Talk:Parson Brownlow

Wetman's comment about "regarded by many"
Good point. With regards to Wetman's comment above: the fact is that Parson Brownlow was just so very controversial. If you think "edit wars" on Wikipedia are shrill -- in Brownlow's world, people were killing each other by the thousands and, in Tennessee, he was one of the key polarizing figures. Even after the war, there was a low-level violent conflict continuing in the state for years.

In the last week we've had one article version saying we was despised by everyone and then an edit saying he was widely admired (see the history for the exact quotes). The fact was that probably 1/3 of white Tennesseeans (most eastern loyalists) loved him and 2/3 (mostly western rebels) hated him. (I don't know what all the newly freed slaves thought.) Beyond Tennessee, he was loved up North and hated in the rest of the South. Go through the links I posted earlier below and you'll get a real sense of this. In particular, check out the Point Lookout and "Most hated man" links and contrast them with the Steven Ash article on Contesting secession (subscription unfortunately required) or the 1862 Harpers Weekly article.

I tried a day or two ago to lay out in the article a little bit more how he fit into the bigger scheme of things. Hopefully it least partially addresses the "regarded by many" issue.--A. B. 03:44, 3 June 2006 (UTC)

Brownlow links and information
Posted for other article editors and for general interest:
 * Parson Brownlow/Knoxville Civil War history
 * Brownlow thesis at Princeton
 * Contesting secession: Parson Brownlow and the rhetoric of proslavery unionism, 1860-1861 (ProQuest subscription required)
 * TENNESSEE HISTORY Classroom: The most hated man in Tennessee history anti-Brownlow screed by a member of the Sons of the Confederacy]
 * Tennessee Newspaper Project: "Parson" W. G. Brownlow
 * Tennessee State Library and Archives: GOVERNOR WILLIAM G. BROWNLOW PAPERS 1865-1869
 * Rev. William Gannaway Brownlow excerpt from Harper's article?
 * Point Lookout POW Organization: Atrocities - Brownlow’s Knoxville Whig by George Edmonds from Facts and Falsehoods, p 23 anti-Brownlow screed from a Confederate genealogy group; the rest of the site is almost neo-Confederate in tone.
 * University of Tennessee: Department of History - Ash, Stephen homepage
 * The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Brownlow: William Gannaway
 * Encyclopædia Britannica Online: William G. Brownlow
 * Civil War Harper's Weekly, April 19, 1862
 * War at Every Door: Partisan Politics and Guerrilla Violence in East Tennessee, 1860-1869 only Chapter 1 of this by book by Noel C. Fisher is online
 * correspondence with Abraham Lincoln re: pardon of Lt. Col. J.F. White
 * Interracial Voice: Guest Editorial - "Brownlow's Whig" essay on Brownlow in the 1840s, race, and Melungeons
 * TENNESSEE: A GUIDE TO THE STATE: History And Government Compiled and Written by the Federal Writers' Project of the Work Projects Administration for the State of Tennessee; published in 1939
 * William G. Brownlow and The Knoxville Whig: A Career of Personal Journalism or Partisan Press?
 * William G. Brownlow Affair -- The Submission of Union Loyalists from Aldie's Civil War Weekly]
 * Tennessee Newspaper Hall of Fame article
 * New York Public Library collection of Brownlow-related digital images

Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress resources:
 * BROWNLOW, William Gannaway (1805-1877) Guide to Research Papers
 * BROWNLOW, William Gannaway - Biographical Information
 * BROWNLOW, William Gannaway (1805-1877) Bibliography

Selected Brownlow writings online —The preceding unsigned comment was added by A. B. (talk • contribs) 16:41, 1 June 2006.
 * Notions of Royalty and Contempt for the Common People
 * Reign of Terror in Tennessee
 * What is Coercion?
 * Why Breckinridge in 1860
 * What Secession Brought Tennessee

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Requested move 3 December 2019

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion. 

The result of the move request was: moved as requested per the discussion below. Dekimasu よ! 13:49, 10 December 2019 (UTC)

William Gannaway Brownlow → William G. Brownlow – Per WP:COMMONNAME and WP:CONCISE. William G. Brownlow already redirects here, and it seems highly unlikely that the subject was generally referred to with his ungainly full middle name. The NGram seems to bear this out. BD2412 T 05:43, 3 December 2019 (UTC)
 * Support per nomination. His pen name, as it appears on the covers of his publications is "William G." and his gravestone is inscribed "William G." —Roman Spinner (talk • contribs) 01:25, 4 December 2019 (UTC)
 * Support per nom and RS. -- Necrothesp (talk) 13:39, 4 December 2019 (UTC)
 * Support BrineStans (talk) 14:02, 4 December 2019 (UTC)
 * Support per nom. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:241:301:4360:385D:ABDF:3E48:5A07 (talk) 04:39, 5 December 2019 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

"Soon after, ex-Confederate political leaders and military officers formed the Ku Klux Klan to disenfranchise African-Americans."
This is kind of a mess, since the Klan was founded in 1865, before this point, and no political leaders were involved, nor was it formed for that purpose. It was evolved into something approaching the above, but to state it was formed for a purpose which did not yet exist by founders not present, is just wrong. The six founders of the Klan, originally a farcial street-theater club, were all twentysomething ex-soldiers who had never been political leaders. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 147.160.130.28 (talk) 16:52, 12 August 2020 (UTC)

Winter Wonderland
The song says,"In the meadow, we can build a snowman. We’ll pretend that he is Parson Brown. He’ll say, “Are you married?” We'll say, “No, man, But you can do the job when you’re in town.”"Is this a reference to William Gannaway ”Parson” Brownlow? If not, to whom is it a reference? Neither this article nor the “Winter Wonderland” article mention one another—so maybe they’re not the same—even though, being a minister, Brownlow *would* be able to “do the job” of marrying the narrators when he’s “in town.” If Brownlow *is* the “Parson Brown” mentioned, it would seem relevant to include in both articles—if not, clarity as to Parson Brown’s identity would seem at least relevant to the song’s article. allixpeeke (talk) 23:16, 14 December 2022 (UTC)


 * Pure coincidence. -- A. B. (talk • contribs • global count) 02:15, 12 June 2023 (UTC)

Page move from William G. Brownlow to Parson Brownlow
@Star Garnet, you just moved the page. I think we should have discussed it here first.

Note that there was a discussion in 2019 that selected the "William G. Brownlow" title -- see above.

I'll ping the people from the earlier discussion: @BD2412, @Roman Spinner, @Necrothesp, @BrineStans

-- A. B. (talk • contribs • global count) 02:27, 12 June 2023 (UTC)
 * This is a straightforward one; the previous move discussion (which I hadn't seen, fwiw) didn't even mention his common nickname. Newspaper mentions break down as 22,509 (67%) for Parson Brownlow, 5,538 for William/Wm Brownlow (17%), 5,056 for William/Wm G. Brownlow (12%), and 374 (1%) for William/Wm Gannaway Brownlow. During his lifetime, thus filtering out most extraneous results, it's an even more decisive 75%-14%-11%-0%. The majority of published texts with his name in the title (that use at least his middle initial) call him Parson. While parson is of course a title, in compliance with WP:TITLESINTITLES, it's clear it was treated as his name, compounded by the fact he wasn't a religious figure. Star Garnet (talk) 03:15, 12 June 2023 (UTC)
 * To add, only 150 of those 22k newspaper hits for Parson Brownlow have his longer nickname, Fighting Parson. This also would not be the first page that uses the nickname Parson in the title; it joins Parson Nicholson and Parson Perryman. Star Garnet (talk) 03:35, 12 June 2023 (UTC)