Collection	Miscellaneous
Description	A. H. Brown (1823-1910) . (A. H. stands for Albert Holmes.) Married to Roberta Henrietta Hunstock (1829-1920) in Louisiana. In 1864 Brown established the first general merchandise store in Baker City at the NW corner of Valley and 1st streets, present site of Eltrym Theater. Brown, a Democrat, was elected State Senator in 1870 and sold his store. In 1889 the building burned. He served as Oregon State Treasurer from 1874 to 1878. In the 1870s Brown was partner with James W. Virtue in the Virtue Mine. Brown's daughter, Frances Eliza Brown married Baker County District Attorney Samuel White. Isaac Hiatt in "31 Years in Baker County" wrote about Brown: "A. H. Brown, another pioneer of 1862, was born in East Feliciana Parish Louisiana, January 25, 1823. Served in the Mexican war under Gen. Taylor, and came to California in 1849 and to Auburn, Baker County, July 4, 1862. After a short stay in Auburn he went to Walla Walla and returned in the fall with a stock of goods to sell on commission. He opened the first store in Baker City in 1865, in charge of a clerk and the next year closed out at Auburn and moved to Baker where he continued in the goods business until he sold to Bowen & Cranston in 1870. Mr. Brown was one of the directors of the Baker City Academy started in 1869 and in 1870 was elected state senator, and in 1874 was elected state treasurer. At the expiration of his term in 1878, he returned to his farm in Powder River Valley, where he resided engaged in stockraising until 1890, when he moved to Baker."
Object ID	1980.1.895

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Last modified on: December 09, 2017