Samuel Augustine Brown, M. D. Biography


	This biography appears on pages 166-170 in "History of Dakota Territory" 
	by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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			SAMUEL AUGUSTINE BROWN, M. D.  

	Samuel Augustine Brown, M. D., a graduate of Jefferson Medical 
College of Philadelphia, has since 1871 devoted his attention to the 
practice of medicine and surgery and is regarded as one of the ablest 
representatives of the profession in Sioux [Falls. Moreover, he is 
prominent in Masonic and church circles and his life along many lines 
has been one of beneficence to those with whom he has come in contact.  

	He was born at North Cove, North Carolina, June 25, 1848, a son 
of John S. and Rebecca (Burnett) Brown. The family is of English 
lineage. The first representative of the name in America came from 
England with William Penn and the great-grandfather of Dr. Brown in the 
maternal line was killed at the battle of Kings Mountain.  

	After attending the public schools to the age of thirteen years, 
Dr. Brown received private instruction for four years and in 1867 
entered upon the study of medicine at Marion, North Carolina. Two years 
later, or in 1869, he matriculated in Jefferson Medical College at 
Philadelphia and was graduated therefrom with the class of 1871. In 
that summer he pursued several special courses, after which he applied 
to the navy department at Washington for permission to appear before 
the board of examiners for the medical corps. This led to his 
appointment as assistant surgeon in the United States navy, with the 
relative rank of ensign. After a short service at the naval hospital in 
Norfolk, Virginia, he was detailed to the old sloop of war Marion. 
Congress had then decided to build no more war ships, being willing to 
grant money only for repairs. Under the designation "repairs" it was 
decided to make a new ship out of the Marion, which was notoriously 
unseaworthy but which, according to orders, must report at the navy 
yard at Kittery, Maine, which had been selected as the place where the 
new ship should be built. A crew of seasoned seamen and experienced 
naval officers was detailed to take the Marion to Kittery, but the 
officers as far as possible obtained a leave of absence and thus it was 
that Dr. Brown was detailed as surgeon. On the trip north the Marion 
encountered severe weather such as even a sailor seldom sees in the 
course of a lifetime, and it was only with the greatest difficulty that 
the ship was finally towed into Kittery. In the meantime she had been 
given up as lost and Dr. Brown found his obituary with those of other 
officers on board in the New York Herald Later he returned to Norfolk, 
made a cruise to Elizabeth City by way of the Dismal Swamp and was then 
ordered to the United States steamship Powhatan at Philadelphia, an 
old-time frigate with side-wheel paddle propellers, which after various 
needed repairs was sent to Norfolk to get the monitor Canonicus and tow 
her to Key West, Florida, to take the place of the Terror, which was 
ordered back for repairs. The Canonicus, however, was in such condition 
that it must be repaired before the trip could be made and in the 
meantime the Powhatan made trips to Kittery, Portland and other points. 
In early winter it was learned that the trip was to be made to Key West 
with the Canonicus as originally planned. Upon the return trip the 
retiring commander-in-chief of the North Atlantic station, Rear Admiral 
Joseph Greene, went aboard the Powhatan and his flag was raised to the 
mizzen masthead. Moreover, many sick soldiers from the hospital ship 
were sent to the north and upon Dr. Brown devolved the duty of acting 
as surgeon in the absence of his superior officer. There were sixty-
five sick on board and this made life strenuous for him, as the report 
was supposed to be handed over to the captain by ten o'clock in the 
morning after a visit to every one who was ill.  

	There were many pleasurable events as well as hardships connected 
with the service, however. After a few weeks spent in port the Powhatan 
went to sea for drill and target practice and then to Halifax, Nova 
Scotia, where society entertained the officers. At the time the 
Countess of Dufferin, wife of the governor-general, was sojourning in 
Canada, and Prince Louis of Battenberg was in port as a midshipman 
aboard the Royal Alfred, a British flagship. Dr. Brown had the 
distinguished pleasure of presenting Prince Louis to the wife of 
Captain Beaumont. After the return of the ship to New York the news was 
received of the threatened outbreak of war with Spain. The United 
States steamship Kansas was immediately put into commission and Dr. 
Brown found himself aboard as the only surgeon and caterer of the ward 
room mess. Experience was not called into play in loading the ship and 
order had not been brought out of chaos when the Kansas became 
enveloped in a hurricane so severe that she could neither steer her 
course by steam nor sail. To keep afloat she must run before the wind. 
This kept up for five days and nights before the storm abated and after 
a long time the vessel crept into Bermuda islands. Then all on board 
wrote home, but the day before their letters reached their intended 
destination the obituaries of the officers had appeared, that of Dr. 
Brown a second time. In course of time the Kansas reached Santiago and 
anchored in the bay with guns loaded. She remained in tropical waters a 
part of the summer of 1873, making soundings and surveys on the south 
side of Hayti, but the sick list grew to such serious proportions that 
she was taken to Key West, Florida, and a large part of her crew was 
invalided home. On the 25th of September there was trouble in New 
Orleans and the Kansas was ordered to that city, but the trouble proved 
to be but a comparatively slight incident. The cruise of the Kansas was 
ended soon afterward and Dr. Brown spent a few days at home, being then 
assigned to duty at the Philadelphia Naval Hospital, which is situated 
in the grounds of the Naval Asylum where the superannuated seamen 
dwell. Therefore among his patients were mariners who had been in the 
service from twenty to forty years and one or another had participated 
in mast of the important naval events in American history. Promotion 
came and Dr. Brown was transferred to California, to the United States 
receiving ship Independence, at Mare Island. This was an ancient craft 
- a sailing ship of the line - that had never been out of port since 
steam was discovered. It was used for recruiting and training enlisted 
men. When it was his turn to make a cruise Dr. Brown was detailed to 
the United States Flagship Pensacola, which was sent to South Pacific 
waters to care for American interests at the outbreak of the war 
between Chile on the one side and Peru and Bolivia on the other. The 
Pensacola was present at no battles but lingered for some time in 
southern waters and after eighteen months cruising departed for the 
Sandwich islands, reaching Hilo, Hawaii, after a voyage of six weeks. 
These various cruises brought to Dr. Brown many interesting 
experiences. While in the Sandwich islands he saw the native women, 
garbed in a haloku, drop into the water above a cascade some forty feet 
in height, glide down the rock channel, shoot out into the air with the 
water, drop into the turbulent basin below, disappear for a time as if 
lost, to be seen at the edge of the pool again when one had given them 
up for drowned. He also saw the surf riding, where the native would go 
out a mile or two into the sea to ride back on the surf on a board a 
foot wide and eight feet in length, at first lying upon the board, then 
crouching and finally standing, and sometimes the surf rider would come 
in with the speed of a toboggan upon the steepest hillside. At Honolulu 
the officers on the Pensacola were royally entertained by members of 
the court, including the representatives of the reigning house, King 
Kalakaua, the Princess Likiliki and the Princess Liliuokilani, besides 
the chancellors, chamberlains and equerries in plenty. On leaving the 
Sandwich islands it was decided that the ship should pay a visit to 
Alaska, but a broken crank-shaft prevented this plan being carried out. 
Altogether, however, the experience of Dr. Brown in the navy enriched 
his life with pleasant and attractive memories never to be forgotten.  

