[1][2] Winifred's Irish uncle, Patrick Hayes, was an herbal medicine doctor and farmer in Madison County, Texas.

[3] Browne spent much of the 1850s on Spann Plantation in Washington County, Texas at the behest of Father Gunnard, where he also received an education.

At age fourteen in 1859, he left the plantation and found work hauling bricks in Madison County, Texas.

[1] Correction: The tombstone of Mayor John T. Browne in the City of Houston actually states that he served in Company A, 36 Texas Cavalry.

Browne abandoned this option while favoring a policy of dedicating all capital spending on street paving and sewerage.

The Browne administration also hired a city planning expert to study demands based hypothetically on a population of 75,000.

[5] Mayor Browne proposed converting the Houston Volunteer Firefighters to a professional department under municipal management.

[6] In April 1895, the Texas Supreme Court ruling in Higgins v. Bordages, "held that special assessment tax liens were unenforceable against urban homesteads.

"[7] The City of Houston imposed special tax levies for road and sewerage projects on owners of property abutting the sections of street being improved.

[7] To meet this immediate revenue crisis, the Browne administration devised a plan to issue $500,000 in municipal bonds to be sold over a three to four-year period.