In the books' own words, not ours, with obvious scanning errors fixed. The later printing (1914) is folded below the first. Families often supplied these stories to the publisher, so check key dates.
From History of Darke County, Ohio (1914), A Biographical history of Darke County, Ohio : compendium of national biography (1900)
WILLIAM A. BROWNE, Sr.
William A. Browne, Sr., is the editor and proprietor of the Daily and Weekly Advocate. In 1883, he began the publication of the journal asthe Weekly Advocate, and on the ist of January, 1890, completed his arrangements and put forth the first issue of the daily paper. His name has long been connected with the journalistic interests of this section of the state, and along the line of his chosen vocation he has wielded a strong influence in support of many measures which have largely contributed toward the public good.
Mr. Browne is a native of Cecil county,.Maryland, born April 19, 1842. His father, the Rev. William A. Browne, was a Methodist Episcopal minister, who for many years belonged to the Man-land conference and continued in the active work of the church up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1844. His wife bore the maiden name of Hester A. Touchstone, and was of English lineage. She survived her husband for many years anil passed away in 1892. In her family were five children, three daughters and two sons. Emma Alice was the eldest, and was a highly cultured lady, who for many years was a regular contributor to the Saturday Evening Post, the New York Ledger and the St. Louis Republic. She was a poetess of national reputation.
ill.am A. Browne, whose name forms the caption of this article, attended the common schools and later was a student at West Nottingham, Maryland, until his twelfth year. He then entered the office of the Cec.l big, at Elkton, that state, and there learned the printer's trade. Subsequently he was employed in the office of the Cecil Democrat, of the same town and county, and later went to Pennsylvania. Afterward he was employed on the force of a newspaper at Brighton, New Jersey, and on leaving the east made his way to St. Louis, Missouri. Subsequently he went to Leavenworth, Kansas, and also worked in Cincinnati, Ohio, and other places in the middle states. In 1874 he bought the Covington Gazette, at Covington, Ohio, and remained as editor of that paper for nine years. In 1883 he came to Greenville, Darke county, and founded the Weekly Advocate, which is a neat and well-printed eight-page journal, having a large circulation in the city, county and adjacent districts. In 1890 he established the Daily Advocate, which is one of the strong Democratic organs of the county. For both papers he has secured a liberal patronage, and those journals are welcome visitors in many homes in this section of the state. Mr. Browne is not only a good writer, his editorials being forcible and pleasing, but is also a practical printer, familiar with all departments of the newspaper business.
In 1862 occurred the marriage of Mr. Browne to Miss Sarah A. Hawkins, of St. Louis, Missouri, a daughter of Samuel Hawkins, a prominent resident of that city. 1 he lady is a graduate of Franklin Academy, of St. Louis, Missouri, and by her marriage she became the mother of five sons and four daughters, five of whom are living, namely: Annie, wife of N. J. Kuntz, a prominent lumber dealer of Ohio City, Ohio; Agnes, wife of Thomas G. Wolf, of the Greenville Awning & Tent Company; William A., who is a printer in the office of the Advocate; Walter E., who is also a practical printer; and Lineas M., an electrician of Greenville.
Mr. Browne is a member of several of the leading secret orders. In his political faith he has ever been a stalwart Democrat, his labors in behalf of the party being very effective. His chief recreation is found with rod and gun in the lake regions of Michigan, and in the forests of that state, where, as a successful angler, he has succeeded in capturing some splendid specimens of the finny tribe. In his business affairs he has prospered, and is now the owner of considerable valuable city property in Greenville, including his own handsome and well-furnished residence at No. =;i6 Third street.
As printed in A Biographical history of Darke County, Ohio : compendium of national biography (1900). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
WILLIAM A. BROWNE, SR.
It is a well recognized fact that the most powerful influence in shaping and controlling public life is the press. It reaches a greater number of people than any other agency and thus has always been and, in the hands of persons competent to direct it, always will be a most important factor in moulding public opinion and shaping the destiny of the nation. The gentleman to a brief review of whose life these lines are devoted is prominently connected with the journalism of western Ohio, and at this time is editor and publisher of the Greenville Advocate, one of the most popular and influential papers of Darke county, comparing favorably with the best local publications in this section of the state in news, editorial ability and mechanical execution. The county recognizes in Mr. Browne not only one of the keenest newspaper men, but also a representative citizen, whose interest in all that affects the general welfare has been of such a character as to win for him a high place in the confidence and esteem of the people.
