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COLUMBUS BROWN, M. D. Some of the most successful members of the medical profession have found their practice and the exhaustive study necessary to keep abreast of the constant discoveries of science so engrossive as to preclude the possibility of active participation in outside matters. Without exception such men have won the confidence and approval not only of their patients but those with whom they are associated, to appreciate their conscientious fidelity to duty. Dr. Columbus Brown belongs to this class of medical men and is recognized as one of the most able of his profession in Williamson county. Dr. Brown was born on a farm between Herrin and Carterville, November 2, 1868, and is a son of Captain John Brown, whose birth occurred in Union county in 1826.

Rev. Jeremiah Brown, the grandfather of Dr. Brown, came as an early settler of Illinois from the state of North Carolina, beginning his labors as a Baptist minister here in 1845. His children were Grant Wagoner; Captain John; Mrs. Betty Miller; Frank, who died in Marion in 1893; George, who died at Carterville; Mrs. Mary Davis, who died at Creal Springs; and Henderson, whose death occurred in Union county. Captain John Brown came into his majority when this section was much like the frontier. He had just passed his minority when the war with Mexico broke out over the admission of Texas, and he joined the army raised to carry on the war. Serving through to the close of that struggle, he resumed the duties incident to farm life, which he had abandoned only temporarily, and continued to engage therein until his death, in February, 1899, save for a period he spent as a merchant at Metropolis and Crainvilie, Illinois. Locating in Williamson county prior to the Civil war, he entered the volunteer service in August, 1862, and was commissioned captain of Company D, One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Regiment, Illinois Infantry, which rendezvoused at Camp Butler, Springfield, and was then ordered to Cairo, where it was disorganized in May, 1864, and all of its officers, save the colonel, discharged. Captain Brown then returned home and took up farming again. He never entered the political field, being content to serve the Democratic party only as a voter. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Martha J. Wilkins, was a daughter of Jacob Wilkins, of Union county, and

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died in June, 1910, at the age of eighty-three years, having been the mother of the following children: Fatima, the wife of Ephraim Herrin, father of the city of Herrin; Mrs. Josie Herrin, of Creal Springs; Gertrude, who married C. H. Murrah and resides in Creal Springs; Curtis, living in Boulder, Colorado; Cornelia, the widow of Isaac Hammer, residing in East St. Louis; Florence, who became the wife of Thomas Stotlar, living in Herrin; Orion J., who married A. K. Elles, of Herrin; Cora, who married E. T. Steele and lives at Urbana; and Dr. Columbus, of this article.

Columbus Brown's early life was spent on his father 's farm, where lie worked while attending school at Creal Springs. Equipped to enter either a business or professional life, he chose the latter and studied medicine at the Missouri Medical College, St. Louis, from which he was graduated March 29, 1899. He first chose the town of Creal Springs for his field of practice and remained there eight years, and since that time has practiced in Herrin. He has served as vice-president of the Williamson county Medical Society, and is a member of the Illinois, Southern Illinois and American Medical Associations. Dr. Brown's practice receives his whole attention, but he has shown his public spirit by serving as a member of the board of education from the Fourth Ward. Like his father, he is a Democrat.

On August 12, 1902, Dr. Brown was married in Independence, Missouri, to Miss Lula Slack, daughter of Anthony Slack, a retired merchant of that city, and sister to Miss Josephine, of Independence, and Edward, Anthony and Paul Slack, business men of Kansas City. Dr. and Mrs. Brown have had four children, namely: Martha, John, Anthony and Curtis.