Edwin J. Brown

As printed in 1909

EDWIN J. BROWN.

Edwin J. Brown, superintendent of instruction in Dayton, his position being indicative of the high rank which he holds in educational circles, was born in this city, February 1, 1871, and his life record seems in contradistinction to the old adage that a prophet is never without honor save in his own country. His paternal grandfather, who was a native of Pennsylvania, spent his last days in Iowa. The family were connected with the Society of Friends or Quakers.

David G. Brown, the father of our subject, was born in Pennsylvania in 1827 and came to Dayton in 1868. For years he was engaged in the wholesale grocery business and later went upon the road as a commercial traveler. He served for a time as a member of the board of education and was also one of the workhouse trustees of Dayton, being recognized as a prominent and influential citizen during the period of his residence here. He died in Buffalo, New York, in 1887. His wife, Mrs. Sarah Elizabeth Brown, was a daughter of Dr. John D. Mills. She was a woman of real culture, of the happiest disposition and the highest nobility of character, and was in every sense “a mother to her boys.”

Professor E. J. Brown attended the first pay kindergarten in Dayton and also spent one term in a country school near town. At the usual age he entered the public schools, passing through consecutive grades to his graduation from the Central high school with special honors with the class of 1890. He afterward attended the Dayton Normal School and was the first male graduate of that institution, completing the course there in 1891. While a student and later, for ten years in all, he did correspondent work on the Dayton News. He also spent several summers at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

Entering upon the profession of teaching, Mr. Brown was assigned to a position in the Patterson school of Dayton in September, 1891, and there taught for a year. He was then transferred to the Willard school, while two and a half years later he was made assistant principal of the Irving school. Further advancement came to him when he was appointed principal of the Weaver school, which under his management became a model district school. He continued his work there until January 6, 1908, when he became a member of the board of education, having been elected from the fifth ward the preceding November. He filled that position until August, 1908, when he was chosen superintendent of instruction of the Dayton schools. Thus he made continuous advancement, his ability winning him recognition that has resulted in promotion from time to time until he now occupies a position of much more than local distinction in the ranks of the representatives of public instruction in Ohio.

On the 3d of July, 1892, in Dayton Professor Brown was united in marriage to Miss Minnie A. Miller, a daughter of Dr. J. W. Miller, deceased. They now have four children: Lincoln M., D. Grant, Martha E. and Elizabeth J.

In his political views Professor Brown is a republican, interested in the success of the party because of a belief in its principles and yet without desire for political preferment. His fraternal relations have brought him into connection with various societies. He is now a chapter and Scottish Rite Mason, belongs to the subordinate lodge, the encampment and the Rebekah lodge of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Tribe of Ben Hur. He is a trustee of the Broadway Methodist Episcopal church and is interested in all those movements, measures and influences which are for the betterment of his city and its people. He not only holds to high ideals in his profession but in citizenship as well, and his honorable, upright manhood has gained him an enviable position in the regard of his fellow townsmen.

As printed in History of the city of Dayton and Montgomery County, Ohio (1909). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.