Benjamin J. Brown Benjamin J. Brown is one of the leading members of the bar here and is well known all over the Peninsula. We take pleasure in presenting the following sketch of his life. Mr. Brown was born in Mt.Vernon OH July 8, 1833 and comes from a line of ancestry that has figured prominently in the history of this country. Benjamin S. Brown, his father, was a native of Bath VA born in 1804. He was a most eminent lawyer, and as an orator ranked with S.S. Prentiss of Mississippi. In his law practice he was for a time associated with Noah H. Swayne, afterward a Justice of the Spureme Court of the U.S.; was also in partnership with Rollin C. Hurd, father of Frank Hurd of Mt.Vernon OH. Grandfather Joseph Brown was a contractor and builder. He moved from VA to OH at an early day and settled in Knox Co. A portion of the Ohio canal was built by him. He was known as Capt. Brown and his son Benj. S. also had this title, the latter having been captain of a military company which he equipped at his own expense. Benjamin S. Brown was married in 1830 to Catherine C. Thomas, a native of MO born in 1811. Her father, Richard S. Thomas, who was a descendant of Lord Baltimore was born in MD, read law and settled in Bracken Co. KY. He moved from KY to Lebanon OH and from there to MO and in the latter State became Judge. He died in MO. He was an intimate friend of Henry Clay. Judge McLean of the Supreme Court was at one time a law student in the office of Judge Thomas. Jesse B. Thomas, a brother of Judge Thomas, wsa president of the convention which framed the constitution of IL and named the State. He was United States Senator from IL for two terms and he drew, with his own hand, and offered in the Senate, the famour "Missouri Compromise." He was chairman of the conference committee upon the bill for the admission of MO. After his service in the Senate he entered into partnership with Gen. Wm. H. Harrison in the real-estate business in OH. The subject of our sketch is a lineal descendant of and takes his name from, Benjamin Harrison of Virginia, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Benj. S. Brown departed this life in 1838. His widow is still living, now a resident of Saginaw MI. In their family were three sons and two daughters - Benjamin J. subject of this article, Richard T., deceased; Jesse B., in the railroad business at Indianapolis, IN; Catharine; and one that died in infancy. Mr. Brown was reared and mainly educated in his native town, but for a season was at Kenyon College. In October, 1854, he went to Chicago IL where in May of the following year, he was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court. He began the practice of his profession in Chicago, remaining there only a short time. In 1856 we find him at Green Bay, Wisc. where he made his home until 1860. From that date until 1865 he was at Oconto Wisc., from there went to Saginaw, MI and since June 1, 1873 has been a resident of Menominee MI. All these years he has been engaged in the practice of law, in which he has attained eminent success. Mr. Brown is a man of family. He was married in 1862 to Miss Eliza Hart, daughter of Edwin and Eliza Hart. Mrs. Brown was born in Wisconsin Jan. 4, 1842 and spent seven years at a seminary in Chicago, conducted by a Mrs. Lewis. They have had seven children - DeWitt who married Margaret Woessner and have a family of four children, is a resident of Stephenson MI; Franklin H. of Menominee married Charlotte Ault and they have four children; Catharine is the wife of Arthur L. Lewis, Menominee; and Adelaide and Bessie, at Home. Mr. Brown and his family are members of the Episcopal CHurch of which he is a Vestryman. Politically, he is a Republican, and has all his life been prominetn in party affairs. In his early career he attained notoriety for the part he took in the "State Rights" controversy in Wisconsin. He has served as delegate to various State conventions; was Register of Bankruptcy, appointed by Chief Justice Chase; served as City Attorney of Green Bay; was County Judge of Oconto County, and District Attorney of the same; and has served as Prosecuting Attorney in Menominee.He was recommended by a number of the leading men of the country for the office of Inter-State Commerce Commissioner. This appointment, however, for important reasons went west of the Mississippi river. In the convention of 1887 he received a large vote for the nomination of his party for Justice of the Supreme Court of Michigan. He came within one vote of receiving the nomination for Congress. The following is from the Evening Wisconsin, December 2, 1891: "WISCONSIN and NULLIFICATION - A CONTRIBUTION TO HISTORY " A document which will be of value to the historian of one of the most curious and critical periods in the history of Wisconsin and the U.S. was brought to light a day or two ago by a delver of the dusty files of the Evening Wisconsin. It is an open letter from B.J. Brown, then of Green Bay, to Charles Billinghurst, then of Juneau, which was published in the same issue of this journal for August 12, 1859. The circumstances under which