J. R. Brown

J. R. BROWN is president of the Inter-State Mortgage & Trust Company, of Parsons, Labette county, Kansas, and is one of the best known business men of the county.

Mr. Brown was born in Felts Mills, Jefferson county, New York, November 14, 1839, and is a son of Remson R. Brown. The latter was born in the Mohawk Valley, New York State, in 1819. He followed the hotel business during his active business career, and has lived in Parsons, Kansas, since 1900. He joined the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, in January, 1901, and is the oldest person known to have been taken into the order in the state of Kansas.

J. R. Brown was reared and schooled in his native county, where he lived until 1863. In that year, he came west, to St. Joseph, Missouri, and for two years was engaged in freighting from that city, over the mountains, to Montana and Idaho. He returned to the East, where he remained for a period of three years, and in 1869 located at Nevada, Missouri. There he engaged in the cattle business and bore the distinction of having built the first brick building in that city. In 1871, he settled in Parsons, Kansas, and became one of the proprietors of the old Belmont Hotel, under the style of Brown & Rasbach. This he conducted for about five years. He was then engaged in the real estate business until 1888, when he helped to organize the Inter-State Mortgage & Trust Company, of which he was elected president and manager. The other officers are F. M. Thompson, of Greenfield, Massachusetts, vice-president; I. F. Adams, formerly of Vermont, treasurer; and W. N. Snow, of Greenfield, Massachusetts, cashier. Since the organization of the company, Mr. Brown has devoted his entire time and energy to it, and has made it a great success. It has a paid up capital of $100,000, and is in a thriving condition.

Mr. Brown was united in marriage, in 1869, with Josephine Roberts, of Jefferson county, New York, and they have one son, Sherman, who is now a resident of San Francisco, California. Fraternally, the subject of this sketch is a Mason, Odd Fellow and a member of the B. P. O. E. In Masonry, he has advanced to the thirty-second degree, belonging to the Consistory at Topeka, Kansas.