Brown, Mary Ellen

In 1897, Mary Ellen Brown was named a notary public in Georgetown, KY; it is believed she was the first African American woman to be so designated in Scott County. She was to be the notary for African Americans, most of whom were applying for pensions or increases in their present pensions.

Brown was born in Georgetown, the daughter of Weston and Harriet Brown. She graduated from the Georgetown Colored city school in 1886 and became a teacher at the school. The family lived on Mulberrry Street.

For more, see "Negro woman notary," The Weekly News and Courier, 6/02/1897, p. 14.