Samuel Richard Brough was a son of Thomas Brough and Jean (Jane) Paterson, and a grandson of Richard Brough and Mary Horleston of Staffordshire, England. Samuel was born in Illinois in 1857 and moved with his family to Utah in 1864. Samuel was six-feet three-inches tall and had curly black hair. He married his first wife, Phoebe Adeline Cherry, in 1881 in Salt Lake City, Utah, and they eventually had eight children. He married his second wife, Ann Eliza Carter, in 1886 in Logan, Utah, and they eventually had nine children.

Shortly after marrying his second wife, Samuel left his two wives, in October 1886, to serve a four year mission in the British Isles for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (L.D.S or Mormon Church). He was released from his mission in October 1890. However, before returning to the United States, Samuel traveled to Longton, Staffordshire, and stayed for seventeen days (November 8-24, 1890) with his aunt, Mary Ann Brough and her husband Robert Evans, in their home at "58 Lord Street, Woodhouse, N. Longton". While staying in Longton, Samuel collected genealogical and historical information on his Brough ancestry. He returned to Utah in December 1890.

From 1890 to 1919, Samuel worked in construction, farming and ranching in northern Utah and southwest Wyoming. He was one of the main settlers of Lyman, Wyoming, and served as the first Bishop of the L.D.S. Owen (Lyman) Ward from 1898 to 1916. In 1920, Samuel moved to Bountiful, Utah, where he engaged in truck farming and served as an L.D.S. temple worker. He died in 1947, and is buried in Bountiful, Utah.

Extensive information about Samuel Richard Brough and his two wives and their children can be found on the international Brough Family Organization (BFO) website at: http://www.broughfamily.org/history/Samuel_R_Brough.html.