N. M. Brown, of Brown & Donnell, Millers, was born in Dekalb County in 1856, the youngest son of six children of Isaiah and Rachel A. (Wood) Brown, both natives of Virginia. The father, of Dutch origin, was born in 1818 and died in 1885. He was the son of John Brown, a tanner. Isaiah was reared and married in his native State, and in 1854 removed to Dekalb County, Tenn., Where he worked at his trade as cooper. The mother, born in 1823, is still living with our subject and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Our subject was educated at Alexandria, and at the early age of thirteen began life as an engineer, to which he has since devoted most of his time. He has had a varied practice under different persons and is a skillful engineer. During 1881 he was a merchant, but since then he has been in charge of the Alexandria mills, in which he has an interest and which are doing a profitable business. He and his brother are also owners of a sawmill in Warren County. June 18, 1885, he was married to Julia, a daughter of John and Julia Rollings, of Alexandria, where Mrs. Brown was born in 1861. She is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. They have one child, Maud. Mr. Brown is a Republican, casting his first vote for Gen. Garfield.