Brown, William M. (1838–1902)

William M. Brown, politician, was born in Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1838. While he was still an infant the family moved to Augusta County, Virginia. He graduated from Washington College in the late 1850s. In 1861 he enlisted in the Confederate Army and served as a lieutenant in the Rock Bridge Artillery company. He was wounded in two battles, the latter being Gettysburg in July 1863, where he was captured and then imprisoned on Johnson's Island. After his release at the end of the war he moved to Marlin, Texas, where he had a cotton commission business. In 1876 he was elected to represent the Twenty-first District in the Texas Senate; he served in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth legislatures. During his term he married Mamie Dill of Austin; they had four children. Brown was comptroller of public accounts from 1880 until January 1883. He was one of the organizers of the John Bell Hood Camp of Confederate Veterans in Austin in 1884 and was instrumental in the establishment of the Confederate Home for Men (see TEXAS CONFEDERATE HOME). Brown was state oil inspector from 1887 to 1891. He was a Presbyterian and a Democrat. He died in Austin on August 2, 1902.