1896 Photo of J. Earle Brown by H. Randall, Ann Arbor, Michigan

I purchased this card mounted photo with others at a flea market in Oak Ridge, Tennessee in about 2000. It is 7.25″ x 5″.

If you are a relative of J. Earle Brown or the photographer Herbert Randall, I would be willing to part with this photo. Please contact me via email at erinfamilyhistory.com@gmail.com and let me know how you are related and/or what your interest is in obtaining this item.

J. Earle Brown, June 1896
The photographer, Herbert Randall, signed the portrait at bottom-left

The Subject

“Very truly, your nephew, J. Earle Brown, Ann Arbor, Mich., June 1896”

J. Earle Brown was born 27 January 1872 in Clinton County, Michigan to Ezekial and Louise Tallman Brown. His father was a farmer and teacher.

In 1896, at the age of twenty-three, J. Earle Browne graduated from the University of Michigan. That June, the above photo was taken at the Ann Arbor studio of Herbert Randall.

J. Earle seems to have been restless after graduation. He first opened a law office in Bay City, Michigan. By 1897, he was in Alaska, where he spent the next two years. Upon his return to Michigan, he worked as a newspaper reporter in Lansing. That was short-lived, as by 1899 he had opened a law practice in St. John’s, Michigan. At some point later, he opened a practice in Lansing while maintaining the one in St. John’s. He was city attorney for St. John’s at some point during this era.

At the time of the 1900 census, J. Earle Browne lived at Mrs. Wiggin’s boarding house in Bingham, Michigan, a village a short way from his office in St. John’s. Three years later on 18 February 1903, J. Earle, then thirty-one, married Mrs. Wiggin’s daughter, Cecelia M “Birdaline” Wiggins, aged twenty-four. Sadly, Birdaline died 25 June 1908 from Cerebrospinal Meningitis at age thirty. She was buried at Mount Rest Cemetery in St. John’s. J. Earle and Birdaline had no known children.

*Lansing State Journal*, Lansing, Michigan, 17 Jun 1916, Sat, Page 5

Two years after the death of his wife, J. Earle was enumerated as a roomer in the 1910 census in the St. John’s household of Bert Vanseler. Also in the household were Bert’s mother and sister. J. Earle was working as a lawyer and his marriage status was widowed.

In 1912, J. Earle Brown was a delegate to the Democratic national convention.

Eight years after the death of Birdaline, in 1916, J. Earle Brown remarried. His new wife was Miss Maud Stewart, a thirty-six-year-old stenographer for the state insurance department and a native of England. J. Earle, then forty-four, was a partner in the law firm, Brown, Walbridge, Kelley & Seelye in Lansing. A newspaper article about the wedding described the couple as “popular in Lansing,” and J. Earle as “well-known.”

The wedding was a small affair, taking place in the parlors of the Hotel Tuller in Detroit at 4 o’clock on 17 Jun 1916. Among the few friends and family in attendance at the private ceremony were Judge and Mrs. Dean W. Kelley of St. John’s.

J. Earle Brown closed his St. John’s, Michigan practice in 1916 and settled permanently in Lansing with his new wife. 1920 saw the Browns living in Lansing at 323 W. Hillsdale Street. They rented this home and Maud likely had the job of keeping it. She was no longer working as a stenographer. J. Earle was still practicing law with offices in the 608 American State Savings Bank building. The Brown’s home on Hillsdale no longer stands. Parking lots occupy the entire 300 block odd-numbered addresses as of 2022.

By 1930, Mr. and Mrs. Brown owned the home J. Earle would spend the rest of his life in. 1132 S. Genessee in Lansing still stands and is well maintained. The neighborhood is quaint and quiet-looking with many mature trees. Homes there look to have been built in the 1910s to 20s. The Brown’s house is a craftsman style one, with an eyebrow dormer.

By 1940, J. Earle Brown was apparently not practicing law. His profession was general manager of a refrigeration company. He was sixty-eight years old.

Gravestone of J. Earle Brown
by Find-A-Grave contributor Linda Hughes

J. Earle Brown passed away at the age of seventy on 13 June 1943. He died at home from a heart attack. His remains rest at Deepdale Memorial Park in Eaton County, Michigan.

Maud left Lansing shortly after the death of J. Earle. She died of a heart attack at her home in Eaton County, Michigan at the age of seventy-nine on 5 March, 1957. She rests next to her husband at Deepdale. Their simple stones bear only their names and the phrase, “God is love.”

The Subject

Sources