Cyril P. Brown, M.D., a popular and highly successful medical practitioner and skillful surgeon of Spring Lake, Ottawa County, Mich., is a native of the State. Our subject, born in Lenawee County, is the son of Dr. David Brown, one of the pioneer settlers of the last named county, but a native of Massachusetts. Dr. David Brown emigrated with his parents from New England to the Wolverine State when only a child and attained to manhood upon the farm of the paternal grandfather, one of the earliest and most energetic of the general agriculturists of Lenawee County. The father completed his medical studies in Pittsfield, Mass., and, thoroughly adapted to his profession by natural gifts and education, became eminent as a physician and surgeon. Aside from his professional duties, as a public spirited and liberal citizen he devoted himself with enthusiasm to the betterment of mankind. From his earliest youth a stanch Abolitionist, he did not live to witness the freedom of the slave, but passed away in 1858, mourned as a public loss. The mother, in youth, Miss Harriet Peck, of Lenawee County, was a faithful helpmate to the pioneer physician, and tenderly cared for the three sons and one daughter who blessed the Michigan home. Our subject, the eldest of the family, like his father enjoyed the advantages of an excellent education, and after a thorough course in the Hillsdale (Mich.) College, graduated with honor in the Class of ’68.

Deciding to enter the same profession in which his father had made such an enviable record, our subject matriculated at Rush Medical College, Chicago, and received his degree in 1870. At the age of seventeen, Dr. Brown, answering to the call of his country, enlisted in Company F, Fourth Michigan Infantry, and was detailed for service in the Army of the Potomac. He participated in his initial engagement in the battle of Fredericksburg, and was in various conflicts, remaining in the army until 1864, during which year he was discharged for disability. In 1869, Dr. Brown was united in marriage in the county of his birth with Miss Clara J. Ames, the young couple making their home in Lenawee County until their removal in the fall of 1871, to Spring Lake, where they have since continued to reside. During the past twenty-two years, Dr. Brown has been constantly before the public, not only as a professional man but in various official positions, to the work of which he has given the executive business ability for which he is distinguished. For the first four years of his residence in his present locality our subject was Consulting Physician at the Magnetic Mineral Springs. A man of enterprise, he in 1888 assisted in the organization of the Clinker Boat Manufacturing Company, of Spring Lake, and as its President sided in the establishment of a fine jobbing trade in boats. Dr. Brown is interested in gold mining in the "sanagon mining district", Washington, and was one of the first upon the ground after the discoveries of treasure.

Our subject has held every office in Grand Army Post No. 279, of Spring Lake, and was one of the charter members of the post. For two terms he served as Commander of the post, and at the time Gen. Rutherford was Department Commander he served as Medical Director of the State Department. At the State Encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic, held at Bay City in the year 1890, the delegates to the National Encampment, to be held in Milwaukee, were instructed to cast their vote for Dr. Brown as Surgeon-General. Gen. Alger at a later date announced himself as candidate for Commander-in-Chief, and Dr. Brown withdrew in his favor. Gen. Alger having been elected the Doctor served on his staff with the rank of Colonel. While Gen. Duffield was Department Commander. Dr. Brown was for one term a member of his staff. For six years he was President of the United States Pension Board at Muskegon and likewise enjoyed the honor of being a delegate to the National Convention which nominated Benjamin Harrison, in the fall of 1888, to the Presidency of the United States.

Politically, the Doctor has been all his life a stanch Republican, his father early being an old-line Whig and afterward an Abolitionist of the most pronounced type. The father was also a devout member of the Baptist Church and an earnest Christian worker. Our subject is fraternally associated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and has long been connected with that ancient order. He is also a member of the Ta Delta, of Hillsdale, and among the pleasant memories of his school-days was the companionship of Will Carleton, who was a roommate of his for two years. Financially prospered, Dr. Brown has enjoyed the pleasure of extended trips to the West, and in 1892, accompanied by his wife, visited the Pacific Slope and spent many months. One son has blessed the home of our subject and his accomplished wife, Dana Brown, now connected with the boat business, and an energetic and enterprising young man, with a bright future before him. It is safe to say that from a social and business standpoint no man in all the county of Ottawa more fully possesses the confidence and esteem of the general public than our subject, who literally numbers his friends tried and true by the score.