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Term of Service at the Supreme Court of Missouri: January 1911 – September 1915
Judge John Chilton Brown was born March 22, 1860, in Carter County, Missouri. He was educated at schools in Missouri and Colorado. He was self-taught in the practice of law and was admitted October 10, 1888, to the bar at Van Buren.
Prior to passing the bar, Brown worked as a justice of the peace, deputy circuit clerk, and recorder of deeds. In Van Buren, he was an attorney and was a real estate agent. In November 1888, voters elected him to be prosecuting attorney for Carter County.
By 1894, Brown moved to Willow Springs, Missouri, where he was engaged in the practice of law. In 1902, he moved to Fredericktown, Missouri, and continued with his legal practice. On April 9, 1909, Brown was a appointed as a member of the Missouri Revision Commission for a one year term.
On November 8, 1910, voters elected Brown to a 10-year term as a judge of the Supreme Court of Missouri. His term began January 1, 1911, and was to conclude December 31, 1920.
On September 4, 1915, during his term as a judge with the Court, Judge John C. Brown died in St. Louis. He was 55 years old.
Biographical information by Dylan Powers-Cody, 2024, Truman State University.
Sources used (a copy of each is on file at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library):
Cornelius Roach, compiler, Cornelius Roach, Secretary of State, Official Manual of the State of Missouri For the Years 1901-1910, (Jefferson City, MO: The Hugh Stephens Printing Company, 1910), 592.
Cornelius Roach, compiler, Cornelius Roach, Secretary of State, Official Manual of the State of Missouri For the Years 1911-1912, (Jefferson City, MO: The Hugh Stephens Printing Company), 70.
Cornelius Roach, compiler, Cornelius Roach, Secretary of State, Official Manual of the State of Missouri For the Years 1913-1914, (Jefferson City, MO: The Hugh Stephens Printing Company, 1914), 83.
“John C. Brown, Attorney-And-Real Estate Agent, The Current Local, (Van Buren, Missouri), August 1, 1891, SHSMO Digital Newspaper Project, information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri website, accessed April 5, 2024.
“John C. Brown: Attorney at Law,” Current Wave (Eminence, Missouri), May 19, 1898, SHSMO Digital Newspaper Project, information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri website, accessed April 5, 2024.
“John Chilton Brown,” Missouri State Board of Health, Certificate of Death, filed September 7, 1915, Missouri Death Certificates Database, 1910-1973, information courtesy of Missouri Death Certificates Database, Missouri Digital Heritage website, Missouri State Archives, accessed April 5, 2024.
“Judge John Brown Dies in St. Louis,” The Kansas City Journal, (Kansas City, Missouri), September 5, 1915, SHSMO Digital Newspaper Project, information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri website, accessed April 5, 2024.
“Judge John C. Brown, Missouri Supreme Court Member, Called, Final Summons Came Last Saturday After a Lingering Illness,” The Current Local (Van Buren, Missouri), September 9, 1915, SHSMO Digital Newspaper Project, information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri website, accessed April 5, 2024.
“Local Leaders,” The Salem Monitor, (Salem, Missouri), August 16, 1894, SHSMO Digital Newspaper Project, information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri website, accessed April 5, 2024.
Perry S. Rader, reporter, “In Memoriam, Hon. John Chilton Brown,” Reports of Cases Determined by the Supreme Court of Missouri, Between February 15, 1916 and May 31, 1916, vol. 267, (Columbia, MO: E. W. Stephens Publishing Co. 1916), xxvii.
Piedmont Weekly Banner (Piedmont, Missouri), September 9, 1915, SHSMO Digital Newspaper Project, information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri website, accessed April 5, 2024.
The Democrat-News, (Fredericktown, Missouri), August 8, 1902, SHSMO Digital Newspaper Project, information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri website, accessed April 5, 2024.