Author: Brown, Solyman
Biography:
BROWN, Solyman (1790-1876: WBIS)
A versatile man and prolific writer. Born in Litchfield CT, he graduated from Yale in 1812 and received an AM in 1817. He was licensed as a Congregational minister for four years in 1813 but in a dispute about his qualifications, his licence was not renewed. He moved to New York City in 1820, taught school for 12 years, and having converted to Swedenborgianism in 1822, preached in the New Jerusalem Church. In 1832-3 he took up the study of dentistry and became a leader in the field, one of the founders of the Society of Surgeon Dentists of New York and an organizer of the first national association of dentists. In 1834 he married Elizabeth Butler. They had eight children, six of whom--with their mother--survived him. In every occupation that he undertook, he put his writing talents to work: he wrote poetry, fiction, sermons, studies of educational systems, and practical treatises on dentistry. His Dentologia has the distinction of being "the only dental didactic poem in English" (DAB). (DAB; Appleton) HJ