Samuel Brown (January 8, 1801 – December 22, 1874) was an American pioneer and politician.
Brown was born in Belchertown, Massachusetts, and grew up on a farm in the area. At age 18 he left the farm to learn the carpentry trade, and in 1833 moved to Chicago, Illinois to work as a builder. In 1835, he moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin at the request of Solomon Juneau, making the trip together with Horace Chase and Morgan L. Burdick. Brown also worked as a builder in Milwaukee.
Milwaukeans called him "Deacon Brown," since he held the first public religious exercises in Milwaukee in May 1835. Brown helped to found the city's First Presbyterian Church on April 11, 1837 and later Plymouth Congregational on May 20, 1841. Brown served as an elder at both churches. He lived in a house bounded by Galena, Cherry, Second, and Third Streets.[1]
Brown was elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly as a Democrat in 1850,[2] and also served on the Milwaukee city council. He was elected treasurer, commissioner of highways and commissioner of schools for the Town of Milwaukee in 1846. He was also a member of the board of directors of the Milwaukee and La Crosse Railway.
Brown died in 1874. Brown's son, Thomas H. Brown, later served as mayor of Milwaukee.
This article incorporates text from the 1909 edition of Memoirs of Milwaukee County, by Jerome Anthony Watrous which is in the public domain in the United States.