	He continued in the navy until 1884, when he resigned and came to 
Sioux Falls, where he has now made his home for more than three 
decades. He at once entered upon the practice of medicine and surgery 
in this city and it was not long before his ability had established 
here a reputation which makes him one of the foremost physicians and 
surgeons of the city. He has ever been a close student of the 
profession, keeping abreast with the advancement of the times along 
medical lines, while his skill in surgery has its root in his 
comprehensive knowledge of the component parts of the human body, his 
thorough understanding of the onslaughts made by disease and his entire 
lack of' a nervous condition in an emergency. It is in such a crisis 
that he seems to have the best mastery of himself, being thoroughly 
ready to meet the demand of the hour. A number of years ago he served 
as health officer of the city of Sioux Falls, also of Minnehaha county, 
South Dakota, and is now a member of the pension board.  

	In 1876 Dr. Brown was married in Portland, Maine, to Miss Clara 
K. Cross, who died in 1889, and in 1896 he wedded Miss Susan Ward of 
Wayland, Massachusetts. Dr. Brown has no children of his own, but two 
nieces of his first wife have shared his home, while Charles R. Brown, 
aged seven years, and Elizabeth R. Brown, aged four, orphan children of 
his brother, Rev. John C. Brown, of North Carolina, came into his 
family in 1908.  

	In his religious faith Dr. Brown is an Episcopalian, active, 
earnest and helpful in the church work. He is now serving as senior 
warden of Calvary church and was for some years a member of its board 
of trustees and of the bishop's council of advice. His political 
allegiance is given to the democratic party, but he has never sought 
nor desired office outside the strict path of his profession. He is a 
very prominent representative of Masonry, having taken all of the 
degrees of the York and Scottish Rites, while upon him has been 
conferred the honorary thirty-third degree. He was the real factor in 
founding Unity Lodge, 1. & A. M., of Sioux Falls, which is now the 
largest in membership in the state, and he is recognized as the best 
posted man on Masonry in South Dakota. A Masonic publication has given 
his record as follows: "He commenced his Masonic career in Minnehaha 
Lodge No. 5 at Sioux Falls, being initiated February 14, 1887; passed 
March 10, 1887, and raised June 21, 1887. He received the capitular 
degrees in Sioux Falls Chapter No. 2, October 17, 23 and November 2 and 
3, 1888; was made a member of Alpha Council No. 1, Royal and Select 
Masters, in 1891; became a member of the Order of High Priesthood June 
16, 1898; was knighted in Cyrene Commandery No. 2, at Sioux Falls, 
December 14, 1888. He is a member of the Masonic Veterans Association. 
He has served in all of the offices of the subordinate bodies and as 
grand royal arch captain, grand principal sojourner and grand captain 
of the Host in the Grand Chapter, R. A. M., of South Dakota. In 1906 he 
was elected junior grand warden of the grand lodge, in 1907 senior 
grand warden, in 1908 deputy grand master and in 1909 most worshipful 
grand master. He is grand representative of the grand lodge of Ireland. 
He is a charter member of Occidental Consistory No. 2, A. A. S. R., at 
Sioux Falls and is its registrar, last October receiving the honorary 
degree at Washington of knight Commander Court of Honor. He is also a 
member of El Riad Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., at Sioux Falls. For ten 
years, up to the time of assuming the gavel of grand master, he was 
chairman of committee on foreign correspondence and his reports are 
among the best, exhibiting a thorough knowledge of Masonic history and 
subjects. He is versed in standard and current literature and has 
wielded a trenchant and ready pen; he has ever hewed to the line of his 
own inherent convictions of right, no matter on which side stood his 
confreres."  

	That Dr. Brown has the respect, honor and admiration of his 
fellow practitioners is indicated in the fact that he has been 
president of the Minnehaha County Medical Society and of its successor, 
the Seventh District Medical Society. He was also the first president 
of the Sioux Valley Medical Association and has been honored with the 
presidency of the South Dakota Medical Association. An excellent 
characterization has been given of him, as follows: "A man kind of 
heart, of a genial and lovable disposition, even in the most heated 
debate no one ever heard him speak an acrimonious word. Studious for 
the welfare of all enterprises in which he has been engaged, his life 
has been studded with results which make for the betterment of mankind 
in general."