In Memory of/William Brown, M.D./(Formerly Physician General to the Hospital of the United States)/who died on the 11th day of Jan'y 1792/in the 44th year of his age;/This Tablet is inscribed/by/his affectionate & afflicted widow/His zeal & fidelity as a Patriot/His patience, diligence & skill as a Physician/His benevolence, curtesy & integrity as a Man/Secured him/the applause of his country/the honor & emoluments of his Profession/the respect of the Wealthy/and/the veneration of the Poor/Let/the grateful witness of his virtues in domestic life/add/that as a Husband, Father & Master he was tender, instructive & humane/that he lived without guile/and died without reproach.
Dr. Brown's grandfather was Dr. Gustavus Brown who emigrated to Maryland in 1708 and in 1710 married Frances, the daughter of Colonel Gerard Fawke. Their son, Richard Brown, returned to England to prepare himself for the church. Richard's son, William, was born in Scotland in 1748; was educated at the University of Edinburgh, graduated in 1770, and came to America. This is Alexandria's Dr. Brown.
This young Scotsman, gentle born, learned, traveled, handsome, came to Virginia at the age of twenty-two. He began to explore the south side of the Potomac, and his path often led to Dumfries and to the homes of his relations there, the Reverend James Scott's family, at the rectory, and the Blackburns at Rippon Lodge. Sometimes the carriage was brought out, or the horses saddled, or even the barge manned, and off to Mount Vernon the family would go.
It was always pleasant at Mount Vernon for young people. Never the week went by but some of them gathered for dinner or to spend the night, and often both. When Washington returned from Alexandria, where he was attending court on May 19, 1772, he found his guests included Colonel Blackburn and lady, from Rippon Lodge, Miss Scott, Mrs. Blackburn's sister (both were daughters of James Scott, rector of the Church at Dumfries), Miss Brown and young Dr. Brown. "This company spent the night and went away the next morning."[116]
Whether this was the beginning or the culmination of the romance, none now can tell, but by 1774 Miss Scott was already Mrs. Brown, and the mother of two very small sons, William Jr. being born that year. The young family was doubtless residing in General Washington's town house, and for this there is the authority of the General himself. In a letter to his nephew, Bushrod, dated November 1788, he writes, "If you could accomodate yourself to my small house in Town (where Doctr. Brown formerly lived) you shall be very welcome to the use of it rent free."[117]
Previous to this, in 1785, Lund Washington's ledger reveals that he had received £40 from Dr. Brown on account of Genl Washington for "Rent of House in Alexandria."[118] In the General's own account ledger he refers to Dr. Brown's rent as having been fixed by "Mr Ld Washington at £60 a year for My House," and the sum is cancelled due to advances made by Dr. Brown and for professional services.[119]
In July 1783, Dr. Brown purchased from John Mills the white clapboard house that has been identified as his Alexandria home. He purchased twenty-six additional feet south on Fairfax Street adjoining his dwelling house, from Robert Townshend Hooe and Richard Harrison, merchants, on July 10, 1790. This property became his garden.
Dr. William Brown's clapboard residence
An Alexandria tradition and the Brown family belief is that the house was built by him prior to the Revolution. It is, indeed, very old and probably dates between 1757, when the property was mortgaged by William Ramsay to John Dixon of White Haven, England, and 1783, when the property was sold to Dr. William Brown by John Mills, for the sum of £280, indicating a substantial structure. There was at least one house on lot No. 65, and Dr. Brown's house is the only one standing on that lot today at all indicative of a pre-Revolutionary dwelling. If the house was not built by Ramsay, the probability is that it was built by Mills between 1777 and 1783, which is doubtful, as building during the Revolution was so difficult as to make it almost impossible.