Thomas H. Brown Biography


	This biography appears on pages 838-839 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. I (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

	This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit 
	organizations for their private use. 

	Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval 
	system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other 
	means requires the written approval of the file's author.

	This file is part of the SDGENWEB Archives. If you arrived here 
	Inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door 
	is at

	http://www.usgwarchives.net/sd/sdfiles.htm


	THOMAS H. BROWN was born in Portobello, Durham county, England, 
on the 17th of August, 1837, being a son of Richard and Ellenor Brown, 
who came to the United States in 1848, locating in the state of 
Wisconsin, where they passed the residue of their lives, the father 
having there followed the vocation of hardware merchant. The subject 
was a lad of about ten years at the time of the family removal to 
America, and had initiated his educational training in his native town, 
later continuing his studies in the somewhat primitive schools of 
Wisconsin, of which state his parents were pioneers. There he grew to 
manhood, devoting his attention to farming and mining until the 
outbreak of the war of the Rebellion, when he showed forth his loyalty 
to the land of his adoption by enlisting, in June, 1861, as a private 
in Company I, Third Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and he continued in 
the service of the Union until victory was won, receiving his honorable 
discharge in August, 1865, and having participated in several battles 
of the great internecine conflict.  

	After the close of the war Mr. Brown went as one of the pioneers 
to the present state of Montana, where the gold excitement was then 
rife, and he there devoted his attention to placer mining for a year 
and a half, at the expiration of which he returned to Wisconsin and 
located in Brodhead, Green county, where he engaged in the hardware 
business. In 1872 he came to Sioux Falls, taking up his abode in the 
first dwelling house erected in the embryonic city, this little 
domicile having been located on the site of his present attractive 
residence, at the corner of Phillips avenue-and Twelfth street. The 
next spring he entered into a co-partnership with Benjamin F. Roderick 
and engaged in the lumber business, but within the following year 
retired from the firm and bought a half interest in the business of Nye 
Phillips, who was dealing in hardware, drugs and leather. This firm was 
in existence about five years, and Mr. Brown then entered the employ of 
the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Company, his labors in the 
connection being in the obtaining of the right of way and locating town 
sites on the Dakota Central division. In 1888 he purchased the job 
printing office and bookbinding plant of Samuel T. Clover, and when the 
effects of the Insurance Company of Dakota were offered for sale by the 
receiver he purchased the printing outfit. On the 1st of May, 1889, Mr. 
Brown admitted Eugene Saenger to partnership, and the firm of Brown & 
Saenger has now the largest and most complete bookbinding and printing 
establishment in the state.  

	Since coming to Sioux Falls Mr. Brown has been active in Masonic 
matters. He organized the first lodge in the county, and was its master 
for the first three years. He was also the first grand master of the 
grand lodge of the territory of Dakota, and a few years later was again 
elected to this office. He has taken an active interest in educational 
matters and was president and member of the school board for several 
years. He also took a prominent part in securing to Sioux Falls the 
Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern Railroad, now the Chicago, Rock 
Island & Pacific Railway, and has been a director of the company since 
that time. He was one of the South Dakota commissioners to the World's 
Columbian Exposition, in Chicago, in 1893, and was the executive 
officer of that commission. It is needless to add anything to the 
foregoing record to establish the fact that Mr. Brown is a prominent 
man of affairs and that he takes great interest in the welfare of the 
state in general and the city of Sioux Falls in particular.  

	On the 20th of August, 1867, Mr. Brown was united in marriage to 
Miss Mary Morse, daughter of Marshall and Albina Morse, at that time 
residents of Brodhead, Wisconsin, and of this union have been born the 
following named children, all residing in Sioux Falls: Marshall R., 
connected with the firm of Brown & Saenger; Oscar A., connected with 
the Brown Drug Company; Harry T., connected with the Anthony Candy 
Company.