Melville C. Brown

Melville C. Brown
Judge of the United States Territorial District Court for the District of Alaska
In office 1900–1904
Appointed by	William McKinley
Preceded by	Charles S. Johnson
Succeeded by	Royal Arch Gunnison
U.S. Attorney for the Territorial District of Wyoming
In office 1880–1884
Member of the Wyoming Territorial House of Representatives
In office 1871–1872
Member of the Idaho Territorial House of Representatives
In office 1863–1864
Constituency	Boise County
Personal details
Born	(1838-08-16)August 16, 1838 Kennebec County, Maine, U.S.
Died	April 9, 1928(1928-04-09) (aged 89) Laramie, Wyoming, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Nancy W. Fillmore ​ (m. 1874)​
Children	4
Profession	Attorney

Melville Cox Brown (August 16, 1838 – April 9, 1928) was an American politician and jurist.

Biography

Brown was born on August 16, 1838, on a farm in Kennebec County, Maine, near Augusta, the son of Captain Enoch and Sarah S. (née Reed) Brown, the former supposedly a descendent of Mayflower passenger Peter Browne. He grew up in Maine before heading West at eighteen, settling in Oroville, California, before moving to Florence, Idaho Territory, in 1862. The following year, he moved to Centerville, where he studied law under a Judge Kelley, and was elected as a Republican to represent Boise County in the Idaho Territorial House of Representatives. Brown was then appointed by President Lincoln as assistant assessor of internal revenue for the territory, and became assessor when his superior, Calvin Bodfish, died.

After having success as a mining investor, Brown relocated to Cheyenne, Dakota Territory, in 1867, to practice law. The following year, he moved his practice to Laramie, Wyoming Territory, which would remain his home for most of the following sixty years. He married Nancy W. Fillmore in Laramie on May 20, 1870, and they would have three daughters. That same year, he was elected as chairman of the Wyoming Territorial Republican Party, and in 1871, he was elected to the Wyoming Territorial House of Representatives. He would later serve as the first mayor of Laramie and district attorney for Albany County. In 1880, he was appointed as U.S. Attorney for the Territorial District of Wyoming, which he would serve as for four years. In 1889, he was chosen as a delegate to the Wyoming Constitutional Convention, which elected him as its president.

He practiced law throughout the West, and in 1900, he was appointed by President McKinley as the U.S. Territorial District Judge for the District of Alaska, where he heard cases in Sitka and Wrangell. He term expired in 1904 and he practiced law in Seattle until 1907, returning the following year to Laramie, where he practiced law until his retirement. While he was successful in his law practice, his business ventures were generally unsuccessful, and upon his death due to heart failure in Laramie on April 9, 1928, he left an estate valued at $2,500.

On March 6, 1900, President William McKinley nominated Brown to be the territorial United States District Judge for the District of Alaska.