Thomas McLelland Browne attended the common schools, and moved to Winchester, Randolph County in 1848.  He studied law, as admitted to the bar in 1894 and commenced practice in Winchester.  He was elected Prosecuting Attorney for the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit in 1855.  He was reelected in 1857 and 1859.  He was elected secretary of the State Senate in 1861 and served as a member in 1863.  He served in the Union Army in the Civil War where he was colonel and breveted as a Brigadier General until he was mustered out in February 1866.  He unsuccessfully ran for Governor in 1872.  He was elected to the House of Representative from Marcy 1877 to March 1891.