1796-1875
John W. Brown served in 1857, 1865. Born in Dundee, Scotland, Oct. 11, 1796. Emigrated to United States in 1802; educated in Newburgh, N.Y. Representative in Congress (Jacksonian Party), 1833-1837. Member of the Constitutional Convention of 1846 and of committee that framed the Judiciary Article. Elected to state supreme court 1849, reelected 1857. Defeated by Ward Hunt in 1865 election for judge of the Court of Appeals. After 1865, retired to private life. Died Sep. 3, 1875. See http://bioguide.congress.gov. His portrait is in the Court of Appeals courtroom, east wall.
This biography appears in The Judges of the New York Court of Appeals: A Biographical History, ed. Hon. Albert M. Rosenblatt (New York: Fordham University Press, 2007). It has not been updated since publication.