Rev. Samuel J. Browne
Rev. Samuel J. Browne was born at Honiton, England, in 1786, and emigrated to this country in 1796 with his father, Rev. John W. Browne, who settled first at Chillicothe, Ohio, and afterward, in 1798, at Cincinnati, and a few years later was drowned in the Little Miami river while returning from one of his appointments to preach in that neighborhood. His son, Samuel J. Browne, learned the printing business with Nathaniel Willis, and in 1804 started the Liberty Hall newspaper, afterwards the Cincinnati Gazette, and in 1824 the Cincinnati Emporium, afterwards the first daily paper of large size printed in Cincinnati. Through his instigation and pecuniary aid his son, J. W. S. Browne, and his son-in-law, L. S. Curtiss, originated and placed on a paying basis the Cincinnati Daily Commercial. He early perceived the growing tendencies of his adopted city, and was among the first to show his faith by frequent investments in real estate in the city and its suburbs. In 1830 he purchased the late Browne homestead, consisting of twenty-five acres on the north side of the Miami canal, opposite Baymiller street, and erected thereon a fine residence which he occupied until his death.
Mr. Browne was twice married. His first wife, a most estimable and handsome English lady, was wooed and won while Mr. Browne was on a visit to his brother in England, and by whom he had seven children, three of whom still survive. His second wife was a daughter of the late Dr. E. A. Atlee, a lady of sweet disposition and most amiable character, by whom he had five children, of whom three are still living. Mr. Browne pursued a most active life, retaining both mental and physical vigor to within a short period of his death, which occurred in September, 1872, at the ripe old age of eighty-five years.
From History of Hamilton county, Ohio, Henry & Kate Ford, L. A. Williams & Co., Publishers, 1881