A Christian follower of Jesus all of his life, "RT" was born at the old country home in Pinewood, S. C. He was the great-great-grandson of his Brown immigrant ancestor, Moses Brown. His middle name was in honor of his mother's ancestor (RT's GGGG grandfather), Tillman Kolb (1723-1773) (son of immigrant, Johannes Kolb). Tillman (Dielman) variously signed his anglicized name with one or two "l"s. His g-great grandfather, Moses Brown is thought to have been from Scotland and came to the USA with a son, William, born either in Northern Ireland or Scotland (they probably arrived around 1795-1800). "RT" began life on his father's 400 acre farm in very rural Panola, S. C. In hopes of more advantageous education for his children, his parents moved to the town of Sumter, S. C.

FAMILY PHOTOS: This memorial page shows only a few of the many photos posted with this memorial. (1) Click on the link just below the last photo on this cover page & see all pics on his own memorial (NOTE: on his tombstone, the cross within a circle was the Veteran Administration tombstone general Christian symbol until 1988 when, thereafter, the circle was removed); (2) Family photo, Father & Mother Brown & children. (3) See their memorials (Mother & Father Brown's large Brown family); (4) Mother Brown's large Kolb family, 1905-1910 and 1920-1925 photos HERE. (5) 1908-09 Sumter High School football team is on his memorial & class of 1910 graduates list is in the caption of that team photo.

Youth: He was educated in the public schools of the city of Sumter (graduating boys high school class of 1910...(see the primary source, May 28, 1910 issue of Watchman and Southron, image # 4 for class roster) of Sumter High School (boys) where he was a football player on his junior year's season of 1908 undefeated team & senior year's 1909 team.
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1908 & 1909 FOOTBALL TEAMS: Sumter's MOST spectacular ever: The 1908 team scored a total of 111 points and held opponents scoreless! AMAZINGLY, the 1909 team bettered 1908 and scored 244 points while, again, keeping opponents scoreless. Team captain of 1909 was fast-running back & good pass receiver, Nobel Dick (later a physician in Alaska). Center, Willie Burns, was the top lineman (he weighed over 200 pounds & was...in those days...the largest lineman in S. C.). One end was Hammond Bowman (became a Sumter teacher & later a minister in Weytheville, Virginia), & the other end was Willie Marshall who later resided in Columbia. Francis Moise was the quarterback, and the two running backs were Fred Nigels (excellent on end runs) & Harry Davis (really good at crashing the line) & became best back in S. C. with nickname, "Bull". Bob Haynsworth & Allen Brown (a soph.) were the tackles & Julius Cooper and William Brogdon were guards. Having suffered an injury, R. T. "Bob" Brown (our "Poppoo") was the team manager. The coach was Capers Smith (a Charlestonian), a teacher & lawyer who tragically died in 1912. [most of this information in this paragraph came from the Reflections column by Sammy Way, The Sumter Item, online issue of 30 Nov. 2019...I added the Find a Grave links]
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As an 18 year old, he was working two farms owned by his father on what became Broad Street extension; in cotton season, he worked with 25 field hands. He was approached by and hired to work in Sumter with First National Bank as bookkeeper and collector (about 1909) for $35 per month. In 1913 the bank had raised his pay to $65/mo., and he felt that he could afford marriage. He married Mildred Hall on 11 June 1913 (by Rev. D. M. McLeod). Their wedding was the first event of any kind in the new Trinity Methodist Church (pews had not been installed & everyone stood for the whole ceremony...this is the church building which later burned in the 1950's). Check his memorial photos to see church photo.

They had 8 children (one early miscarriage Nov. 1916 after Mildred's exhausting train ride to El Paso) who then produced 20 grandchildren (still 20 living first cousins in 2015).

Residence: With Mildred (grandchildren would call her "Wuh", the name her first child, Bill, coined) pregnant with their first baby and their desire for better schools, they moved from Pinewood to #310 N. Salem Avenue, next door to the Will Shaw home at #312. He (called "Bob" by teammates) and Will were classmates and first-string players on the undefeated and unscored-upon Sumter High School football team of 1909. Son, Bill, was born at Tuomey Hospital. The three of them moved to El Paso when "RT" was sent there with the National Guard. Then they came back from Texas to Camden (to live with her sister, Aunt Zoe [pronounced Zoo]) prior to his leaving for Europe and WWI (he departed for WWI when baby Mildred was six weeks old). On his return from the WWI deployment, they moved in with Father Brown at his Barnwell County farm known as Myers Mill. They bought #115 N. Salem Avenue on 1 Sept. 1919 for $6000 [$800 down payment], their home thereafter for 62 years. He was educated in the public schools of Sumter County.

