William Alfred Brown I was the oldest child of Lewis Sinclair Brown and Rhoda Malissa Neely. He was born December 5, 1849 in Camden County, Missouri. He was named after his grandfather, William Brown, and his uncle, Alfred Clinton, who became his surrogate father when as teenagers he and his brother, John Henry, moved from Kentucky to Camden County, Missouri in 1843 and lived with their sister, Polly, and Alfred Clinton. He was known as "Alf" throughout his life.

Alfred Brown attended Brown School, a rural school for which his uncle, John Henry Brown, had donated land and in which he briefly taught school. The school was located on what is now "Brown School Road" off of Highway BB near High Point Church and Montreal, Missouri. The original school building has been gone for a long time, but the last one built still stands and is now occupied as a private home.

Alfred Brown married Elizabeth Ann "Annie" Sweatt on June 19, 1870. She was a daughter of Captain John Dennis Sweatt and Louisa Maria Simpson. The Sweatt family had migrated to Missouri from Tennessee. Annie was born in Cape Girardeau, Missouri on January 20, 1851. Her father became known as "Captain Sweatt" after his Missouri Home Guard service on the Union side in the Civil War, and Lewis Sinclair Brown, her husband's father, had served under him. Her mother Simpson was said to be a cousin of President Ulysses Simpson Grant, although no link has been proved. Annie died August 12, 1924, just a year before Alf died.

The couple had six children, but two born in 1879 and 1881 died young and are buried in Brown Cemetery. Their surviving children were William Alfred Brown II who married Ethel Traw; Elizabeth "Lizzie", who married James Arean "Jim" Jones; Hettie Louisa, who married Fernander Zechariah West; and Malissa Paradine, who married James Albert Lane.

Oren West, the oldest son of their daughter Hettie West, was living in their household in 1910, presumably helping out on their farm. Next door to them was Alf's sister, Nancy Elizabeth (Brown) Malone, her spouse, James Mattison Malone, and their two children, Maude and James Roscoe Malone.

"Uncle Alf", as he was fondly known, was a very handsome man who grew a long beard as a very young man. He was a farmer and excellent businessman who managed his affairs well and became prosperous. He was also a "saver" who never threw anything away; therefore, family researchers have discovered much about the Brown family from his collection. He kept fastidious records of loans to other people, including his own brothers, and receipts of their installments. He kept letters from his younger brother, Robert Alexander Brown, who had moved with his young family to Texas in the 1870s and fell on hard times; Alf apparently loaned his brother money several times to tide him over until he could regain his health and farm again; however, Bob Brown died of smallpox in Texas along with his wife and a small son. Alf and a brother of Bob's wife, Frank Rogers, went to Texas with a horse and wagon to bring back Bob's two orphaned daughters, Anna and Emma, who were then reared by Alf's cousin, Reverend James M. Brown and his wife, Molly Rogers, who was also Anna and Emma's maternal aunt. Alf's belongings also included land records of his and his brothers' dealings in Camden County.

Alf's farm was near the High Point Baptist Church and cemetery on what is now State Highway BB. He died at his home on November 23, 1925 after an extended illness and was buried at Brown Cemetery. His death certificate states cause of death as "enlarged prostate and cystitis". The following newspaper article appeared shortly after he died and was in the collection of his daughter, Paradine Brown Lane, later in the hands of her granddaughter, the late Della Lou Manes McCann, of Lebanon, Missouri:

"W. A. BROWN DIED RECENTLY

"W. A. Brown died November 23rd, aged almost 76 years, leaving been born December 5, 1849.

"He was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Ann Sweatt, June 19, 1870. She departed this life August 13, 1924. To this union were born six children: Mrs. Hattie (Sic) West of Lebanon; W. A. Brown, Jr., Paradine Lane and Lizzie Jones all of Montreal, Camden county, and Harriet and Harrison, who died while young.

"He is also survived by 18 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren; also by four sisters and a brother; also by a host of other relatives and many friends who will mourn his death.

"He was a loving husband and father and was held in high esteem by all who knew him.

"He will be greatly missed in the community where he made his home, for it will be difficult to find some one to take the place of Uncle Alf, as he was fondly known."