Dr. Grady Early, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, taught math and computer science at Texas State University for 29 years, serving briefly as interim chair of the newly-formed Computer Science department. After retirement, Early began researching his family history and gained some familiarity with various research tools: ancestry, familysearch, newspapers, San Marcos Record archives, findagrave and many more. This made it easy for him to segue into the histories of non-family members, which is how he began to write a story about Southwest Texas Normal in San Marcos, also known as San Marcos Normal, which is now Texas State University. This series will highlight the first staff at Southwest Texas Normal.
According to the 1907 Pedagogue, “Joseph Shotwell Brown is a converse proposition. He knows the multiplication table and can also do long division. His knowledge approaches infinity as a limit.”
The early life of Joseph Shotwell Brown, born 1858, was marred by unimaginable violence. On Aug. 12, 1863, a band of Indians approached the Brown household. And attacked. Alarmed at the war whoops, Brown hid in a crevice where he stayed until dark. Mom Harriet was impaled with nine arrows, then clubbed to death with a rifle butt. Sixteen year old Sarah was shot twice; the Indians broke off the shafts leaving the arrow heads embedded in her back. She developed an infection and died within two weeks. Nine month old Essie, a twin, refused to eat after the death of her mom, and soon died. Despite this early trauma, decades later his students could recall Brown being keen on mathematics with a somewhat sarcastic wit and a soft Tennessee drawl as he gave unprepared students his favorite advice: “Go home and soak your head in rainwater.”
