John Ross Browne, an American traveller and author, born in Ireland in 1817. While he was a child his father emigrated to America and settled in Kentucky. Young Browne, having learned stenography, went to Washington in his 18th year, and for two or three years was employed as a reporter in the senate. He then resolved to travel, and embarked on board a whaling ship. Returning from this voyage, he published " Etchings of a Whaling Cruise, with Notes of a Residence on the Island of Zanzibar." He now became private secretary to Mr. R. J. Walker, then secretary of the treasury. In 1849 he went to California with a commission from the government, and was employed to report the debates and proceedings of the convention for framing a state constitution. Returning to Washington, he remained there till 1851, when he went to Europe as a newspaper correspondent. He travelled through Italy, and made a tour in Sicily, and thence through Palestine, of which he gave an account in his " Yusef" (1853). Returning, he again entered the service of government as inspector of custom houses on the northern frontier and the Pacific coast, and wrote many magazine articles, some of which have since been collected into a volume entitled "Adventures in the Apache Country." In 1861 he again went to Europe, partly for the education of his children.

Leaving his family at Frankfort-on-the-Main, he made journeys in Algeria, Iceland, Poland, and Russia. Accounts of some of these excursions have been published in volumes entitled " The Land of Thor " and " An American Family in Germany." All of these works are illustrated by sketches, mainly of a humorous character, from drawings by the author. Returning to the United States, he was deputed by government to examine into and report upon the mineral resources of the region west of the Rocky mountains. His final report, "Resources of the Pacific Slope" (8vo, New York, 1869), presents an elaborate review of the mines, climate, topography, agriculture, commerce, and miscellaneous resources of that portion of the Union. In 1868 he was appointed minister to China, but was recalled in 1870. His residence is at Oakland, near San Francisco.