My Brown Family Page
(still under construction)
Eugenie Marguerite Konvalinka married Edwin Henry Brown (1851-1930), a well known patent attorney. His parents were Henry T. Brown [son of Thomas Brown (1755-1840) and Charlotte Tyler Brown (1798-1864)]
From a biographical memoir, perhaps an obituary:
BROWN, EDWIN H., patent lawyer, b in Brooklyn NY 19 May 1851; d in St. Albans, NY 3 Jan. 1930, son of Henry T. And Pricilla M (Saunders) Brown. Mr Brown's parents were both natives of England, but became known to each other and were married after their arrival in the United States. His father, the late Henry T Brown, was for many years the editor and publisher of "The American Artisan," which he (Edwin?] discontinued to specialize in the field of patent soliciting. At the time of his death he was senior member of the firm of Brown & Seward, patent solicitors and patent experts. His mother, Pricilla M Brown was the daughter of Simon Saunders (1783-1861) a native of Taunton, Somersetshire, England, and a granddaughter of the founder of the well known London publishing form of Saunders and Otley, which during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century brought out the books of most of the famous English authors of the day.
His maternal uncle, the late Frederick Saunders (14 August 1807-12 December 1902), noted author, journalist and librarian, came to the United States in 1837 for the purpose of establishing an American branch of his father's London publishing house, as well as with the hope of securing the passage by Congress of international copyright laws to prevent the pirating of books and to insure foreign authors the right to the proceeds from their own works. His strenuous efforts, however, although supported wholeheartedly by authors on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, met with failure, but the international copyright laws subsequently passed were unquestionably the result of his early influence. Mr Saunders soon became a well known figure in New York publishing and literary circles, and for some years served as city editor of the "Evening Post," during the period when William Cullen Bryant was editor-in-chief. Later he became librarian of the Astor Library and served in this post for forty years, being widely known as the oldest librarian in the country upon his retirement in 1893. He was also a frequent contributor to magazines and the author of numerous volumes of essays and criticism.
Edwin H Brown spent his boyhood in Brooklyn, and received his preparatory schooling in the Brooklyn Polytechnical Institute. Having determined upon a career as a patent lawyer, he entered the Law School of Columbia University in 1872, and graduated with the class of 1874, two years later. [He may have been there at the same time as John W. Konvalinka.] After travelling abroad for several months, during which time he formed a connection with a firm of English patent solicitors which was to endure until his own retirement, he established himself in private practice in New York immediately upon his return to the United States. Later on he formed the partnership of Vanderveer & Brown which was dissolved owing to the failing health of Mr Vandeveer. He thereupon joined his father in establishing Brown & Brown, which he left after several years to form a partnership with Livingston Gifford under the name of Gifford & Brown. Afterwards, in association with Edward Nicoll Dickerson, Delancey Nicoll and formed Judge Cowen of Troy, N.Y., he became a member of one of the most noted law firms of its day, Cowen, Dickerson, Nicoll & Brown.
Mr. Brown rapidly attained prominence in his chosen field of patent law and his services became widely sought by individuals and companies whose patents were of paramount importance in the development of their business. Among his clients were corporations which at that time were leaders in the field of mechanical invention and development, notably the Aeolian Company, the Otis Elevator Company, the Tremond & Suffolk Mills and the early manufacturers of sewing machines, quilting devices, looms and weaving apparatus, car couplings, air brakes, etc., etc.
Mr Brown's legal career extended over a period of twenty-eight years, during which time he advanced to the front rank of his profession and came to be universally regarded as one of the foremost authorities on the intricacies of patent law in the United States. Among the more important cases which he handled in the latter part of his career were the Krajewski Cases in 1900, involving a machine for a new method of extracting the juice from sugar cane, which was tried and the decision awarded to Mr Brown's clients in the Circuit Court of Louisiana, where patent cases were so rare that Mr Brown was obliged to explain the elementary principles of patent law to the court. Others included the suit in Maine of the Otis Elevator Company against the Portland Elevator Company for infringement of The Bassett patent for positive control of the drive from which the car of such a character as to permit "high speed" operation, which it was claimed made possible the then increasing height of office buildings; the United Shirt & Collar Company cases involving the basic principles of infolding the cloth blanks of collars and cuffs, under Pine's patent of 1900; the Thomson Meter Company cases involving the common type of water meter with nutating disk; the especially hard fought Parramore Stocking Supporter cases of 1899; the Chinnock cases against various telephone companies involving a patent covering the standard method of suspending a copper wire from a steel wire; the Otto Music Box case [interesting: see Danilo Konvalinka and The Merry Music Box Museum]; the Warner Brothers Dress Stiffener case; the Palmer Quilting Machine and Hammock Construction cases [could this be the (Reuben T.) Palmer Company that Beverley C Sanders worked for?]; the Aeolian Company and National Sewing Machine Company cases, both regarding Interferences; the Bracewell cases involving the dye printing of cotton cloth and the Sharling cases concerning the patent process of silvering glassware.
In 1902-3, however, Mr Brown retired from active practice, and during the following decade devoted the greater part of his time to travel and residence abroad. For more than two years he made his home in London. Upon his return to the United States in 1912, he turned his attention to the development of the extensive real estate holdings in the outlying districts of New York City and on Long Island, which he had gradually acquired some years previously. On a part of this property, which was located in a section of St Albans, Queens County, to which he had given the name Addisleigh, he erected houses of his own design, creating a series of residential communities which proved immediately successful from both an artistic and a financial standpoint, and which were chiefly responsible for establishing the hitherto unknown town of St Albans as a residential suburb.
Mr Brown made his own home there during the latter part of his life and was much interested in the laying out of the beautiful golf course on land which he owned in St Albans. He was indefatigable in the assemblage of large tracts of land on Long Island through purchase of surrounding and adjoining small parcels and in improving, altering and beautifying all that he acquired by the planting of trees, building of houses and extensive dredging operations on those properties which comprised water frontages. For many years he took an enthusiastic interest in antiques, especially furniture, clocks, water colors and books, of which he amassed a notable collection, the best examples of which are designed to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, in accordance with his wishes.
He was a member of the New York Academy of Sciences, and, during the period of his legal practice, of the American and New York Bar Associations. His social affiliations included the New York Athletic and Columbia University Clubs.
Mr Brown had two sons, both of whom survive, Caxton Brown of Summit, NJ, and Stanley Brown of Garden City, Long Island.
In Memoriam: Elaine Brown Molé (1910-1997)