FRANK F. BROWN, D. D. S. The profession of dentistry in Montague county is aptly represented by the gentleman whose name introduces this personal review, his office in Bowie being one of the professionally active centers of interest in the city. The prestige of his alma mater, his proficiency as a mechanic and his universal popularity as a citizen combine to make his office the mecca of dental sufferers and place him in the category of eminent craftsmen in his line.
While Dr. Brown’s citizenship in Montague county is not of ancient origin, he is indebted to the state of Texas for his birth and refers with pride to the citizenship of his parents as of pioneer character to the Lone Star State. Jackson county, Mississippi, furnished Joseph Brown, our subject’s grandfather, to become a settler of Texas, and while he made a trip into the state in the closing forties, his permanent settlement was not made until 1852. He selected a location in the vicinity of Springfield, in Limestone county, where his stock and farming interests were carried on. Among his children were several sons, one of whom, Wiley P., was the father of Dr. Brown of this notice.
Wiley P. Brown was born in Jackson county, Mississippi, in 1840, and was nearing man’s estate when his parents brought the family to Texas. Merchandising attracted him in early life and he began it as a clerk in Springfield, afterward becoming one of the firm of Stephens and Brown and finally owning the business himself. Abandoning Springfield he became a merchant in Groesbeck and remained so until in the seventies, when he was induced to enter politics and was elected to county office. For many years he was returned to the court house by an appreciative constituency, holding the office of treasurer and then county clerk and filling the latter some ten years later.
When the state was organizing its troops for the Confederacy, Wiley P. Brown enlisted in the spring of 1861 in Major Farrow’s company, but it was disbanded in Ellis county, and he then joined Colonel Nichols’ regiment, which was sent to Galveston, where, in six months it was also disbanded. He then joined Captain McGee’s company and was elected second lieutenant of the company. The company was made a part of the Twentieth Texas Cavalry and at Fort Smith, Arkansas, he came into command of the company. He was in the fight at Elkhorn, and in a skirmish near Van Buren and the regiment was then dismounted and became infantry for the remainder of its service. He fought at Cane Hill, spent the winter of 1862-63 at Fort Smith, where Indians attacked them, and for the remainder of the war his regiment saw some fighting and other field service to the close of the war. He was in the Trans-Mississippi Department and was under command of Gen. E. Kirby Smith.
In Limestone county Mr. Brown married Mary Z. Stephens, a daughter of Captain Stephens, his partner in business and an old county officer of Limestone county. The issue of their marriage are: William W., of Groesbeck; Wiley P., Jr., of Okmulgee, I. T.; Porter P. of Groesbeck; Dr. Frank F., our subject; Mrs. J. L. Walker, of Groesbeck; Leslie L., of Groesbeck; Mrs. R. L. Reese, of Corsicana; John L., of Groesbeck; and Marion, a student of the medical department of Tulane University.
Dr. F. F. Brown spent his boyhood and youth in and near Groesbeck and the public and private schools thereabout provided him with a liberal education which was strengthened by his attendance upon the Agricultural and Mechanical College. When engaging in active business he was made deputy county clerk, which office he filled three years, and upon the expiration of his service he took up the study of pharmacy, taking a course in the same at Philadelphia. He took charge of a drug store in Groesbeck for two years and in the fall of 1894, he began the study of dentistry in the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery. In 1897 he completed his course and opened an office in Cameron, Texas. He remained in that locality until July, 1900, when he established himself in Bowie, where he has achieved both professional and social renown. He is a member of the Texas State Dental Association, is an Elk and a Woodmen and a Democrat.
Source: B. B. Paddock, History and Biographical Record of North and West Texas (Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1906), Vol. II, pp. 306-307.