the letter was put forth were these: "Sherman M. Booth, arrested for a violation of the fugitive-slave law, had been discharged upon a writ of habeas corpus by the Supreme Court of Wisconsin. The Supreme Court of the U.S. had reversed that judgment on the 7th of March, 1859. ON the 19th of March 1859 the legislature of Wisconsin had passed a resolution declaring the action of the Supreme Court of the U.S. in assuming jurisdiction of the case, to be 'an act of arbitrary power,' and 'without authority, void and of no force.' (See Session Laws of 1859 at page 248). Upon the issue thus raised the Republican party of the State divided. The minority, led by Judge Howe, disclaming all sympathy with the object of this infamour enactment, asserted that the Constitution of the U.S. created a nation and not a mere confederacy. Mr. Brown was an intimate personal friend of Judge Howe, and wrote the letter at his request. The document goes minutely into the legal and historical status of the question at issue, and demonstrates the heresy of the position which the Billinghurst wing of the Republican party had assumed. "As I understnad you,' it says, ' you deny the existence of any appellate power in the Supreme Court of the U.S. over the judgement of a State Court. * * * The whole judical power of the U.S. must reside in the courts constituted by its authority, either in an original or appellate form, and inasmuch as the State courts do exercise concurrent jurisdiction in many cases, their judgment must be subject to review in the manner and according to the limitations prescribed by Congress." "The letter goes on at great length to pursue the constitutional and historical arguments into all their ramifications, and having conclusively shown the fallacy of the nullifiers, closes with the following eloquent and, as they seem now, prophetic words; "In what I have said I claim no merit but fairness. Novelty and originality are peculiar to your side of the question. And I have written, too, with no idea that the Republican party of this State will ever indorse the doctrine of nullification. I have written because a portion of the press have indirectly sanctioned it; and because, while much has been said on one side of this interesting and important question, little has been said on the other. I have written because I think the principles you maintain are dangerous to the best interests of the country, and, should they take root in the minds of the people, may bring forth unexpected and disastrous fruit. I repeat, I have no idea the Republican party of the State will endorse the doctrine. I do not believe it will be mentioned in the State convention. The platform will, I am satisfied, confine itself to the emunciation of the cardinal principles of the party, and not vainly attempt to represent every phase of individual opinion. You may think as you please on this question. I cn think as I please. We will both work for the same great objects as heretofore. "It would be a melancholy thing if the Republican party of the North should take into its hands the two-edged sword of nullification, only to have it pressed into its own vitals by the grasping avarice and ambition of the swarming demagogues and speculators of Georgia and Mississippi. If now, when it has every reason to believe it will succeed to the possession of the federal Government, it should estop itself by its own acts from punishing organized violations of the laws of the U.S.on the subject of the slave trade. This last suggestion is not altogether fanciful, as every one will bear witness who has been mindful of the history of the country for the last four years. The South expects little more at the hands of the general Government. The favors she has already gained - apples to the sight - have proved ashes to the taste. She has found popular sovereignty to be a delusion. The history of Kansas has shown her that, without an abundance of slaves at low prices, she cannot hope to compete with the expansive tendencies of free labor. Ambitious, reckless, greedy, the object most desired, at least by the extreme South, is the reopening of the African slave trade. I regret that space precludes more than mere suggestion. But is it not possible, nay, is it not probably, that one or more of those States may formally demand a revival of this inhuman traffic, will be met with indignant refusal, and will then hurl back defiance to the general government from behind the aegis of "State Rights?" "The South is the mother of nullification. We need no Solomon to interpret in her distressed and anxious visage the vicious tenderness she feels for her slimy offspring. Let her take it to her bosom; we do not want it; she does; and I venture the assertion that if two years hence we meet it in the capitol at washington we shall be slow to acknowledge our brief acquaintance!' "The letter had an extensive and wholesome influence upon public sentiment. The prophecy implied in the language, "if we meet it in Washington two years hence,' etc. was fulfilled. Contress was in session July, 1861. Secession and the war followed.