Joseph Mackey Brown » Employees of the Western & Atlantic Railroad

Biographical Info

Joseph Mackey Brown (December 28, 1851–March 3, 1932) was the 59th governor of Georgia and served two terms, one from 1909 to 1911 and the other from 1912 to 1913. He has been implicated posthumously as one of the leaders involved in the lynching of Leo Frank.

Brown, also known as “Little Joe Brown,” was born in Canton, Georgia, the son of Joseph E. Brown, Georgia’s Civil War Governor. After graduating from Oglethorpe University in 1872, he studied law at Harvard University. Although Brown passed the bar in 1873, but never practiced law because of poor eyesight. Later, he attended a business college in Atlanta, Georgia, and became a clerk with the Western and Atlantic Railroad and eventually the traffic manager.

In 1904, Governor Joseph M. Terrell appointed Brown to the Georgia State Railroad Commission. In 1907, Governor Hoke Smith removed Brown over disagreements about passenger fares.