Elijah Alexander Brown Sr. (1857–1926) was a Georgia businessman and the son of Joseph Emerson Brown, former governor of Georgia. He was born in Canton, Georgia, to Joseph Emerson Brown (1821-1894) and Elizabeth Grisham Brown (1826-1896). He had seven siblings: Julius Lewis Brown (1848-1910), Mary Virginia Brown (1850-1927), Joseph Mackey Brown (1851-1932), Franklin Pierce Brown (1853-1871), Charles McDonald Brown (1859-1881), Sally Eugenia Brown (1862-1942), and George Marion Brown (1865-1942).

Brown grew up in Milledgeville, Georgia, and later in Atlanta, where he graduated from Boys High School. In 1874, he was initiated into the Oglethorpe University chapter of the Chi Phi Fraternity and subsequently became a member of Chi Phi at the University of Georgia. He graduated from the University of Georgia in 1879 as a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

Brown held several business positions, including director of the Georgia Savings and Trust Company and the Dade Coal Company, and treasurer of the Joseph E. Brown Company. In 1894, he married Henrietta Law McBride (1869-1896), and the couple had two children: Frances Brown (1895-1896) and Elijah Alexander Brown Jr. (1896-1968). Following Henrietta’s death, he married Harriet Elizabeth Johnson (1869-1951) on June 26, 1901, and the couple had three children: Marcus Johnson Brown (1904-1982), Joseph E. Brown II (1908-1994), and Penelope Hollinshead Brown (1910-1992).

In addition to his business activities, Brown was a member of the Sons of Colonial Wars and the Second Baptist Church, and he served as a road overseer in the 973rd District of Gordon County, Georgia. Brown and his father operated a family farm, Brownwood, located along the Coosawattee River in Gordon County, where they cultivated corn, peas, wheat, and cotton.