Frederic Kenyon Brown

Frederic Kenyon Brown was an early-20th-century author best known for Through the Mill: The Life of a Mill-Boy (1911) and Through the School: The Experiences of a Mill Boy in Securing an Education (1912). His books were also associated with the name Al Priddy, which Project Gutenberg lists as an alias.

Library and book-record sources describe Through the Mill as an autobiographical account of Brown's early life. They say he came to New Bedford in 1892 at about age ten, then worked in a textile mill in jobs such as back boy, doffer, and mule spinner. The story first appeared as articles in The Outlook before being published as a book.

What stands out in Brown's work is its plainspoken, first-hand view of working-class childhood and the struggle to get an education. Even with only a small surviving public record, his books remain valuable as personal narratives of industrial life and social mobility in the United States.