ELWYN F. BROWN, one of the prominent lawyers of
the Benton county bar, is a member of the law firm of Whipple, Brown
& Mossman, and is also the present county attorney, having been
elected to this office November 3, 1908. He has practiced in Vinton
since 1901, having come here from Kearney, Nebraska.
He is of a family which has produced other men prominent in public life
and business. His brother, Norris Brown, is the present United States
senator from Nebraska, and his other brother, Leon Brown, is managing
editor of the Des Moines Register & Leader.
Elwyn F. Brown was born in Maquoketa, Jackson county, Iowa, July 29,
1866. His parents were William H. and Eliza (Phelps) Brown, both of
early families of that section of Iowa. William H. Brown was born in
1840 and was brought to Iowa in 1845, was engaged in the mercantile
business at Maquoketa with Mr. Goodenow until 1870, and has since
resided in Polk county, for five years on a farm and since then in the
city of Des Moines. His wife is also still living. They had three sons,
Norris, Elwyn F. and Leon. Norris, the senator, graduated from the
University of Iowa with the class of 1883, practiced law in Kearney,
Nebraska, was elected and served six years as attorney general of the
state, and was then elected to the United States senate, taking his
seat March 4, 1907. Leon, the managing editor of the Des
Moines Register & Leader, is a graduate of the University
of Iowa in the class of 1890.
Elwyn F. Brown was four years old when the family moved to Polk county,
and he received his early education in that county and Des Moines.
After graduating with the class of 1887 from the University of Iowa, he
began the study of law with Judge Church at Jefferson, Iowa, and later
with Howard & Rose, and was admitted by examination before the
supreme court of Nebraska, May 25, 1888. He then began practice with
his brother Norris, and the firm of Brown & Brown continued until
January 5, 1901. The election of the senior member to the office of
attorney general caused his temporary residence in Lincoln, and Mr.
Brown soon after came to Vinton and bought the practice of Judge G. M.
Gilchrist. He associated himself in practice with Senator Whipple, and
they continued as Whipple & Brown until May 1, 1909, at which date
the present firm was organized. Mr. Mossman was a student in Cornell
College (Iowa) and is a graduate of the law department of the
University of Missouri with the class of 1908. In the fall of that year
he took examination before the supreme court of Iowa and was admitted
to practice.
Mr. Brown has been a member of the Knights of Pythias order since he
was twenty-one years old, and is also a member of the Masons at Vinton.
His politics is Republican and he and his wife are members of the
Presbyterian church. He married, at Vinton in 1889, Miss Ethelwyn
Gilchrist. She is a daughter of Hon. G. M. Gilchrist, one of the most
prominent members of the Benton county bench and bar. They have two
children, Elwyn, aged sixteen, and Merle, fourteen, in 1909, both in
the Vinton high school.
Picture of Elwyn F. Brown
