John M. Brown, Mayor of Sandusky 1849-1850

On February 1, 1865, John Brough, the Governor of Ohio, appointed John M. Brown to the office of Notary Public for Erie County, Ohio. The document was recorded at the Court of Common Pleas of Erie County, Ohio by George O. Selkirk, Erie County Clerk of Courts.

John M. Brown was a pioneer citizen of Sandusky, Ohio, having settled there in 1847. He was admitted to the Erie County Bar in 1848, and served as the Mayor of Sandusky in 1849 and 1850. The 1937 Firelands Pioneer states that John M. Brown served as the Postmaster of Sandusky from 1853 through 1861.

An obituary for John M. Brown appeared in the June 8, 1891 issue of the Sandusky Register. The article points out that during President Buchanan’s administration, Mr. Brown was a Democrat, but later he became a Republican due to his views on the tariff question. The Register obituary reports that during the 1849 cholera epidemic, Mr. Brown’s “services were very efficient and devoted.” In his later years John M. Brown devoted himself to the business of real estate as well as farming. John M. Brown died on June 7, 1891 at the West House. He is buried in Oakland Cemetery, next to his wife Elizabeth.