James Joseph Brown

James Joseph Brown
"J.J." Brown in 1908.
Born	(1854-09-27)September 27, 1854 Waymart, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	September 5, 1922(1922-09-05) (aged 67) Nassau, New York, U.S.

James Joseph "J.J." Brown (September 27, 1854 – September 5, 1922), was an American mining engineer, inventor, and self-made member of fashionable "society". His wife was RMS Titanic survivor Molly Brown.

J.J. was born in Waymart, Pennsylvania. His father, James Brown, was an Irish immigrant. His mother, Cecilia Palmer, was a schoolteacher. J.J's family moved to Pittston, Pennsylvania shortly after his birth. J.J's mother home-schooled him and later sent him to St. John's Academy. He left home at the age of 23, lured by the riches in the West. His first stop was a farm in Nebraska. From Nebraska he moved to the placer mines in the Dakotas. He spent two years learning the mining trade before moving to Colorado where he tried his luck in Georgetown, Aspen, and Ashcroft. He spent another two years in the Aspen and Ashcroft area before moving to Alma, Fairplay, Red Cliff, and, finally, Leadville. He studied geology, ore deposits, and mining techniques to become a better miner.

J.J. married Margaret Tobin on September 1, 1886 in Leadville's Annunciation Church. Margaret was later known as The Unsinkable Molly Brown when a Broadway fictionalized movie about her life titled, The Unsinkable Molly Brown was released in 1964. That was how Margaret's moniker Molly was acquired. Margaret Brown was one of the survivors of the RMS Titanic sinking in 1912. At the time of their marriage, J.J. was 31 and Margaret was 19. They first settled in Leadville, Colorado in a small, two-room log cabin, then later moved to a two bedroom house at 320 East Ninth Street. The Browns had two children. Their first child, Lawrence Palmer Brown, nicknamed Larry, was born on August 30, 1887 in his maternal grandparents' four room cottage near the Mississippi River in Hannibal, Missouri. Larry married Hannah Elizabeth Horton (1890–1985) on January 1, 1911 in Kansas City, Missouri. They had two children, Lawrence Palmer "Pat" Brown Jr. (1911–1976) and Eileen Elizabeth "Betty" Brown (1913–1974). The marriage failed and Larry married Hollywood actress Mildred Gregory (1895–1956) on November 17, 1926 in Beverly Hills, California. This marriage produced no other children. Larry died on April 2, 1949. J.J. and Margaret's second child, Catherine Ellen Brown, nicknamed Helen, was born on July 22, 1889 in her parents' three bedroom house at 322 West Seventh Street in Leadville, Colorado. She married George Joseph Peter Adelheid Benziger (1877–1970) on April 7, 1913 in Chicago, Illinois. Her children were James George Benziger (1914–1995) and George Peter Joseph Adelrich Benziger (1917–1985). Her grandchildren include Bradford Benziger (born December 13, 1944), Katherine Benziger (born July 12, 1947) Vincent Benziger (born August 3, 1950), Pamela Benziger Feeley (born 1946), Alice Lynne Davy (born 1948), Helen Anne Benziger (born 1950) and Heidi Rautio (born 1952). Helen died on October 17, 1969.