In 1848, he located at Charleston, Kanawha county, where he has since resided. In the winter of 1854-5, he was a delegate to the Democratic State Convention, at Staunton, that nominated Henry A. Wise for Governor; and in 1855, he was a candidate for the State Senate, but was defeated. In 1856, he was a delegate from Kanawha county to the Democratic Convention at Parkersburg which nominated Albert G. Jenkins, of Cabell county, for Congress.

Schooled in the doctrines of the fathers of the Constitution, he repudiated the modern heresy of secession. While he maintained the just rights and reserved powers of the States and people, on one hand, he defended with equal firmness the constitutional powers of the national Government on the other. He, therefore, denounced secession as tending inevitably to disintegration and the ultimate destruction of all government. In the spring of 1861, while the Convention at Richmond was passing the ordinance of secession, he was a delegate to the Union Convention, at Parkersburg, that nominated Hon. John S. Carlile for Congress. No man in the southern section of the State took a more determined stand for the Union than did James H. Brown. He was a delegate to the Wheeling Convention in 1861 that rescued the western portion of Virginia from the vortex of secession and rebellion, and was also a member of the Legislature of the Restored Government of Virginia. He was a leading spirit in both these bodies, which were practically in session at one and the same time.

He was elected Judge of the 18th Judicial Circuit of Virginia in the winter of 1861-2, and it is a remarkable fact that not one of his decisions was ever appealed to a higher court. In 1863, he was elected to the Convention that framed a Constitution for the new State of West Virginia. May 28, 1863, he was elected a Judge of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, which office he filled with conspicuous ability for the full term of eight years. After the expiration of his term as a Supreme Judge, he resumed the practice of his profession at Charleston. He was again twice renominated by his party (he became a Republican in 1861) for the office of a Supreme Judge, and was defeated along with the rest of the ticket. In 1882, he was nominated and elected by the Republicans a member of the House of Delegates of West Virginia from Kanawha county, and was the acknowledged leader of his party in that assembly. Judge Brown was twice his party's candidate for Congress in the 3d West Virginia district, first in 1883, at a special election to fill a vacancy occasioned by the resignation of John E. Kenna, and again in 1886. He was both times defeated, but reduced the majority from several thousand to a mere nominal figure.

Judge Brown is a man of marked ability. He is fluent in speech, logical in thought, pleasant in manner. In matters of religion, he favors the largest libert of conscience. He is a member of the Presbyterian church, and for many years has been a Ruling Elder.