William A. Browne, Sr., was born in Wilkesbarre, Pa., on the 19th of April, 1842, and is a son of William A. and Hester A. (Touchstone) Browne, both of whom were natives of Maryland. He is one of five children, three of whom lived to maturity, namely: Mrs. Emma Alice Beaver, deceased; Mrs. Melissa Kennon, deceased, whose husband was a surgeon in the United States army, located at Silver City, New Mexico; William A., the subject of this sketch, and two who died in early childhood. William A. Browne, father of the subject, was reared in Cecil county, Maryland, and became a successful minister of the Methodist Episcopal church. He died in his native state in 1844, being survived by his wife, who died in Danville, Ill., when about seventy-five years of age, being buried in the cemetery at Greenville, Ohio. The subject's paternal grandparents were farming folk in Cecil county, Maryland, where they spent their lives and died when well advanced in years.
The subject of this review was but two years of age when deprived by death of the care and protection of a father, and he was then placed in the home of an uncle, James Touchstone, in Reading, Pa., where he lived until 1854, during a part of which period he received the advantage of attendance in the public schools. He then went to live with his mother, who had gone to Port, Deposit, Md., to live, and there he also received some schooling. In 1860 Mr. Browne went to St. Louis, Mo., and entered the employ of the Republican, one of the leading newspapers of that state, as a printer. Shortly afterwards he went to Cincinnati, Ohio, and until 1874 was employed by the Robert Clarke Book Company. He had been a steady, industrious and economical man, and at that time embarked on the journalistic sea on his own account, buying the Covington (Ohio) Gazette, which he published for nine years, with a fair degree of success. In 1883 Mr. Browne came to Greenville and established the Democratic Advocate, the success of which has become a matter of local history. In 1892 Mr. Browne gave further evidence of his faith in the community with which he had cast his lot and started a daily edition of the Advocate, which, like the weekly edition, has proven a most notable success. Mechanically, the Advocate office is one of the best equipped in western Ohio, and, in addition to the publication of the journals mentioned, particular attention is given to job printing, in the execution of which this office has gained a wide reputation because of the high quality of the work turned out and the courteous and prompt treatment accorded to the patrons of the office. Mr. Browne has wisely maintained a personal supervision over all details of his business, and to his personal efforts and sound business methods is due the splendid success which has rewarded his efforts. Financially, Mr. Browne has been deservedly prosperous and he has acquired other business interests in Greenville, being a stockholder in and a director of the Greenville National Bank.
On the 25th of June, 1863, Mr. Browne married Sarah A. Hawkins, of St. Louis, Mo., a daughter of Samuel and Ann Hawkins, and to them were born nine children, namely: Walter L., who died at the age of twelve years; William A., Jr., the first, died when about two years old; Annie became the wife of N. J. Kuntz, of Middletown, Ohio, and they have five daughters, Hester, Helen, Anna B., Mary and Thomasene; Agnes is the wife of G. T. Wolf, of Greenville, and they have three children, Virginia, John Thomas and Walter; Hester died in infancy; William A., Jr., the second, is connected with the Advocate office; he married Elizabeth Murray of Springfield, Ohio, and they had two children; for his second wife he married Winifred Westbrook and they have one child, Will- Ham A., the third; Walter E., who also is employed in the Advocate office, married Daisy East and they have one child, Walter East Browne; Linnius, who is an electrician in Greenville, married, first, Gertrude Guyer, to which union was born a daughter, Bernice, and for his second wife he those Augusta Mason, who bore him a daughter, Eleanor; Virginia died at the age of sixteen years.
Politically, Mr. Browne has been a life-long supporter of the Democratic party and has been a prominent figure in its councils, having, in 1912, served as a delegate from the Fourth Ohio congressional district to the national convention at Baltimore. Fraternally, he is a member of Covington Lodge No. 168, Free and Accepted Masons, at Covington, Ohio. Religiously, Mrs. Browne is a member of the Baptist church. Personally, Mr. Browne is a man of forceful personality and has wielded a large influence in the community. As a writer he fields a trenchant pen, and, possessing an unusual instinct for "news," he has succeeded in making his papers indispensable in thousands of Darke county homes. Genial and companionable, a splendid conversationalist and well informed on a wide range of subjects, he is a man of representative character in his community and as such is clearly entitled to specific mention in a work of this character.
As printed in History of Darke County, Ohio (1914). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
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