Was born August 23, 1842, at St. Joseph, Mich., son of Hiram and Jane Reese Tilton (Liston) Brown. His father (1804-83) was born at Groton, N.Y., and settled in Michigan in 1833, being one of its pioneers and prominent in the grain forwarding business. In 1848 he removed to Chicago, Ill., and was for a time one of the members of the Chicago board of trade. His wife was the daughter of William Liston of Michigan. Liberty Brown, the father of Hiram Brown, lived at Groton, N.Y. He raised a company which took a prominent part in the war of 1812 and was actively engaged at Fort Niagara and vicinity in that campaign. William L. Brown went to Chicago when six years of age and received his early education in the Chicago public schools, notably at the Jones public school, which he attended during 1852-56. The following two years he spent at the Garden City Academy. His first business position was as a clerk with the commission house of H. Bacon and company, which he held until the outbreak of the civil war, when he became a member of the famous Chicago battery of light artillery and with which he served until the close of the war. He served with his battery through the Mississippi River, Louisiana, Texas and Alabama campaigns. He was at Vicksburg in the Red River expedition and at the capture of Mobile. From private he rose to quartermaster sergeant, with which distinction he received his honorable discharge at the close of the war. Within a few weeks he had accepted a position with A.A. Meeker as cashier and bookkeeper and in 1871 he became a partner in the firm of A.B. Meeker and company. In 1883 he bought out Mr. Meeker's interest in the business and founded the new widely known firm of Pickands, Brown and company, which since that time has grown to be one of the largest handlers of pig iron and coke in America. In 1904 Pickand, Brown and company was incorporated with an authorized capital of $1,500,000. In 1890 he helped to organize the Chicago Shipbuilding company, which afterward became one of the most important industries of the Great Lakes and in 1889 he was elected president of the American Shipbuilding company, of which he later was chairman of the board of directors. He is president of South Chicago Furnace company, one of the largest manufacturers of pig iron; he is also a director of the First National Bank of Chicago, the First Trust and Savings Bank of Chicago, the Federal Furnace Co., the Lackawanna Steel company, and a large number of lake shipyard and steamship corporations. The life of William L. Brown represents the opening up and development of the pig-iron manufacture of the central West. In forty years of active service in this field he has tended and watched this development as one of the guiding minds, having been connected actively with and interested in over thirty blast furnaces all situated in the Lake Superior district. For many years a member of the Chicago Board of Trade, and he is a member of the society of naval architects and marine engineers; and the American Iron and Steel institute. His leading club associations are the Chicago, Commercial, Evanston county and a large number of other social organizations in Chicago and other cities. His principal recreations are golf and fishing. While Mr. Brown has not entered largely into public life and has never accepted a public office, he has, however, done much for the public good generally and in Chicago is a member of the board of trustees of Northwestern university and the Chicago Orchestral association. On Sept. 27, 1871, he was married to Catherine, daughter of Dr. Stephen Seymour of Chicago.