Harold Brown




William Harold Brown was born in Baltimore on 12 October 1896, the second child and only son of Harvey P Brown and the former Laura Kelly. The Browns lived with Laura's parents in both the 1900 and 1910 censuses. This was apparently by choice not financial necessity. Harvey Brown had jobs both years, as a tobacco pressman in 1900 and a telephone lineman in 1910. There was nothing unusual in Harold's upbringing, except for the presence of his grandparents and the death of his sister when he was 11. Well there was the period in February 1903 when his father went missing...

Soon after 1910 Harold's Aunt Jenny Calvert and family moved to Winchester VA. William and Charlotte Kelly joined them in 1915. The Browns remained in the Baltimore area, except for Harold. War had broken out in Europe, and he wanted to get in on the action. The Baltimore newspapers took an interest in his story. I'll leave it to them to tell it (spoiler alert - like Ernest Hemingway, he drove an ambulance on the front line). Click on the images below for a better view of each.


Baltimore Sun
27 July 1915

Baltimore Sun
9 June 1916

Baltimore Sun
5 February 1917

Baltimore American
5 August 1917