California Biographies

Transcribed by Peggy Hooper

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives 
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

Source:
History of the state of California and biographical record of the San Joaquin 
Valley, California. An historical story of the state's marvelous growth from 
its earliest settlement to the present time.
Prof. James Miller Guinn , A. M.
The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1905
Notes: Missing Page: 865-866,983-984,1175-1176


SAMUEL CARR BROWN. A residence of more than fifty years in Tulare county has made 
Mr. Brown a witness of its development as well as a contributor to its progress. As a result of 
his far-sighted policy in purchasing tracts of land in early days when property was very low, he 
has attained a position of wealth and influence among the people of Visalia, his home town. 
With the exception of two others, he is the oldest surviving settler of this region. Coming here 
in 1852 when settlers were few and the inducements for permanent citizenship meager, it has 
been his privilege to be associated with the development of the valley, until it has become a 
favorite place for investment among capitalists. 

Franklin county, Vt., is Mr. Brown's native place, and August 17, 1826, the date of his birth. 
His parents, James and Sarah (Smith) Brown, were natives respectively of Rhode Island and 
Massachusetts, and resided for years at Swanton, Franklin county, Vt., where the father engaged 
in the mercantile business and owned large tracts of land. Eventually they removed to St. Law- 
rence county, N. Y., and there died. In their family of four sons and three daughters, Samuel 
Carr Brown was the youngest. Primarily educated in common schools, he was later a student 
in Pennsylvania College in the Western Reserve and also attended Oberlin College in 1848. 
Having acquired a rudimentary knowledge of law through study under Judge Wallace of St. 
Lawrence county, N. Y., he gained considerable experience of its practice through his connection 
with a justice court, and throughout all of his active life devoted his attention largely to pro- 
fessional matters. 

After one-half year in Pike county, Ill., in 1849 Mr. Brown joined a band of gold-seekers 
bound for California. In April the journey was begun and in September he reached the North 
Fork of the American river, where he tried his luck at mining for a year. Fortune did not favor 
his efforts and he gave up mining and went to San Francisco. For six months he engaged as 
steward on the Vincennes, a . sloop, sailing out from San Francisco. After leaving that work he 
remained in San Francisco for a short time. January of 1852 found him in Tulare county in 
company with about fifty people, mostly farmers from Iowa. They first built a stockade, the In- 
dians two years before having killed the first white settlers. After this other log houses, eight 
or ten, were built in the stockade. It had not been his intention to settle here permanently, for 
his object in making the trip had been to hunt the deer, antelope and bear that abounded in what was 
then called the Four Creek county. However, as trifles often change our destiny, so a trip taken 
for recreation and hunting ended with permanent settlement in the locality visited. The practice 
of law, buying of land, teaching two terms of school, and other activities filled the early years 
of Mr. Brown's residence in Visalia, and during the Civil war he was an active sympathizer of the 
Union. Three times attempts were made to wreck his office, but United States troops restored order 
and remained until the close of the war. These troops were sent here at the request of six reputa- 
ble citizens, three Republicans and three Democrats, the latter having come to their Republican 
friends to warn them of trouble. For a time he was a law partner of William G. Morris and later 
was a member of the firm of Brown & Daggett, but in 1891 retired from active law practice. The 
large properties owned by him are under his personal supervision, including an office building in 
Visalia, twenty-five hundred acres of farm land in proximity to the town, and a one-half interest in 
four thousand acres in the foothills near Visalia. The land is divided into five ranches, the most of 
which are leased. 

Many of the most important enterprises in Visalia have received the aid and influence of 
S. C. Brown. Seeing the need of a financial institution, he interested others in the establish- 
ment of the I Sank of Visalia, of which he is now a director. After taking part in the establishment 
of the ice works he was elected a director, and has since served in that capacity. Upon the 
organization of the Visalia steam laundry, an enterprise that he aided in starting, he was chosen 
a member of the board of directors and has since helped to shape its business policy. In addition 
he is a director of the soda works and a leading worker in the Tulare Irrigation Company. Dur- 
ing early days he held the office of district attorney for two years, for two terms held the position 
of mayor, and for three terms served in the city council. Politically he was a Freesoiler during 
the existence of that party, and during the candidacy of Abraham Lincoln became a Republican, 
which party has since received his support. After coining to Visalia he married Fannie Kellenburg, 
a native of Illinois. They are the parents of five children now living, namely : May, wife of 
William H. Hammond, and Fannie, wife of C. G. Wilcox, all of Visalia ; Philip S., who has charge 
of a ranch ; Maude, wife of J. E. Combs, of Visalia, and Helen, who resides with her parents.