Georgia native Edgar William Brown, following the example of his father Dr. Samuel M. Brown, became a practicing physician in Orange. In 1888 he married Carrie Launa Lutcher, daughter of the successful Orange lumberman Henry Jacob Lutcher. Brown became associated with the Lutcher timber enterprise in the development and management of the company's properties, and he later took over as manager of the newly established Dibert, Stark and Brown Cypress Company operations in Louisiana. His success in the timber industry soon made him one of the leading lumbermen in the United States. In his later years Brown took an active interest in agriculture and was responsible for the clearing and cultivation of much area farmland. He also invested in the region's early oil production industry and directed various land development projects. Brown served for many years as mayor of Orange, actively supporting construction of a deep water port and the Intercoastal Canal, and his early efforts were vital to Orange's development as a major center of shipping and trade.