Brown, J. Henry (Joseph Henry), 1837-1898

Joseph Henry Brown, pioneer and historian of Salem, Oregon, was born near Wilmington, Will County, Illinois, in 1837, and came overland to Oregon with his parents in 1847. He served as an apprentice with the Oregon Statesman in Salem in the late 1850s, went to California in 1858, and after various enterprises in The Dalles and elsewhere returned to the printing trade in Salem. He joined the First Oregon Cavalry in 1861 and saw service fighting Indians in eastern Oregon. He served as a clerk in the state legislature and the Salem correspondent for the Oregonian . In 1869 he married Margaret R. Graves, with whom he had four children, and around 1880 they moved to Portland. The first volume of Brown's book Political history of Oregon was published in 1892, but subsequent volumes remained unpublished due to Brown's ill health.

From the guide to the Joseph Henry Brown papers, 1842-1924, (Oregon Historical Society)