Clayton - Person Sheet
Clayton - Person Sheet
NameWALKER, May Reynolds
Spouses
Birth Date18 Aug 1827
Birth PlacePickens County, South Carolina
Death Date2 Mar 1915 Age: 87
Death PlaceCanton, Cherokee County, Georgia
FatherBROWN, Mackey (1797-1874)
MotherRICE, Sallie (1797-1874)
Misc. Notes
YALE SCHOOL OF LAW LL.B. 1853

Born August 18, 1827, in Pickens District, S. C.
Died March 2, 1915, in Canton, Ga.

James Rice Brown was born in Pickens District, S. C, on
August 18, 1827, being the son of Mackey Brown, a farmer, who had lived in Tennessee, South Carolina, and Georgia, spending the latter years of his life in Cherokee County, Ga., near Canton, and who had served as a justice of the peace, and of Sally Rice Brown.

His early education was received at Williamston, in his native state, and before coming to Yale he studied law in Canton, Ga., being admitted to the bar in 1852. He was at Yale the following year, and after taking his degree, returned to Canton, where he began the practice of his profession, in which he continued until about twelve years ago.

Not long after his return he entered politics, and in 1862 was elected to the State Senate of Georgia, where he also served several terms a few years later. In 1877 he was appointed a member of the convention which framed the state constitution, and for eight years, beginning in January, 1881, he served as judge of the superior courts of the Blue Ridge circuit. In 1892 he was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention in Chicago.

Mr. Brown was a member of the First Baptist Church of Canton, and acted several times as moderator of the local Baptist Association. He served for six months during the Civil War. His travels had covered nearly the whole of the United States, Canada, and Cuba.

His death occurred, from infirmities incident to his years, at his home in Canton on March 2, 1915, burial being in the local cemetery.

He was married in Bartow County, Ga., on July 3, 1856, to Harriet F., daughter of John W. and Maria Lewis, who died on October 12, 1889. On November 16, 1892, he was married a second time in Canton to May R., daughter of Zebulon and Mary (Reynolds) Walker of Newton County, Ga., who survives him. He had five children, four by his first marriage and one by his second: John Washington Lewis; George Rowland (B.A. University of Georgia 1881), who died on October 28, 1896; Joseph Emerson, who took the degree of B.A. at Mercer University in 1885; Sallie Rice, who died on March 25, 1888, and Frances May.

Mr. Brown's brother, the late Joseph Emerson Brown, and his grandnephew, Thomas Whipple Connally, received the degree of LL.B. at Yale in 1846 and 1905, respectively.
Last Modified 30 Mar 2018Created 9 Jul 2022 by Robert Avent