Browne, William Washington, 1849-1897

[William Washington Browne was a teacher and Methodist minister who founded the African American fraternal order, Grand Fountain of the United Order of True Reformers.]

found: The Black lodge in white America, 1994:CIP t.p. ("True Reformer" Browne) galley (Rev. William Washington Browne, founder of the Grand Fountain, United Order of True Reformers; Wm. Washington Browne; W.W. Browne; d. 1897 at the age of 48)

found: LC database, 12-03-93(hdg.: Browne, William Washington, 1849-1897; usage: Wm. Washington Browne)

found: Burrell, W. P. Twenty-five years history of the Grand Fountain of the United Order of True Reformers, 1881-1905, 1909p. 12 (William Washington Browne was born in Habersham County, Georgia, October 20, 1849) p. 44 (Browne founded the Grand Fountain of the United Order of True Reformers in Richmond, Va., January 11, 1881) p. 224 (died 21st December 1897 in Washington D.C.)

found: Encyclopedia Virginia, viewed April 14, 2014(William Washington Browne founded and organized the Grand Fountain in Richmond in January 1881; a former slave, veteran of the Union army during the American Civil War (1861-1865), teacher, and Methodist minister, Browne created the Grand Fountain out of the languishing Grand United Order of True Reformers, which began in the 1870s in Alabama and Kentucky) - http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Grand_Fountain_of_the_United_Order_of_True_Reformers

found: African American National Biography, accessed December 27, 2014, via Oxford African American Studies Center database:(Browne, William Washington; Ben Browne; fugitive slave, organization founder/official, Temperance Movement Leader, banker, entrepreneur; born 20 October 1849 in Habersham County, Georgia, United States; escaped to the Union army at Memphis; studied at Gammon Seminary, Atlanta (1869); taught in Alabama public schools (1871); ordained minister in the Colored (later Christian) Methodist Church at Piedmont, Alabama (1876); organized the United Order of True Reformers in Alabama, was the first Grand Worthy Secretary, and served as Grand Worthy Master (1877-1880); moved to Virginia (1880) and served as Grand Worthy Master in Richmond, Virginia (1881); the African Methodist Episcopal Church recognized him as a minister; Virginia legislature chartered the first black-controlled financial institution, True Reformer savings bank (1888) which opened for business (1889) with him as its president; died 21 December 1897 in Washington, District of Columbia, United States)

[William Washington Browne was a teacher and Methodist minister who founded the African American fraternal order, Grand Fountain of the United Order of True Reformers.]