Military: His military life began with joining the National Guard as a private; by 1916, he had worked his way up to the rank of captain on 28 April 1916. World War I (WWI) began in 1914. But, Company Commander, Capt. R. T. Brown's National Guard (Company L, Sumter Light Infantry, of Third Battalion of the Second Palmetto Regiment) unit was activated & went to what was known as Styx (camp W. W. Moore...named for 1888 Citadel graduate & S. C. State Adjutant General, a National Guard training camp established in 1913 at Styx, S. C. near the present day site of the Pine Ridge Armory, Pine Ridge, Lexington Co., S. C.). They were soon sent by train with the first Palmetto Regiment and also Calvary Troop "A" to the El Paso, Texas area on 24 June 1916. The conflict began after Francisco "Pancho" Villa attacked a New Mexico town & killed 18 American soldiers & civilians (officially known as the Mexican Expedition...1916-1917). R. T.'s wife & son stayed in El Paso (11/1916-3/1917), renting a room from locals. That "bandit" issue becoming resolved, he and his wife, Mildred, and eldest son, William, returned to S. C. to Camp Sevier outside of Greenville, S. C. in early 1918. And Mildred went to her sister, Zoe Rhame's, to have daughter, Mildred (lived briefly with sister's family before returning to Greenville prior to Rob's leaving for WWI in May of 1918). Mildred, little Bill, and little Mildred then returned to Camden to Zoe's.

Then into WWI, "RT" was also a Captain. His Company L was merged into the regular Army, 118th Infantry which was made up of SC, NC, and TN national guardsmen. The 118th Infantry was part of what became the famous 30th ("Old Hickory") Division, which is still active today. He became regimental supply officer with this unit on the Western Front in France. [His grandson, Ervin Shaw, would graduate in the Citadel class of 1966 as L Company commander.] The "Old Hickory" division was involved in the breaking of the German "Hindenberg Line" and therefore played a key role in helping defeat the enemy, Germany, and bring the war to an end. In his role, he "made it happen" for 21,000 men (a supply mission the equal of ten [10] modern-day The Citadel colleges!]. In June of 2018, a letter to his wife said "I am now filling the place in our Army that is held by a Colonel in the British Army. I am now in command of eight separate companies and have a staff of 7 officers. We handle all the supplies and transportation of all troops who happen to be in our area. In getting these organizations in shape I have been on the go day and night and have been working my old motorcycle overtime. I don't know what I would do without my motorcycle, and I never ride very fast day or night without thinking of you and knowing just how you would feel should you see me skimming along at such a clip." The Armistice to end the war was signed 11 November 1918; he did not get back home until February 1919. Capt. Brown & his wife pre-planned that she would save all of his letters written to her & they would constitute a "war diary". His were saved, but hers were destroyed shortly after he read each one (as he noted in one letter to Wuh). His are in the family in the possession of grandson, "Bob" R. T. Brown, III and were transcribed by Bob's daughter, Kim, in late 2019 (see below). Some of his war items are at the S. C. Confederate Relic Room & Military Museum in Columbia; and his Confederate grandfather's carbine ("Tower" made in London) is on display at the same Museum (both housed there because of the tireless efforts of his own grandson, Robert L. Brown).

War letters: Before he left for Europe, Poppoo & Wuh came up with a system by which to keep his letters to her in a notebook as an historic record of...as a couple with 2 small kids...how they dealt with war times (about 134 pages). Wuh kept all of his letters, but Wuh's letters did not survive the war (see above). He addressed letters to Wuh variously as "My Precious Little Sweetheart Wife", or "My Own Precious 'Muddy Heart'", and he would close with such as "Love our little brood for me, Your Own, Bobs"...always as "Bobs". His grandson, RTB, III, completed having them transcribed in early 2022. Bob's plans to have some copies made into a book happened in June 2022 with the production of Absence: a personal account of World War One, a 174 page paperback book sold on https://www.blurb.com/bookstore/invited/9591373/b3c62ef82981564f7eb8ef4473026890a30037e8?fbclid=IwAR2x3mMi4GgprtNcoGJixweyCu8GXWu6yQ9Wkc2avRPaf0ibgrLKWpgrTyU . Grandson Robert L. Brown's widow, Cathy, intends to have the original letters placed in the custody of the above military museum.

