Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-02-12
HAD BIC SHARE IN
HISTORICAL EVENTS
Mrs. Brownlow, Fighting Par
sons Widow, Was Daughter OF
Mr.. Smith-O'Brien.

The death in Knoxville Tenn, of
Elizabeth O'Brien Brownlow at the
age of ninety-five was noted briefly
by newspapers which printed col
umns almost daily fifty years ago
about the words and deeds of her
husband, William Gannaway Brown
low, the Fighting Parson, whose
championship of the Union and
whose flaming denunciation OF seces-
sion were so valuable to his country
In the border States.
Mrs. Brownlow survived her IN
trepid husband for thirty-seven
years. Not merely as the widow of
one of the great figures of American
history, but also because of her own
brave and unself1sh career she was
greatly honored as she neared the end
of her days. In the old Brownlow
home, where the Fighting Parson had
written his fearless editorials for
the Wing, and from which he had
gone out many times to be shot at
and assaulted, she received SIX Presi-
dents of the United States-Johnson
Grant, Hayes, Mckinley, Roosevelt
and Taft.
In her younger days she had cour-
eral Sam Houston. Her active life
covered eighty years of the eventful
history of her country.
Daughter of Smith O'Brien.
Mrs. Brownlow was born in Kings
port, Tenn, Sept ember Is, 1919. and
came of distinguished ancestry. Her
father was william Smith O'Brien,
who figured prominently in the re-
volt in Ireland In 1S4s, In which John
Mitchell, grandfather of Mayor John
Purroy Mitchell. was a prominent
figure. She was closely related to
MaJor-General Edmund Pendleton
Gaines, a hero of the Revolutionary
War; to Judge Nathaniel Pendleton,
Alexander Hamilton's second in the
fatal duel with Aaron Burr; to Presi-
dent Zachary Taylor. to President
James K. Polk and to many other
soldiers and lawmakers of the early
part of the nineteenth century.
She met Parson Brownlow when
he was a Methodist circuit rider, and
although her parents objected to the
penniless and prospectless preacher
their courtship progressed and they
were married in 1886.
Shortly after that William Gamma
way Brownlow's voice began to carry
far. When he was still youthful
exhorter great crowds focked to his
meetings, but the country began to
know about him when he became the
editor of the Knoxville Wing in 1888
and conducted 1t so aggressively as
TO get his name of 1.-The Fighting
Parson."
For years, or until 1861, when the
Confederate authorities suppressed
the paper. Brownlow Numbered
against disloyalty. He was not OPP
posed to slavery, but he detested the
secession advocates. His temper was
fiery and he came to blows many
times with secession sympathiZers,
who tried to scare him out of Ten
nessee. Men attempted to kill him.
He was imprisoned. Sometimes he
was hunted through the mountains.
But he could not be silenced, and the
government at Washington had
cause to thank Parson Brownlow for
his splendid championship of the
Union. In all of his dangers and
troubles Mrs. Brownlow was his coun-
sellor and comrade.
Parson Brownlow became governor
of Tennessee in 1866 and was re-elect-
ed two years later. He served one
term as United States senator and
was leader or his party in Congress.
He spent his last days In the old
home in Knoxville and died in 1877
in his seventysecond year.
Mrs. Brownlow continued to live In
the old home She took a lively in
terest In public affairs and kept
abreast of the times. Many visitors
from all parts of the country paid
their respects to Mrs. Brownlow and
were entertained with her rare fund
of "reminiscences. Herself of charm
ing manners and old-fashioned cour-
tesy, she often said that she consid-
cred General Jackson the most court
ly gentleman she had ever known
an attribute of the generals which is
not always emphasized by historians.
Until the very last Mrs. Brownlow
retained possession of her faculties
and was able to wait on herself until
the last days of her illness.
Colonel John Bell Brownlow Ia the
best known of the surviving children.
In the Civil War he commanded the
Nineteenth Tennessee Cavalry. An
other son, General James P. Brown
low. died in 1872, never having recov-
cred from injuries received in the