Person Record
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Metadata
Name |
John Brown |
Born |
Sept. 12, 1757 |
Deceased |
Aug. 29, 1837 |
Notes |
John was a lawyer, congressman, and United States senator from Kentucky. He was born in Augusta County, Virginia. His father, Reverend John Brown was a pioneer Presbyterian minister and schoolmaster of Liberty Hall Academy, later renamed Washington and Lee University. John attended Princeton University (1776) and the College of William and Mary (1778-1780) where he studied law with George Wythe. He also studied law with Thomas Jefferson and the two became political allies and close friends. Brown came to Kentucky via the Wilderness Road in 1783, a few years after it had become a county of Virginia. He settled in Danville. Brown represented Kentucky in the Virginia Legislature from 1784-1788. By 1789, Brown was a member of Congress and presented a petition to separate the district of Kentucky from Virginia. In 1792, after several attempts, Kentucky became the 15th state. John Brown and John Edwards were selected as Kentucky's first U.S. senators. In the Eighth Congress, Brown served twice as president pro tempore. |
