James Joseph "J.J." Brown (September 27, 1854 – September 5, 1922), was an American mining engineer, inventor, and self-made member of fashionable "society". His wife was RMS Titanic survivor Margaret Brown. Early life Brown was born in Waymart, Pennsylvania on September 27, 1854. His father, James Brown, was an Irish immigrant who settled in Pennsylvania in 1848. There, he met Brown's mother, Cecilia Palmer, who was a schoolteacher. Soon after he was born, Brown's family moved to Pittston, Pennsylvania. Brown first received an education from his mother and he later studied at St. John's Academy. In his biography by Ferril, Brown is said to have paid for night school in Pennsylvania to attain an education. Career Brown left home at the age of 23 and worked on a farm in Nebraska. In 1877, during the Black Hills Gold Rush, Brown went to Deadwood Gulch in the Black Hills of the Dakotas in 1877 and was engaged in placer and quartz mining. At that time, the area was the frontier and subject to conflicts between the miners and Native Americans. Brown came to Colorado in 1880, mining in Georgetown, Aspen and Ashcroft. His brother Edward joined him in the Ashcroft-Aspen area, where he lived for two years. Brown then went to Leadville. Once the surface ore had been thoroughly gleaned by previous miners, Brown found that mining required knowledge of geology, ore deposits, and mining to be successful and he studied books to become more proficient. Brown had a "special genius for practical and economic geology," which he used to identify and mine underground properties that subsequently became their most valuable properties. He became an increasingly adept and successful miner becoming a foreman of the Louisville Mine by 1886. He was hired by Eben Smith and David Moffat to operate their largest mining enterprises, becoming the superintendent of the Maid of Erin and Henrietta mines by 1888. Leadville was a successful mining center, producing gold, lead, and silver. It was one of the world's largest and most lucrative silver camps. The Silver Boom flourished in the 1880s. Little Jonny mine By 1892, Brown was an investor and board member of the Ibex Mining Company that owned the Little Jonny mine. Initially, silver was mined at Little Jonny. The Silver Boom came to an end in 1893 following the collapse of silver prices caused by the repeal of Sherman Silver Purchase Act.