Few men are more prominent or more widely known in the enterprising city of Piqua than McPherson Brown. Although a young man, he has been, and is, an important factor in business circles, and his popularity is well deserved as in him are embraced the characteristics of an unbending integrity, unabating energy and industry that never flags. He is public-spirited, and thoroughly interested in everything that tends to promote the moral, intellectual and material welfare of Piqua, and his fitness for leadership brought him the honor of an election to the state senate of Ohio.

Mr. Brown was born in Pittsburg, on the 21st of October, 1860, and belongs to one of the old families of that state, which tradition says is of Irish extraction. His grandfather, John Brown, was born in that state, as was the father, John Brown, Jr. The latter was a native of Carlisle, and in early life he followed the cooper's trade. When a young man, he went to Pittsburg and there engaged in coopering throughout his remaining days. He was at one time the proprietor of a very extensive establishment in that line, and his excellent workmanship, capable management and honorable deal-ing brought to him good financial returns. In politics he was a Democrat, but never sought or desired office. He died at the very advanced age of eighty-two years. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Sarah Davis, was a native of England, and when a maiden of twelve summers came to America with her parents. Her father, William Davis, took up his abode in Pittsburg and was employed as a shingler in a rolling mill. At one time he was in very comfortable circumstances, but lost considerable in the Pittsburg fire, in 1845. He lived to be eighty-three years of age. His daughter, Mrs. Brown, spent the greater part of her life in Pittsburg, but about 1890 came to Piqua, where she is still living, at the age of seventy-six years. She is a member of the Presbyterian church, and her careful training has been all important factor in molding the lives of her children. She was the mother of ten sons and four daughters, but seven of the number are deceased, five having died in infancy. Mary Ann and Robert are residents of Pittsburg. John, who was a Union soldier and was held as a prisoner of war for some time, died from the effects of his service. Jane and Martha are also living in Pittsburg. William was killed at the age of forty- two years. George C. is employed as a sheet roller in the rolling mill in Piqua. McPherson is the next of the family. Charles H. is also a sheet roller of Piqua, and the others died in very early life.

McPherson Brown, whose name introduces this review, spent his boyhood days at home, and pursued his early education in the public schools of Pittsburg, but when only eight years of age he began to earn his own living by working in a brickyard. In order to acquire a better education, he attended night school until sixteen years of age. He then accepted a clerkship in a grocery store, but after a short time secured employment in a rolling mill, where his close application to his duties and his marked ability and fidelity won him promotion from time to time. He was thus employed for about six years, after which he engaged in the manufacture of brick on his own account in Crafton, Pennsylvania, six miles from Pittsburg. He conducted that enterprise for about two years, but it did not prove a paying one and in consequence he returned to the rolling mill at Pittsburg, where he remained until the 21st of November, 1889, when he came to Piqua. He has since served as sheet roller in the extensive rolling mill at this place, with the exception of the time which he spent in the senate, and in the service of the country during the Spanish-American war. He is a young man of excellent business ability, and his labors have secured a marked advancement in commercial and industrial circles. He was at one time vice-president and general manager of the Loyal Mutual Accident Association, serving in that capacity from 1893 to 1899. He is a stockholder and director in the Hubbard Grocery Company, and a director in the Merchants' and Mechanics' Building & Loan Association. He is also a stockholder in the King Solomon Mining Company, having extensive mines in British Columbia which are now extensively developed. He has already made money off of this enterprise by selling some of his stock at an advanced price. Formerly he was a stockholder and director of the Dispatch newspaper, but has sold his interest in that journal. Mr. Brown gave his wages to his mother until he was twenty-three years of age, at which time he was married and started out in life for himself with practically no capital. He has steadily worked his way upward, overcoming all the difficulties and obstacles in his path, and whatever success he has achieved is the merited reward of his own labors.

Brown was married in Pittsburg, January 13, 1884, to Miss Mary Janet Andrews, of Pittsburg, and they now have three children: Marguarette Geist; Ethel, who died in infancy; and Frederick Geist. They have many warm friends in Piqua, and enjoy the hospitality of many of the best homes in the city.

In his political views Mr. Brown is a stanch Republican, and has always taken a deep interest in political questions, keeping well informed on the issues of the day. Even before he could vote he was a student of the political history of the country. He cast his first presidential vote for Blaine in 1884, and has ever labored to promote the growth and insure the success of his party. His fitness for leadership being recognized by those prominent in Republican circles, he was nominated for state senator in 1893, was elected and re-elected in 1895. His district is, as a rule, very strongly Democratic, its normal majority for that party being about fifteen hundred. Mr. Brown is the second Republican ever sent to the senate from the district, and is the only one that has ever been re-elected. This fact stands in unmistakable evidence of his popularity as a man, and the faithfulness and ability with which he labored for the county that he represents. During both terms he took an active part in the work performed by the senate, and was instrumental in presenting and passing a great many bills which had for their object the welfare of the commonwealth. He opposed the contract system of labor in the penitentiary, and was instrumental in securing the passage of a bill to bring about the exchange of commodities between the different public institutions of the state and which would place the labor of some institutions out of competition with the working man. He also introduced a bill to change the fee system in county offices, paying a salary instead to the incumbents. He also labored to secure the passage of the vinegar bill and the pure food commission, and was a member of many of the important committees. He has served on the county central committee, has often been a delegate to the state, congressional, judicial, senatorial and county conventions, and is active in organizing the local work in Miami county. In every respect Senator Brown is a consistent, energetic and faithful member of the Republican party. He was a member of the county election board the year in which the Australian ballot system came into vogue. Although believing most firmly in the principles of the party, he places his country's welfare before partisan prejudice and the public good before self-aggrandizement. In 1898 he raised Company K, to fill the quota of the Third Regiment for the Spanish American war, and as its captain he went to Tampa, Florida, and thence to Fernandina and Huntsville, where he remained for about four months. His regiment was never ordered to Cuba, and was mustered out at Columbus, on the 26th of October, 1898.

Mr. Brown is very prominent in fraternal circles, belonging to Warren Lodge, No. 24, F. & A. M.; Piqua Chapter, No. 31, R. A. M.; and to Coleman Commandery, No. 17, K. T., of Troy. He has also attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish rite, belongs to the Consistory, of Dayton, and is a member of the Mystic Shrine, of Cincinnati. He also belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, to the Knights of Pythias fraternity, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and is the only member of the Heptasophs in Miami county, his membership being in the lodge of that order in Pittsburg. Both he and his wife hold membership in the Presbyterian church. His life has indeed been well spent, and with a just appreciation of the duties of citizenship and of the obligations of man to his fellow man and to his Creator, his life has been one commanding the respect of all with whom he has been brought in contact.