Post-military work life: He saw an opportunity in 1922 & subsequently (1923, the R. T. Brown Tire Company ) founded & partnered to own and run a Goodyear tire business (soon buying the partners out) on Liberty St. for 3 years & then moved around onto Main St. for the rest of the time. Goodyear had a blimp which would fly to cities where they had a dealership and advertise to the community (Capt. C. E. Brannigan was the pilot in those days). "RT" served a term (he received more votes in Sumter County than anyone ever had before...see photo of the 1938 letter from Mr. Hatfield) in the 83rd general assembly of the S.C. House of Representatives (1939-40). While in The House, he met with a lobbyist who wanted to convince him to vote a certain way. R. T. told him that he was not yet sure how he was going to vote. The lobbyist pushed a paper bag across the desk: "If you vote my way, this is yours." The bag had $1,000 in it it." R.T. responded, "Nobody buys my vote!" The lobbyist stood up to leave and said, "I have meetings lined up with others." Deciding that politics was too corrupt, R. T. did not run for office again.

He accepted the job as Clerk/Secretary to the Sumter County Board of Commissioners in 1940. The sale of Brown Tire was to J. Clarke Hughes, who bought the tire and accessory shop of R.T. Brown and Sons at 110-12 N. Main St. in 1941; Brown welcomed Hughes to Sumter and had owned the shop for 23 years before selling it. He served on this Board 20 years, retiring in 1960.

Spirituality: The Sumter community in those days had a very compatible mix of Christians and Jews. I was never aware of anyone who did not attend church or synagogue. Poppoo was Sunday School superintendent at Trinity Methodist Church from 1920-1938.

Depression years: The Cotton Depression preceded the Great Depression of the 1930s by several years. Many were destitute from the effects of the cotton depression & the onset of The Great Depression. When the Great Depression hit, the banks closed and next door renters, the W. W. Parramore family (wife, Lucy, was one of Wuh's best friends) was invited to store their furniture and move in at #115. In about 1927, Poppoo got closely charitably involved with the Salvation Army. At his request for help, the Salvation Army sent over two lady cadets (twins, Edgar and Edna Rasnick) from Florence, S. C. They were said to be two attractive, well-trained cadets (born in Virginia 1907 to Virginian parents according to the 1930 census). Reflecting on his memory of this, RT Brown, Jr noted: "These two young ladies lived with us at 115 N. Salem Ave for a period of time until the organization was well underway." The Rasnick sisters were primary in getting the work of the Sumter County Children's Home (also know as the [Edgar H. Ellis, Salvation Army Captain in Sumter...1930 census] Ellis Children's Home) up and going. The first location was housed in what is now the Wilson Home on Nash Street at the foot of Phelps.

Others living then at #115 during the Depression: Wuh & Poppoo & MaMa Hall (Wuh's widowed mother); the 8 Brown children; Mr. & Mrs. Parramore and their son, Woody; the two Salvation Army workers (above); two of Aunt Mamie Brown Matthews' boys (but they slept at Poppoo's tire company); and Ben C. & Woodrow A. Lingle...brothers vs. identical twins, Sumter High School class of 1930 [http://www.edmundshigh.com/3030.html#30_yearbook]...(Ben and Bill Brown were good friends; both Ben & Bill drove trucks for Condon's Bakery); and, Father Brown was there until he died in 1935.

My mother (Mildred Brown Shaw) remembered well the entire family seated around the dinner table at "bill paying time" when Poppoo would discuss each & every bill and then go through & (1) discussing what had been bought and (2) deciding how much could be paid that month.

