Leroy D. Brown
Leroy D. Brown, superintendent of the schools of Hamilton, was born November 3, 1848, in what is now Noble County, Ohio. He is the son of Jeremiah B. and Isabella (Harris) Brown. He attended district school until the age of fifteen, from three to six months each year. Each school was provided, by legislative enactment, with a library, and during his boyish days Brown read every volume in the list. His choice was for biography, history, and travels. He was obliged to labor the rest of the year. When fifteen, having been unable to obtain the consent of his father to enlist, he ran away, and entered Company H, One Hundred and Sixteenth Ohio. This was in January, 1864. He remained in the service until the close of the war. He was in the Shenandoah Valley, and saw service under Siegel, Hunter, Crook and Sheridan in this department, and afterward was in the Army of the James, near Richmond. When discharged he was the general's orderly.
After returning home he was in the district school, and afterward in a high school at Seneca, Ohio. He began his career as a teacher on December 3, 1866, in a district adjoining the one in which he had lived in boyhood. In April, 1867, he entered Mount Auburn Academy, where he in part fitted for college, and in 1869 joined the preparatory department of the Ohio Wesleyan University, from which he was afterward graduated. He taught in Noble County during the greater part of 1872 and 1873, and was also county examiner. In 1873 he took charge of a graded school at Newport, and was afterward made superintendent. In 1874 he was in charge of the public schools at Belpre, and in 1875 he was made superintendent of the schools of Eaton, Preble County. This position he filled until 1879, when he was elected superintendent of the schools of Hamilton and has since been re-elected. He is the secretary of the State Association, and a writer in educational periodicals. He served a term as trustee of the Lane Free Library, and is a post-graduate student of the Cincinnati University. He was admitted to the bar in 1878. He married November 28, 1878, Esther Emma Gabel, daughter of Lucian and Mary A. Gabel. The father is an architect and builder, and now resides in Hamilton. Mr. and Mrs. Brown have one boy, Thomas Pollok Brown, who is about three years of age. Mr. Brown is a Mason, and a member of the Grand Army of the Republic.
From A History and Biographical Cyclopædia of Butler County Ohio, With Illustrations and Sketches of its Representative Men and Pioneers, Western Biographical Publishing Company, Cincinnati Ohio, 1882.