Thomas H. Brown, born on August 17, 1837, in Portobello, England, emigrated to Wisconsin in 1848 with his family. He served in the Union Army during the Civil War from 1861 to 1865. Post-war, he briefly mined gold in Montana before returning to Wisconsin. In 1872, Brown settled in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and became a prominent businessman, co-founding the successful Brown & Saenger printing and bookbinding firm. He was also instrumental in local Masonic activities, served on the school board, and played a key role in bringing the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway to Sioux Falls. Brown married Mary Morse in 1867, and they had three sons.
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’s 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; and Harry T., connected with the Anthony Candy Company.
Source: Robinson, Doane, History of South Dakota: together with mention of Citizens of South Dakota, [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen, 1904.