John E. Brown was born on October 28, 1881, near Sparta, North Carolina. Brown was a longtime resident of Boone who served as postmaster of Boone (1913-1917 and 1919-1923), state senator (1925-1929), and as an attorney for the Federal Alcohol Control Agency (1936-1938). He died in Washington, D.C. on December 6, 1938.