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James Muncaster BROWN[1]
Male 1820 -


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  • Birth  8 Dec 1820  [2] 
    Gender  Male 
    Person ID  I1921  Ward Family Tree
    Last Modified  11 Dec 2007 

    Family  Julia Elizabeth POST,   b. 4 May 1819,   d. 11 May 1898 
    Children 
     1. Julia Elizabeth BROWN,   b. 23 Nov 1852
    Family ID  F1344  Group Sheet

  • Notes 
    • JAMES MUNCASTER BROWN was born on December 8,1820. As ?was the case with his half-brother Stewart, he was brought up in the ?Baltimore office of Alexander Brown & Sons. After serving his ?time there he became a partner in a firm in Baltimore.1 In 1847, ?at James Brown's invitation, he came to New York to enter the firm ?of Brown Brothers & Company, with which he continued until his ?death in 1890. ?Mr. Brown was a man of very regular habits, always appearing at ?the office at the same hour, almost at the same minute each day, leaving ?both for his lunch and for his home after the business of the day ?was over with equal punctuality. His judgment in business matters ?was sound and almost intuitive. He reached his decisions promptly, ?accepting or declining a piece of business almost on the instant and ?without, apparently, sufficient consideration, but rarely making a mistake. ?He was one of those men of whom it has been said that it is
      pleasanter to have a refusal from them than an acceptance from a less ?gracious person. This quality of prompt decision was of special ?value to the firm in the days of the Civil War, when the premium on ?gold was exposed to sudden fluctuations. At that time he had special ?oversight of the purchase and sale of sterling exchange, and he seldom ?left the office with an uncovered balance overnight. I remember an ?earnest discussion between himself and Stewart Brown, in which the ?latter criticised him because he had failed to take advantage of what ?seemed to Stewart the certainty of a change in the market. Finally ?an appeal was taken to James Brown. Stewart presented the case in ?a faultless and apparently convincing manner, whereupon Mr. Brown, ?Sr., asked James what he had to say in reply to Stewart's arguments. ?After hesitating a moment he replied, "Well, I do not know, Stewart ?may be right, but it seems to me safer to cover each transaction as it ?occurs." After a moment's reflection, James Brown turned to Stewart ?and said, "Your reasoning seems to be faultless, but my long experience ?in the management of the exchange business has taught me that ?the unexpected almost always happens. I think James is right, and ?you had better let him have his way." The sequel proved that ?James's intution was right, and that, had he followed Stewart's advice, ?a serious loss would have occurred. [2]

  • Sources 
    1. [S472] Marie Caroline Post.

    2. [S473] John Crosby Brown.


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