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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Pulaski County, Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1889.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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George Russell Brown, president and principal owner of the Press Printing Company, State printers of Little Rock, owes his nativity to Rochester, N. Y., where his birth occurred October 10, 1852. He was the eldest in a family of four children, born to the union of Leverett Russell and Catherine (Ostrander) Brown, both natives of the State of New York. In 1852 the father embarked in the patent-roofing business, and the same year moved to Hamilton, Canada, where he continued the same business. In 1857 he moved to Galesburg, Ill., followed his former occupation, and in 1860 became connected with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, and later with the Chicago & Northwestern, running the first trains from Harvard Junction, Ill., to Madison, Wis. He then went east and followed railroad contracting for several years on the New York & Oswego Midland. He came to Arkansas in 1871, to take position as conductor on the Cairo & Fulton Railroad, now St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern, and ran the first passenger train from Little Rock to Little Red River, a point across the river from where the town of Judsonia is now situated. Mr. Brown is now connected with the United States mail service in Arkansas, and makes his home in Little Rock. His son, George Russell Brown (the subject of this sketch), attended the free schools of Galesburg, from 1858 to 1865, and then in Madison, Wis., from 1865 to 1868, after which he was a carrier on the Wisconsin State Journal, when that paper was owned by Atwood & Rublee. He returned with his parents to New York State in 1868, and subsequently attended school at Deposit, Broome County, for one year. At that time he was apprenticed to Watson & Stow, publishers of the Deposit Courier, and worked the first year for $1.25 a week. The second year he received $5 a week and the third year $8, when his trade was completed. He went to Binghamton, the county seat, and there worked on the Times, under D. E. Cronin, now an author and artist of New York City. Mr. Brown arrived at Little Rock, in September, 1872, and obtained a position as compositor on the Gazette, when it was owned by Woodruff & Blocher. In 1873, he was appointed reporter of the same paper by J. N. Smithee, then editor, and who was afterward State land commissioner. The following year he was promoted to city editor, and in 1875 was reporter on the Star, an evening paper, the apparatus of which was afterward purchased by Mr. Smithee, who established the present Arkansas Democrat. He was with this paper under the ownership of Smithee, Blocher & Mitchell, and Mitchell & Bettis, but resigned the position of city editor in 1883, having bought stock in the Arkansas Gazette. Mr. Brown was then appointed city editor of that paper, was soon promoted to the office of secretary, treasurer and business manager, and one year later was elected president of the company, which position he held until June 14, 1889, when he disposed of his stockholdings to Horace G. Allis, and purchased a controlling interest in the Press Printing Company, incorporated September, 1887, with $25,000 capital. They do an extensive business, aggregating from $80,000 to $100,000 a year. They also print and publish the Arkansas Press, a weekly paper owned by Mr. Brown and Charles H. Lewis. This paper is devoted to real estate, building, banking, railroad, river, manufacturing, timber, mineral and agricultural news, having classified reports from the various counties in the State. Mr. Brown was married in Memphis, Tenn., to Miss Mary E. Bateman, daughter of the late Dr. Bateman, November 25, 1878. To this union have been born two children: Katie Russ (born November 16, 1880, at Memphis) and Eleanor Courtney (born at Little Rock, December 19, 1882). Mr. Brown is a member of Damon Lodge No. 3, K. of P., of Little Rock, and also a member of Little Rock Lodge of Elks.

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This family biography is one of 156 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Pulaski County, Arkansas published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Pulaski County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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