The above involvement with Salvation Army lead to Poppoo's leadership in the founding in 1927 of the Sumter County Relief Commission (a member each from The Board of Trade, City Council, the Relief Commission, and the pastors of each of the white churches in Sumter County). And this continued until the following blossomed. (1) The Salvation Army established a headquarters in Sumter. Salvation Army Capt. Edgar Heberton Ellis was assigned to head the Salvation Army task in Sumter on February 20, 1930. The first office for the Salvation Army in Sumter was upstairs at ll0-112 N. Main over the R. T. Brown Tire Co. This space was a gift of generosity of Poppoo who spent a good part of his life helping those in need. And, (2) then came the beginnings of the Dept. of Public Welfare.
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Black family: The memories I have are from back in the racial segregation days. As a little boy at Poppo's one day, I asked him in the hallway why his black cook didn't eat with us. "Son, white people are above black people." And he added, "But white trash is at the bottom." There was just that simple explanation. The customs seemed so very odd to those outside of The South (many spent time in service at Shaw AFB); but they just seemed normal to our white family & friends in our social class. Here were some customs: Strangers came to the front door & knocked (no blacks to the front door). Friends, kin, and your black "family" or any other blacks came to the back door. Tuomey Hospital had separate wings for blacks and whites as well as a small separate area for another local "people of color" ethnic group, "Turks". There were separate public water fountains, but your black family cook did your cooking (but ate in another room). Life in the Brown Family nearly always included the presence and excellent extended-family addition of a beloved black cook & helper. One of the earliest was "Maum" Clara. These included Emma Green, Georgia Bynam, Sena, Beulah "Bunky" McCollum and Edith Cooper. Edith had a retarded son who died in his early 20s. Poppoo went to Edith's and arranged his bed and window so that he could set up bird feeders outside for the boy to watch. Edith had worked for Whit Shaw and Poppoo and told me and Momma, commenting on raising her fairly large family alone, "I owes it all to The Lord and Mr. Whit Shaw and Mr. R. T. Brown!" Since Wuh only had her first child delivered in a hospital, Laura Miller ("Maum" Laura) provided midwife services. Trezzvant Anderson was a war veteran Poppo had befriended & a carpenter by trade & was the popular cook on hunting and fishing trips and landed a fine job in Washington, D. C., as a security guard at the Smithsonian in Washington, D. C. (I think Poppoo had a hand in this via a friend). See RT's wife's memorial for more, as well as Ervin & Mildred Brown Shaw's memorials for more, Ervin's parents for more, & Betty Brown Cain & her husband's memorials for more.
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Poppoo is said to have been a little disdainful of too much education...especially college... and more in the direction of being able to have a job so that one could live independently.

The bull pen days: The home was run in sort of a military fashion. The boys had a barracks-like single bedroom...the bull pen...in the very back. At one time, the 4 Brown brothers, three of Aunt Mamie's boys, and one of the Lingle boys lived back there. In the winter, the two older Brown brothers would send Murr and Tom back to get in their beds and warm them up. They'd come back in 15 minutes and get in the warmed up beds, and the two younger ones went to their own bed. Wuh would check early in the morning and count heads to be sure how much breakfast to cook!

Father Brown was in a small off-hallway room between the boys' room and and the girls room. Wuh's mother, MaMa Hall, was in the room with the girls. Moving toward the front of the home, there was a bathroom and then Wuh & Poppoo's bedroom which also contained a small bed for any sick child. A perfectionist, he taught that any job worth doing was worth doing "right" [meaning the only right way was the perfect way]. Pots and pans hung on the kitchen wall, each in its own place as indicated by a silhouette to match the container. Nothing was built without the meticulous use of a "spirits level". Performance data for automobiles was kept meticulously. In modern personality nomenclature, Poppoo was a true "alpha male" as to who was the captain of the ship.

Parental expectations: Their expectations for their children were that they would be Christians and faithful church members and honest, contributing members of the community. The boys were never encouraged toward a profession but to be excellent at whatever they did and stay employed and independent. The girls were strongly encouraged to be independent and have jobs as store clerks, secretaries, or nurses; otherwise, they were expected to work in his Tire Company.

Santee: In the 1940s, he bought 19 acres on what became "Tranquility Cove" and built a family shack at Santee that was a men-of-the-family fishing get-away for many years. Over the decades, it was a very rough retreat down through their grandchildren until it burned down. The was an outside two-hole (two seater) privy as a bathroom, the "Taj Mahal". Poppoo kept a 25lb bag of lime in privy. One scope per episode of BM...kept the odor away. See the photo captions for more info.

