category:People from Paris, Tennessee
Category:University of Tennessee alumni
Category:United States Naval Academy alumni
Category:United States Navy personnel of the Spanish–American War
Category:Mayors of Nashville, Tennessee
Category:Politicians from Memphis, Tennessee
Category:Burials at Mount Olivet Cemetery (Nashville)
Category:Military personnel from Tennessee
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