Historical marker to honor African American family that produced 6 doctors | Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — In recent years, Winchester has been rediscovering the stories of some long-overlooked 19th and 20th century African American residents including baseball legend Spottswood Poles, scientific researcher Dr. Madison S. Briscoe, entrepreneur Robert Orrick and U.S. Army Women’s Army Corps member Annie Turner.

Most of the information brought forth about these local luminaries has been courtesy of historians Judy Humbert, Sharon Dixon and their fellow members of Winchester’s Black History Task Force.

“If a race has no history, if it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world and it stands in danger of being exterminated,” Dixon said, quoting historian and author Carter G. Woodson from his 1933 book “The Mis-Education of the Negro.”

Now, Humbert and Dixon have another story to share.

It’s about Charles C. and Maria Fairfax Brown, both of whom are believed to have been former slaves. The couple married on Dec. 26, 1865, and eventually became parents to eight children. Two of their offspring had their lives cut short but the remaining six accomplished something remarkable: They all became doctors.

“It’s inspiring, even in today’s times,” Humbert said.

v v v

Heading into the Civil War, many white people residing in Winchester wanted to keep Black people enslaved. One of them was James M. Mason, a United States senator who, in 1850, authored the Fugitive Slave Act that required all escaped slaves to be returned to their captors.

Further indication of the city’s attitudes toward Blacks could be found at Winchester Medical College at 302 W. Boscawen St., which raided graves to steal the bodies of African Americans so students could study their corpses. The same college also displayed the skinned and dissected remains of Watson Brown, a son of abolitionist John Brown who was killed in an 1859 anti-slavery raid of Harpers Ferry. Next to Watson Brown’s mutilated body was a sign that stated, “Thus always with abolitionists.”

Even after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and the Union’s triumph in the Civil War freed enslaved Blacks, African Americans continued to be severely oppressed in Winchester and throughout the South. Regardless, some local Blacks, including Orrick, were able to start businesses and become financially secure.

Charles and Maria Brown were among the African Americans who managed to prosper. According to information gleaned by Humbert and Dixon, Charles Brown — who did not know how to read or write — owned a barbershop and several parcels of real estate, including an orchard from which he sold apples and apple products. By the 1870s, the couple was flush with cash.

The first of their eight children, Lucy, was born in 1866, and the last, Elton, was born in 1881. The oldest and youngest children both died young, with Lucy passing at age 36 and Elton only surviving to age 6.

In between Lucy and Elton, Charles and Maria welcomed six children: Sara (1868), John (1870), Edward (1872), Harrison (1874), Nancy (1877) and James (1880). Thanks to the family’s financial prosperity, all six children were well educated and went on to lead remarkable lives:

Sara, a physician, was an 1897 graduate of Cornell University and 1904 graduate of Howard University’s Medical School. She taught and lectured on gynecology at Howard University and gave health lectures nationwide under the auspices of the National Board of the YWCA. In 1924, she made history by becoming the first female alumnus elected to Howard University’s Board of Trustees.

John, a physician, was an 1893 graduate of Lincoln University in Pennsylvania and an 1896 graduate of Medico-Chirurgical (Med-Chi) College in Philadelphia. He practiced medicine in Pittsburgh and was known for his philanthropy, which included a $40,000 donation to the Friendship Clinic of Mound Bayou, Mississippi. When he died, John willed $70,000 to Lincoln University and $30,000 to Orrick Cemetery in Winchester.

Edward, a pharmacist, graduated from Lincoln University in 1894 and Howard University’s Pharmaceutical School in 1896. In 1898, he and his college friend, Dr. Isaac Jennings, established Jennings and Brown Pharmacy, the first African American pharmacy in Pittsburgh.

Harrison, an internist, graduated in 1900 from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, and in 1904 from the University of Pittsburgh’s Medical School. He practiced internal medicine in Pittsburgh and was called “Dr. Harry” so he wouldn’t be confused with his younger brother, James, who also practiced in Pittsburgh. Williams College honored Harrison — its first African American alumnus to become a medical doctor — by naming The Harrison Morgan Brown Society for pre-med African American students in his honor.

Nancy, a pharmacist, graduated from Cornell University in 1899 and Howard University’s Pharmaceutical School in 1909. In 1910, she co-founded the National Association of University Women (NAUW) for African Americans, and during World War I, she served as a YWCA secretary in France. By the time of her death, Nancy had accumulated an estate worth the present-day equivalent of $3.5 million.

James, a urologist, graduated from the University of Pittsburgh’s Medical School in 1904, making him and his brother, Harrison, the first African Americans to earn degrees from the institution. James then went on to obtain a degree in pharmacy from the same school. He was the first Black person in the United States to become a specialist in urology and served as an instructor of urology for 25 years at the University of Pittsburgh.

“Look what these six did, and look how many people benefitted from what they did,” Humbert said.

Only one of the Brown siblings, Edward, got married, but the union lasted just two years before he died after slipping on a patch of ice. Humbert and Dixon said there is speculation the Brown family carried a genetic condition and the siblings did not want to risk passing it on to their children, so all of them but Edward chose to spend their lives alone.

Even though the Brown siblings went on to work in Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C., they never forgot Winchester. Sara and John each purchased 80 acres of land in Frederick County, and all six are buried in Orrick Cemetery next to their parents, both of whom passed in 1908.

v v v

Thanks to Humbert and Dixon, the Brown family is finally going to be enshrined in the annals of Winchester history.

A roadside marker will be unveiled during a special ceremony at 5:30 p.m. June 15 at the site of the family’s former home at the southeast corner of North Loudoun Street and East Fairfax Lane. Members of the public are welcome to attend the event, which will also serve as an early celebration of Juneteenth on June 19.

The Brown family’s house is long gone. Standing in its place today is a parking lot behind the Bank of Clarke branch at 202 N. Loudoun St. However, the bank is so eager to mark the spot where the Browns once lived that Humbert and Dixon said the business put up the more than $3,000 needed to buy the roadside marker from the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.

“It will become a permanent part of Winchester,” Humbert said of the marker.

This will be the fourth historical marker erected in Winchester owing to the work of Humbert, Dixon and the entire Black History Task Force. The other three were for Briscoe, Poles and Orrick.

“It’s just fascinating that Winchester has so many of these stories that have never been told,” Humbert said.