The touch stone of his mature-adult-age philosophy of life was, "There's nothing the Lord and I can't do together!" Continuing his attraction to causes for the good of others, he lead the way in some local prison reforms. He and his boys were universal donor blood type O negative and gave a lot of direct (in the OR) donor-to-patient blood donations in the days before stored donor blood.

His downhill course began with a wreck at the intersection of Purdy Street and West Hampton Ave. The wedding of his grand-daughter, Mildred H. Shaw to George G. Berg in October 1973 was his last family function before his death that Christmas day (and Millie & George were away for Christmas at George's family visit in Wisconsin).

His name: Father of 8 children, his sons called him "Chief", wife and nieces & nephews called him "Rob" or "Uncle Rob" and daughters called him "Daddy". He signed post cards written home to children as "Daddy". The grand-children knew him as "Poppoo" (his grandson, RLB, as a very small child...around 1941-42, gave him the name "Poppoo"...see the photo of the stool he made and inscribed & spelled Poppoo himself). Some nieces & nephews called him "Uncle Robbie", and I remember Sheriff Byrd Parnell calling him "Capt. Robbie". As of August 2014, a son, Murr H. (Pat) Brown, lives with his daughter in Mayesville, S. C.; a daughter, Jane Brown (Jeff) Jeffress, lives in Alexandria, Louisiana with her family; and daughters-in-law, Johnnie Brown (widow of son, Tom) & Net Brown (widow of Bobby) live in Sumter. The family home place was at 115 North Salem Avenue in Sumter.

Editorial: While not detailed above, the Brown Family (back to John Alexander Brown) "stood" for excellence. Punishment within the family was swift and harsh (somewhat mirroring the general culture of those days). Modern parents would possibly be horrified. Yet, it produced an incredibly high percentage of top-performing offspring (at least down through Wuh & Poppoo's grandchildren). Yet most have struggled with the negative aspects of "perfectionism". The mixture included loads of mirth-filled great family times!
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From: The History of South Carolina, Biographical Volume, The American Historical Society, Inc., From Page 903, New York, 1934.

Robert Tillman Brown: Strenuous activity punctuated the career of Robert Tillman Brown, of Sumter, for the better part of ten years beginning in 1908, when he became a member of the national Guard, the military phase of his career being concluded at the close of the World War. In business and also in public activities Mr. Brown has kept abreast of his fellows and since the close of the great international conflict in which he had a prominent part he has carried on an enterprise here that has grown to large proportions under his guidance. As proprietor of the R. T. Brown Tire Company, which conducts a service department and covers a wide district in this section of the State, he gives employment to ten or more men and has made an outstanding success of the enterprise.

He was born in Clarendon County November 23, 1890, a son of Daniel W. and Alice I. (Kolb) Brown. The Brown name is Scotch-Irish and his mother's name, Kolb, is French. Mr. Brown is a grandson of John A. Brown, who was a farmer and served throughout the War Between the States in the Confederate Army. He married Mary Chewning of Clarendon County and they were the parents of three children; Fannie, Sally Ann, and Daniel W. The last-named was also a farmer in Sumter County. He was active in the affairs of the Methodist Episcopal Church, helped to organize and build the edifice at Pinewood and for years was the superintendent of it Sunday school. He also donated the land and built a church for colored people on his property. His children were; 1. Mary, married P.C. Mathews of Pinewood. 2. Lola B., married B.O. Cantey, of Sumter. 3. Perry M., a farmer and merchant who served as captain of Company H, 118th Infantry, during the World War and was with the American Expeditionary Forces in France for two years. 4. Robert Tillman, of whom further. 5. Daniel A., of Augusta, Georgia, who served with the 115th Engineers and is now invalided in the United States Veteran's Hospital at Augusta, Georgia. 6. J. Clifton, proprietor of the Wilard Service Station in Sumter. 7. Vivian Lee, engaged in the lumber business at Elenton. He served with the Aviation Corps of the United States Army in France for more than a year. 8. Walter M., engaged in the automobile business at Springfield. 9. Ruby, married Wash Patrick, a merchant of Charleston.

