Thomas L. Broun was born in Loudon county, Virginia, and has been a resident of what became West Virginia since September 15, 1850, except his time served in the rebellion war, and four years after its close spent in study and practice of law in New York City - when the test oath prevented him from practicing in this State. He was educated in the University of Virginia, of which he is a graduate. He studied law in Charleston under Hon. George W. Summers and with Albert G Jenkins, 1850-51; was admitted to the Kanawha Bar, January, 1852, and has since practiced there and in Boone county; also in the State Supreme Court of Appeals and in the United States Court at Charleston. He practiced with George S. Patton under the firm name of Broun & Patton. In 1857 he was appointed attorney for and elected President of the Coal River Navigation Company, to succeed General W.S. Rosecrans. He was an active Democrat and one of the editors of the Kanawha Valley Star, a red-hot Democratic journal at Charleston prior to the war.

In April, 1861, he entered the Confederate States army as a private in the Kanawha Riflemen - Captain George S. Patton's company. He was afterwards Major of the Third Regiment Infantry in Wise's Legion. In 1862 was transferred to Dublin depot as Quartermaster and commandant of that post; was badly wounded at the battle of Cloyd Mountain, May 9th, 1864, but continued in service throughout the war. Ever since the termination of that struggle he has kept himself identified with his surviving comrades, although as a good citizen accepting the arbitrament of the sword. Accepting the invitation of Camp Patton, No. 1, Confederate Veterans, he delivered a patriotic address to them and a large concourse at Charleston on their Memorial Day, June 6, 1888.

In June, 1866, Major Broun was married in Richmond, Virginia, to Miss Mary M., daughter of Col. Edmund Fontaine, first President of Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad Company, and immediately moved to New York City, remaining four years for the cause above specified. He resumed his practice in Charleston in November, 1870, where he still has his office. He devotes much of his time to lands and land titles of West Virginia, especially those in the Coal river section, where his interests lie.