MERCER COUNTY PAGenWeb Project

E. F. BENNETT  


HON. JAMES C. BROWN, editor and one of the proprietors of the Advance Argus, was born on the old homestead, settled by his grandfather, October 7, 1829, and is the third son of James W. Brown, previously spoken of in this chapter. He received his primary education in the common schools, and at the age of seventeen, in September, 1846, entered the office of the Mercer Whig, where he remained till January, 1848. He then entered the Mercer Academy, but after a few months returned to Greenville and became a student in the academy, then under the charge of Revs. D. H. A. McLean and J. G. Wilson,  where he completed his education. In the winter of 1848-49 he commenced teaching a school in the Law district, five miles west of Mercer, and the following winter taught at Leech’s Corners. At the close of the latter term he went to Brookville, Penn., and taught a select school six months. He  then bought a half interest in the Jefferson Star, a Whig paper, published Brookville, and began editing that journal ere reaching his twenty-first year. While connected with the Star Mr. Brown taught in the common schools of Greenville two winters. In the spring of 1853 he sold his interest in that paper, came to Greenville and purchased the Independent Press, and during the past thirty-five years he has been connected with the press of Greenville the larger portion of his time. Politically Mr. Brown was first a Whig, and since the birth of the Republican party has been one of its stanchest supporters. In June, 1854, he was elected the first county superintendent of public schools in Mercer County, and filled that position two years. In October, 1861, he was elected to the Legislature, and re-elected to the same office in October, 1862. The following year he was the choice of his party in Mercer County for the Senate, but the nomination went to Venango County.



Source: (History of Mercer County, 1888, pages 776)


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