Charles Brown (September 23, 1797 – September 4, 1883) was an American politician from

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

who served as a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives for

Pennsylvania's 1st congressional district Pennsylvania's first congressional district includes all of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Bucks County and a sliver of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Montgomery County in southeastern Pennsylvania. It has been represented by Brian Fitzpatrick (Am ...

from 1841 to 1843 and

Pennsylvania's 3rd congressional district Pennsylvania's third congressional district includes several areas of the city of Philadelphia, including West Philadelphia, most of Center City, and parts of North Philadelphia. It has been represented by Democrat Dwight Evans since 2019. With ...

from 1847 to 1849. He also served as a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1830 to 1833 and as a

Pennsylvania State Senator The Pennsylvania State Senate is the upper house of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, the Pennsylvania state legislature. The State Senate meets in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. Senators are elected for four year terms, staggered ever ...

for the 2nd district from 1838 to 1841.

Early life

Charles Brown was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

. In early boyhood moved with his father to Cumberland County, New Jersey, and resided near Bridgeton, New Jersey. He was an officer in the State militia from 1817 to 1819. He served as town clerk of Dover Township, New Jersey (now Toms River Township), in 1819, and taught school at Dividing Creek, New Jersey, in 1820 and 1821. He returned to Philadelphia in 1823 and engaged in the cordwood business.

Pennsylvania state service

He was appointed a director of the Philadelphia public schools in 1828, and served as a member of the Philadelphia City Council in 1830 and 1831. He served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1830 to 1833, and was a delegate to the convention to revise the constitution of Pennsylvania from 1834 to 1838. He served in the Pennsylvania State Senate from 1838 to 1841.

United States House of Representatives

Brown was elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-seventh Congress. He was not a candidate for reelection in

1842 Events January–March * January ** Michael Alexander takes office, as the first appointee to the Anglican-German Bishopric in Jerusalem. ** American medical student William E. Clarke of Berkshire Medical College becomes the first pe ...

. He served as president of the State convention to nominate candidates for the board of canal commissioners in 1843, and was a member of the board of commissioners for

Northern Liberties Township, Pennsylvania Northern Liberties Township is a defunct township that was located in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. The township ceased to exist and was incorporated into the City of Philadelphia after the passage of the Act of Consolidation, 1854. History ...

, in 1843. He was again elected to the Thirtieth Congress. He was not a candidate for reelection in

1848 1848 is historically famous for the wave of revolutions, a series of widespread struggles for more liberal governments, which broke out from Brazil to Hungary; although most failed in their immediate aims, they significantly altered the polit ...

Later life

He was a member of the board of inspectors of the

Eastern State Penitentiary The Eastern State Penitentiary (ESP) is a former American prison in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is located at 2027 Fairmount Avenue between Corinthian Avenue and North 22nd Street in the Fairmount section of the city, and was operational from ...

from 1851 to 1853, and was collector of customs at the port of Philadelphia from 1853 to 1857. He was also member of the board of guardians of the poor of Philadelphia in 1860. He moved to Dover, Delaware, in 1861 and engaged in agricultural pursuits. He served as town commissioner of Dover in 1864 and 1865. He was a delegate to the National Union Convention at Philadelphia in 1866. He served as president of the board of trustees of the Dover public schools from 1871 to 1878. He died in Dover and is interred at the

Laurel Hill Cemetery Laurel Hill Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery in the East Falls neighborhood of Philadelphia. Founded in 1836, it was the second major rural cemetery in the United States after Mount Auburn Cemetery in Boston, Massachusetts. The cemetery is ...

in Philadelphia.

Personal life

Brown was the son-in-law of

Francis Rawn Shunk Francis Rawn Shunk (August 7, 1788 – July 20, 1848) was the tenth governor of Pennsylvania from 1845 to 1848. Early career Shunk was born on August 7, 1788 in Trappe, Pennsylvania, to a poor farming family of German American, German descent. H ...

, 10th Governor of Pennsylvania and father of

Francis Shunk Brown Francis Shunk Brown (June 9, 1858 – May 6, 1940) was an American lawyer from Pennsylvania who served one term as Pennsylvania Attorney General from 1915 to 1919 and ran unsuccessfully in the Republican primary for Governor in 1930. Ancestry B ...

, Attorney General of Pennsylvania from 1915 to 1919.

Notes

References

The Political Graveyard
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Charles 1797 births 1883 deaths 19th-century American politicians Burials at Laurel Hill Cemetery (Philadelphia) Democratic Party members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Democratic Party Pennsylvania state senators People from Bridgeton, New Jersey Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania Philadelphia City Council members Politicians from Philadelphia