California Biographies

Transcribed by Peggy Hooper

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives 
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

Source:
History of the state of California and biographical record of the San Joaquin 
Valley, California. An historical story of the state's marvelous growth from 
its earliest settlement to the present time.
Prof. James Miller Guinn , A. M.
The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1905
Notes: Missing Page: 865-866,983-984,1175-1176


GEORGE BROWN. Among the active and thriving farmers of Madera county who are aiding 
in every possible way its agricultural growth and development is George Brown, who. with 
his brother and partner, William A. Brown, is prosperously engaged in farming and stock rais- 
ing near Borden. Both of these brothers are well known as men of sterling character and 
ability throughout the community in which they reside, and both are highly esteemed for their 
integrity and general worth. They are natives of the province of Quebec, Canada, William A. 
having been born in June, 1854, and George in August, 1858. Their father, James Brown, was 
born in the north of Ireland about 1819. In 1832 he immigrated to America, locating in Can- 
ada as a farmer, and is still living there, being now eighty-five years of age. His wife, whose 
maiden name was Annie E. Armstrong, has spent her entire life in Canada. 

Leaving Canada in 1875 George Brown went to New Hampshire, and in 1878 came to Cali- 
fornia with a view of making this state his permanent home, and until 1881 lived in Stockton. 

The ensuing three years he worked in Amador and Calaveras counties, going from the latter 
place to Stanislaus county in the spring of 1884, and remaining there three years. During all of 
these years he had worked as a wage-earner, and by prudent thrift had accumulated a goodly sum 
of money. In 1887 he came to Madera county, and the following year, forming a partnership 
with his brother, William A. Brown, was engaged in wheat raising until 1900, when the 
brothers bought a ranch near Borden, and have since been profitably engaged in farming pur- 
suits. The ranch contains three hundred and twenty acres of good land, which these brothers 
have devoted to the raising of alfalfa, cattle and hogs, and dairying, keeping forty cows of a fine 
grade. Energetic and willing to labor, they also rent sixteen hundred acres, which they sow to 
wheat, raising excellent crops of this staple grain. The Brown brothers are typical repre- 
sentatives of the self-made men of Madera county, and by their own efforts have climbed the 
ladder of success, acquiring prominence and wealth. Both are Republicans in politics, and 
both are members of the Masonic fraternity and past masters of the lodge to which they belong. 
George Brown, the particular subject of this sketch, married Maud H. Cunningham, a native 
of California, and they have three children : Marie, Gertrude and William.