Who was Mrs. Hugh Brown and what’s her connection to Tonopah?

Author Terry Forsyth didn’t set out to become a biographer. His original intent was to write fiction – but a chance encounter with the name “Mrs. Hugh Brown” ultimately altered the direction of not only his writing, but his life as well.

Today, Forsyth is working on finishing up his very first biography, that of Marjorie Moore Brown. Titled “Mrs. Hugh Henry Brown: Nevada Suffrage, Dramatic Reader, Financial Planner, Life-long Poet”, the journey of learning all about this multi-faceted woman’s history has been a fascinating one, Forsyth told the Times, and it’s only just beginning. He has already launched into the process of drafting almost a half-dozen other biographies, all stemming from his research into Mrs. Hugh Brown’s family and legacy.

This week, Forsyth will be in Tonopah to discuss his research into Mrs. Hugh Brown, along with the various impacts she and her family had on both the town of Tonopah and America as a whole.

“She was a very busy woman during her 1904-1924 Tonopah residence,” Forsyth detailed. “She and her mother started the Tonopah Public Library, to include having Marjorie’s personal library brought from San Francisco and added to the John Weeks collection to start the library. She became the librarian in 1909 and by the spring of 1910, this library was Nevada’s leading library, after the state library in Carson City.”

This is far from the only Tonopah-centric accomplishment that Mrs. Hugh Brown can claim. She was also involved in the Woman’s Relief Corps and was the state representative for the Federation of Women’s Clubs, giving music lectures about the state for many years starting in 1912. She was a co-founder of the Nevada Equal Franchise Society, as well, and in 1916, she was appointed by the governor as president of the Fatherless Children of France, Nevada Chapter, under which she was responsible for the state support of 72 French orphans.

“When the Great War erupted, she caused for Tonopah to be the second Red Cross chapter in Nevada. Her poem ‘The Song of the Ambulance’ was put to music as a fundraising item for the Tonopah Ambulance Regiment. The building at 130 Main Street was the Tonopah Red Cross headquarters and was affectionately called ‘the Barracks’ during the ambulance campaign,” Forsyth continued. “In 1918, when the Junior Red Cross was created by the national Red Cross office, she became the director of the enter Tonopah school program. In 2019, the Nevada Dept. of Transportation erected five markers statewide regarding the suffrage movement. One of the five markers is for Mrs. Hugh Brown and is located beside the Mizpah Hotel in Tonopah.”

And while she clearly had a large effect on Tonopah, Mrs. Hugh Brown’s life was filled with many more interesting anecdotes occurring outside of that community. A child actress, a sought-after dramatic reader, a women’s rights and financial literacy advocate, a mother, daughter, wife and friend, Mrs. Hugh Brown’s story runs the spectrum of the human experience and Forsyth is excited to share it with the world.

Forsyth’s presentation on the biography will take place on Friday, Oct. 10 at a location that can be credited to Mrs. Hugh Brown, the Tonopah Library, 167 Central Street. The event will begin at 7 p.m.

Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com