Brown, Vincent de Paul (1880-1928)
/Unidentified Photographer’s Portrait Photograph of May Kelley, Dr. Vincent dePaul Brown, Emma Rochford Brown, and Kathleen Elise Brown
THE PHOTOGRAPHER/ PHOTOGRAPHIC STUDIO
Photographer: unidentified
THE SITTERS:
Names: (from left to right) Mary Kelley, Dr. Vincent de Paul Brown (seated), Emma Rochford Brown, and Kathleen Elise Brown “Elise Brown”
Description: Doctor Vincent de Paul Brown is seated in a large, Victorian, wicker chair surrounded by three women. His sisters Emma and Elisa are on the right, and the woman on the left is Mary Kelley. With a slight, stoic smile, he looks directly are the viewer. He is elegantly dressed in a gentleman’s double-breasted Edwardian overcoat with a black velvet collar. He wears a fashionably high-collared white shirt and large tie. His gloved hands hold his bowler hat in his lap. He is bespectacled and immaculately groomed, with his dark hair parted in the center and combed to each side.
Biographical Note: Vincent de Paul Brown was born January 12, 1880, in Petaluma, the youngest of the twelve children of Daniel Brown and Annie Alexis Ferguson Brown. He was named after the patron saint of the Petaluma Catholic Church, St. Vincent de Paul. Vincent attended the Petaluma Brick School until high school when he boarded at St. Ignatius in San Francisco for college prep. In 1903 he obtained his medical degree at Cooper Medical School (now part of Stanford University), and immediately began his medical career in San Francisco. Following the 1906 earthquake and fire, Dr. Brown was in charge of an improvised hospital set up in an old Pullman railroad car used to treat those injured. Later he went to Europe and studied ear, nose, and throat, which became his specialty. During the First World War he served as Captain in the Aviation Medical Department. He was a member of the San Francisco Medical Society and the California Medical Society. Vincent never married and lived with his sisters in San Francisco until his death from pneumonia at 48 on June 25, 1928. He was buried in Petaluma Calvary Cemetery in the Brown Family Plot.
Family Affiliation: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/41898560/vincent-depaul-brown. Search this archive and the Sonoma County Library photograph archive for additional portraits of the Brown family.
Bibliography: Primary Sources: Petaluma Argus-Courier: June 29, 1906, p. 5; May 1, 1909, p. 9; February 1, 1911, p.3; April 18, 1911, p. 8; April 19, 1911, p. 1; July 25, 1911, p. 5; May 20, 1912, p. 1; July 16, 1912, p. 3; July 10, 1917, p. 4; September 19, 1918, p. 2; June 9, 1921, p. 5; March 20, 1923, p. 6; May 14, 1925, p. 6; March 2, 1927, p. 6; June 28, 1928, p. 2. Petaluma Daily Morning Courier: January 8, 1909, p. 1; March 11, 1909, p. 4; March 27, 1909, p. 4; May 1, 1909, p. 2; May 25, 1909, p. 1; February 1, 1911, p. 8; April 19, 1911, p. 8; April 20, 1911, p. 5; May 20, 1912, p. 8; September 5, 1912, p. 6; July 8, 1913, p. 1; October 20, 1914, p. 8; May 17, 1917, p. 4; September 18, 1918, p. 1; January 22, 1922, p. 10; May 19, 1925, p. 5; March 2, 1927, p. 4; June 27, 1928, p. 8. For additional information and artifacts pertaining to the Brown family, see the Kathleen O’Brien Balestrini Collection at the Petaluma Historical Library & Museum.
THE PHOTOGRAPH:
Format / Size: Real photo postcard (RPPC)
Medium: Azo paper with 4 triangles
Description, front: The four persons depicted in this real photo postcard pose in front of a backdrop depicting voluminous, ornate drapery. Handwritten in cursive below the image are the names: “May Kelley”, “Dr. V. Brown”, “Emma Brown”, and “Elise Brown”.
Description, back: Handwritten in pencil is, “Pan Pacific Expo”, and “1915”.
Date: 1915
Condition: This postcard is in good condition
Owner: From the collection of Kathleen O’Brien Balestrini, digital copy by permission
Reproduction rights: The Petaluma Museum Association makes no assertions as to ownership of any original copyrights to the digitized images here reproduced. These images are intended for personal or research use only. Any other kind of use, including, but not limited to commercial or scholarly publication in any medium or format, public exhibition, or use online or in a web site, may be subject to additional restrictions including but not limited to the copyrights held by parties other than the Association. USERS ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE for determining the existence of such rights and for obtaining any permissions and/or paying associated fees necessary for the proposed use.