Mining Investor, Prominent Mason, and Judge Jonas Brown [otd 06/27]

Judge Brown. H. T. French photo.Early Western pioneer and prominent Idaho lawyer Jonas W. Brown was born June 27, 1825 in Coshocton County, Ohio, 60-70 miles northeast of Columbus.

Around 1842, Jonas moved to Keokuk, Iowa, and found work in a flour mill. After nine years there, Brown joined the flow of gold-seekers headed for California. Over the next decade, he worked as carpenter, miner, county clerk, and deputy sheriff in California and then Washington.

He moved to Florence in 1862, while it...