Brown, David Williamson

Born in Pocohauntas County, Iowa, with an identical twin brother, Peter Sinclair Brown. They emigrated to Canada with their family at age 6, to the Surrey, BC area. In their late teens, both became deaf from scarlet fever. On their 21st birthday, their father presented them with adjoining 40-acre parcels of land. The two brothers went into seclusion, living on those parcels for the rest of their lives and transforming them by starting a forest of redwoods and many other trees from seeds, installing a lily pond, and other major landscaping work. After World War II, Surrey authorities negotiated an agreement for first opportunity to buy the tracts for a park after the death of both brothers. After Peter's death 8 years after David's, complications with their will arose, but eventually Surrey succeeded in acquiring what is now Redwood Park, left in its natural state.