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Gustavus Richard Brown (October 17, 1747[1] – September 30, 1804[2][3]) was a lifelong friend of George Washington, a physician, helped found the hospital department of the Continental Army, and a botanist.[4] He is best known as one of the doctors summoned to attend to George Washington the night he died.[5][6][7]
Gustavus Brown studied medicine in Edinburgh, Scotland, graduating in 1768. In addition to medicine, he was elected to the legislature of Maryland, and served as a judge. He was a member of the Maryland state convention of 1788 and voted whether to ratify the U. S. Constitution.[8][9] During the American Revolution, he helped establish the hospital department and was surgeon-general of the Continental Army. He was called on by General Washington to inspect the Maryland troops and enroll the names of able-bodied men. One of those men was his nephew, Gustavus Brown Horner, who, with the aid of his uncle's tutelage, became a surgeon's mate during the war.[10]
Around 1780, he bought and combined four tracts of land from his neighbor, now known as "Betty's Delight".[7] Combining this land with his own, he built and in about 1783 moved into Rose Hill, his manor house[11][12] Rose Hill is adjacent to the Thomas Stone National Historic Site.
Along with Dr. James Craik, "Dr. Gustavus R. Brown, another prominent resident of Port Tobacco, and Dr. Elisha Cullen Dick, attended [George] Washington during his final illness, December 14, 1799. Dr. James Craik was so impressed with Dr. Brown's medical skills that he suggested to Mrs. Washington (Martha), that if any case should occur that was seriously alarming, she should send for Dr. Brown."[13]
The Dr. Gustavus Brown Elementary School in Waldorf, Maryland is named after him. His younger sister, Margaret, married Thomas Stone, a signatory of the Declaration of Independence.
In some records Dr. Brown is confused with his father of the same name, who came from Dalkeith, Scotland in 1708.[14] The elder Gustavus Brown settled at Middleton (named after his family homestead near Dalkeith, Scotland) in Charles County, Maryland, as relayed by his descendant Moncure Daniel Conway.[15]
Notes
edit- ^ "Gustavus Brown". FamilySearch. Archived from the original on 2011-06-07. Retrieved 2008-12-06.
- ^ Ridgely pp 63-64
- ^ "Gustavus Brown Burial Site, Charles County, Maryland". Interment.net. Archived from the original on 2008-06-15. Retrieved 2007-11-29.
- ^ Jean Butenhoff Lee (1994). The Price of Nationhood: The American Revolution in Charles County. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 4. ISBN 0-393-03658-8. Archived from the original on 2014-06-30.
- ^ Wilstach, pp 102-104
- ^ "George Washington Really Did Sleep Here". Maryland Office of Tourism. Retrieved 2007-10-01. [dead link]
- ^ a b Arnett, pp 44-45
- ^ Scharf, pp 749
- ^ "Maryland Manual, 1926". 137. Maryland State Archives: 320. Archived from the original on 2010-04-29.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ Edward Huntington Merrell, D. D. (1906). "John Scott Horner: A Biographical Sketch". Madison, Wisconsin: State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Archived from the original on 2008-10-06. Retrieved 2008-12-06. Proceedings of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin at its Fifty-third Annual Meeting Held November 9, 1905
- ^ Sometime after the 1783 tax assessment, according to the Maryland Historical Trust web page.
- ^ "Rose Hill". The Historical Marker Database. June 17, 2007. Archived from the original on March 27, 2012. Retrieved 2008-11-01.
- ^ George Washington Masonic National Memorial, John P. Riddell, Curator, Replica Lodge Room
- ^ "Who was Dr. Gustavus Brown?". Charles County Board of Education. Archived from the original on 2008-04-04. Retrieved 2007-10-05.
- ^ Conway, pp 1-5.
References
edit- Arnett, Earl; Dr. Robert J Brugger; Edward C. Papenfuse (1999). Maryland: A New Guide to the Old Line State. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 44. ISBN 978-0-8018-5980-9.
rose hill charles county.
- Conway, Moncure Daniel (1904). Autobiography Memories and Experiences of Moncure Daniel Conway. Vol. 1. Houghton, Mifflin & Co. ISBN 0-8371-1813-1.
- Ridgely, Helen West (1908). Historic Graves of Maryland and the District of Columbia. The Grafton press. p. 63. ISBN 1-103-73706-6.
rose hill charles county.
- Scharf, John Thomas (1879). History of Maryland from the Earliest Period to the Present Day. John B. Piet.