When Tennessee, in line with the advanced legislation and public opinion throughout the nation, created the office of state food and drugs commissioner, the appointment of the first commissioner resulted in securing the  services of the ablest commercial chemist in the state, and it was his ability

and record in his profession and not from any political considerations that Lucius Polk Brown was chosen for this important post. Mr. Brown during the past four years has done a valuable work in behalf of the people of his state and the standards of food and drug quality have measurably risen in this period of time.

   Mr. Brown is a native Tennesseean, born in Maury county, August 1, 1867, andrepresents two of the prominent families of this state, whose various members have always been distinguished by high character and in many cases by notable position in affairs. This branch of the Browns is of English origin, but came to America from the north of Ireland where some of the early bearers of the name had settled. The founder of the family in America was Rev. John Brown, a minister of the Presbyterian faith, who became a pioneer in what is now Augusta county, Virginia. He established the Liberty Hall Academy, which was the beginning of the present Washington & Lee University, one of the oldest and best schools of the South.

   Mr. Brown’s great-grandfather was Dr. Samuel Brown, a Kentuckian, who married a Miss Percy, a native of Mississippi. James Percy Brown, his grandfather, was a native of Frankfort, Kentucky, and an attache to the American legation at Paris under his uncle, the Hon. James Brown. Mr. Brown’s parents were Campbell andSusan Polk Brown, both natives of Tennessee. Campbell Brown was born in 1840 and died in 1893, and was a grandson of George Washington Campbell, secretary of the treasury under President Madison, first minister of the United States to Russia under President Monroe and one of Tennessee’s early senators in the national congress. Campbell Brown served with the rank of major as a soldier of the Confederate army in the Civil war on the staff of Gen. R. S. Ewell in the Army of Northern Virginia. After the war he became a farmer and stock breeder of Maury county. Susan Polk Brown, his wife, was the daughter of Gen. Lucius J. Polk, of Maury county, and granddaughter of Col. William. Polk of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, a soldier under Washington in the Revolution.

   Reared on his father’s plantation in Maury county, Lucius Polk Brown was liberally supplied with school advantages. He attended private schools, the Montgomery Bell Academy and the high school at Bellevue, Virginia, and then took a special course in chemistry at the University of Virginia. For a year he was connected with the experiment station at Knoxville, after which he followed farming for a time, and in 1894 established his office as commercial chemist at Nashville. He acquired a reputation and a fine professional business, and continued in private practice until 1908, when he was sought for the first incumbent. of the office of food and drugs commissioner. He is devoted to his work and holds a high rank among his associates in similar work throughout the country. It is his distinction to have been the first Southerner chosen for president of the Association of American Food and Drugs Officials.

   Fraternally Mr. Brown is a Royal Arch Mason, and he is a member of the Episcopal church. His home is in Williamson county, a country residence near Franklin, his official headquarters being in Nashville. Mr. Brown was married in 1895 to Miss Jessie Roberts, of Nashville, who died in 1897, leaving a son Campbell H. Brown. Mr. Brown’s present wife, whom he married in 1903, was formerly Miss Susan C. Massie. They are the parents of three daughters, named  Susan Polk, Lizinka Campbell and Lucia Cabbell.

A history of Tennessee and Tennesseans : the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities. by Will T. Hale.  Chicago:  Lewis Pub. Co.,1913

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:Joy Fisher sdgenweb [at] gmail [dot] com October 26, 2005, 2:38 pm