Mentor Alsworth Brown (1853-1932)

From "the Official Programme of Exercises and Illustrated Inaugural History", 1904.

  As the Cornhusker State is so seldom featured here, it's always a pleasant surprise to have an oddly named Nebraskan pop up on the political radar. Yesterday afternoon the name of Mentor Alsworth Brown was discovered via a listing of early 20th century Nebraska postmasters, and hiding behind that odd name lay the story of one of the longest-tenured newspaper publishers in Nebraska. The founder, editor, and publisher of the Kearney Hub, Brown's stewardship of that paper extended nearly fifty years, and during that period also gained the reputation as a leading Buffalo County Republican. Brown earns placement here on the site not only for his eight-year stint as U.S. Postmaster at Kearney but also for his service as a Republican presidential elector for Nebraska in 1904.

  A native of Wisconsin, Mentor Alsworth Brown was born in Janesville on February 19, 1853, the son of Jeremiah and Anne (Pound) Brown. Young Mentor would lose his mother when just a year old and later saw his father go off to serve in the Civil War as a member of the 25th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. In 1864 Brown was left fatherless when Jeremiah Brown died during the "March to the Sea", while under the command of Gen. William T. Sherman.

  At age thirteen Mentor Brown left his native Wisconsin to take work as a printer's devil in Jefferson, Iowa. After a period of familiarizing himself with the basics of the printing trade, Brown left Iowa for Nebraska, and in 1870 became engaged with the Redfield Printing Office in Omaha. Following a brief residency in Council Bluffs, Iowa on the staff of the Daily Nonpareil, Brown returned to Nebraska to accept the post of foreman for the Beatrice Express. In 1874 he purchased a half interest in the paper and by 1877 had become its sole owner, purchasing it from I.W. Colby.

  Mentor A. Brown married in 1878 to Elizabeth Beecham Bunnell (1854-1901) and had three children, including Ulysses Alsworth (1880-1957). The couple later separated and in November 1883 Brown remarried in Beatrice to Sophia G. Schmidt and had three further children, Frederick, Oliver, and Hugh.  

  After assuming control of the Beatrice Express Brown switched its circulation to a daily format in 1884 and in 1888 sold off his controlling interest in the paper and removed to Kearney, where he purchased the Central Nebraska Press. Soon after, the paper underwent a name change to the Kearney Hub, and in the succeeding years Brown could boast of a large printing plant with many skilled workers and managers, along with "a leased wire telegraphic service."

From the Illustrated History of Nebraska, Vol. III, 1913.

   Active in the civic life of Kearney following his resettlement, Brown was a parishioner at the local Episcopal church and was a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the Kearney Country Club, Rotary Club, and Elks Lodge. In 1881 he held the presidency of the Nebraska Press Association. A longtime Republican in his region, Brown served as a Republican presidential elector for Nebraska in 1904 (backing the Roosevelt-Fairbanks ticket) and at the assembling of the electoral college was chosen as the messenger to bring the voting results to Washington, D.C. Following Theodore Roosevelt's election, Brown was appointed by him as U.S. Postmaster at Kearney. Brown would hold that post through the Roosevelt and Taft administrations and served one year into the administration of Democrat Woodrow Wilson before leaving office in April 1914.

From the Red Cloud Chief, March 15, 1923.

  By the early 1920s Mentor A. Brown could reflect on five decades in the newspaper business, and in that time had seen three of his sons (Ulysses, Oliver, and Hugh) follow him into the printing trade. Brown's twilight years were spent in devotion to his paper, as well as his favorite past-time, golfing. He remained as head of the Kearney Hub until his death on September 29, 1932, at age 79. His publishing career had spanned sixty-two years and he was succeeded as head by his son Hugh. Brown was survived by his wife and children and was interred at the Kearney Cemetery.

From the Nebraska State Journal, September 30, 1932.