Robert Tillman Brown was educated in Sumter County. He was graduated from the Sumter High School as senior officer of the military department and winner of manual of arms medal. He began business life as a clerk in the First National Bank of Sumter, eventually becoming assistant cashier. He joined the National Guard in 1908, was made a captain and went with his regiment to the Mexican border, serving through that campaign. (photo Capt. Brown on the right) Late, he was commissioned a captain in the American Expeditionary Forces and with it went to France, where he did staff duty during the year he remained overseas in the engagements at St. Quentin, Bellecourt and in the successful offensive against the Hindenburg Line. He also served in the Ypres sector and received a special Citation in the regimental history of the 118th Infantry. Honorably mustered out in 1919, he returned to Sumter and was offered his old position with the bank, but declined and entered business independently, founding the 1923 his present enterprise. All of Sumter County patronizes his service department while his vulcanizing and tire business is State-wide in its scope. He is president of the Retail Merchants Bureau of Sumter, is superintendent of Trinity Methodist Episcopal Sunday school, director of the Young Men's Christian Association, organizer and chairman of the advisory board of the Salvation Army of Sumter, and is fraternally affiliated with Ancient Free Masons, Claremont Lodge, No. 64. He is also a member of the American Legion, was a charter member of the Kiwanis Club, and is a member of the board of stewards of Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church of Sumter. He is also a charter member of the Cosmos Club, a literary club of Sumter.

Robert Tillman Brown married, June 11, 1913, Mildred Hall, of Sumter, daughter of Captain w. J. and Minnie S. Hall, and they are the parents of eight children: William H., Mildred, Robert Tillman Jr., Alice, Bettie, Jane, Murr and Thomas Edward. The family residence is maintained at No. 115 North Salem Avenue, Sumter.



State Legislature
From the 1940 Legislative Manual, 21st edition, 83rd General Assembly of South Carolina, at Columbia Second Session Commencing January 9, 1940, Biographies of Members, Rules and Committees:

"Robert Tillman (Sumter County) — Merchant firm of R.T. Brown & Sons, Inc. at Sumter: b Nov. 23, 1890 in Sumter Co; son of Daniel W. and Mary Alice (Kolb) Brown of Sumter Co.; graduate of Sumter High School class of 1910; courses through a branch or sessions by Draughon's School of Business 1910-20 (Commercial Law and Bookkeeping Course); Nov. 11, 1913, m. Mildred Hall of Sumter; Pres. and Owner R. T. Brown & Sons, Inc.; Pres. Sumter Retail Merchants Assn. 1928-35; State Pres. and Natl. Director Natl. Assn of independent Tire Dealers, 1936-38; State Director, S. C. Independent Merchants Assn. 1937-1939; member Bd. of Governors Sumter Club of Rotary International 1937 -38; Supt. Sunday School and member Bd. of Stewards Trinity Methodist Church since 1921; Mason, World War I Veteran, Capt. Commanding Co. "L" 2d S. C. Inf. Mexican Border 1914-17 & Capt. Inf. Headquarters Co. 118th Inf. 30th Div. Camp Sevier, Greenville with A. E. F. May 1917 to April 1919 as Regimental Supply Officer and on 30th Divisional Staff, filled position of Lieut. Col. under British chart of organization; previous service in S. C. House of Representatives, 1939."

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Poppoo's Sayings:
(1) His meal-time prayer or blessing (they called it "grace"), was always = "Lord pardon our sins and make us truly thankful for these and all Thy many blessings. For Christ's sake, amen."
(2) To wake children up, he walked into their bedroom and chanted, "Wake up Jacob, day is a-breakin'! Get outta bed and get the hoe cakes a-bakin'!"
(3) His Sunday afternoon nap-time announcement = "Well, I care not what course others may take; but, as for me, I'm going to shuck off and stretch out!"
(4) When really irked about something = "That makes my ass want to chew stove wood!"
(5) As conversations presented instances of irresponsibility or shiftlessness, the predictable comment/warning to his children was, "Well, if you act like that, you'll end up [working] in the glue room at Williams Furniture."

LAST LIVING CHILD: Murr Hall Brown (1926-3/22/2020).