BROWN, William Gay, (father of William Gay Brown, Jr.), a Representative from Virginia and from West Virginia; born in Kingwood, Preston County, Va. (now West Virginia), September 25, 1800; attended the public schools; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1823 and commenced practice in Kingwood, Va.; member of the State house of delegates in 1832 and 1840-1843; elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-ninth and Thirtieth Congresses (March 4, 1845-March 3, 1849); delegate to the State constitutional conventions in 1850 and 1861; delegate to the Democratic National Conventions at Charleston and Baltimore in 1860; elected as a Unionist to the Thirty-seventh Congress (March 4, 1861-March 3, 1863); upon the admission of West Virginia as a State into the Union was elected as an Unconditional Unionist from West Virginia to the Thirty-eighth Congress and served from December 7, 1863, to March 3, 1865; died in Kingwood, W.Va., April 19, 1884; interment in Maplewood Cemetery.