Surname Saturday: Smith, Jones...and BROWN

UPDATED & CORRECTED 12/14/23

Ah.... Smith & Jones, the genealogist's nightmare.

Luckily I have (so far) found & verified only two SMITH lines  in my family tree, those being:

 DR HENRY SMITH born abt 1615 England, who died July 4, 1667 Stamford, Fairfield Co CT; I am descended through his son DANIEL SMITH b abt 1650 Stamford, Fairfield Co CT who married HANNAH KNAPP.

The second Smith line is that of SUSANNAH SMITH who married 1st) SIMON HOYT and 2nd) ROBERT BATES (I am a descendant of both men). Updated Feb 2015; she was apparently not the daughter of RICHARD SMITH & REBECCA BUSWELL of Husbands Bosworth, Leicestershire, England, and Wethersfield, Connecticut.

JONES, on the other hand, is another story.  I am researching several different JONES families, many of them from Virginia. But that is a topic for another day.

By far the most common name in all branches of my family tree is BROWN. I am researching at least four different BROWN families, spread out across both my maternal and paternal lines.

1) I am a direct descendent of DEACON HENRY BROWN b abt 1615 Salisbury, Wiltshire, England; married ABIGAIL unknown, and died aft 1658 Salisbury, Essex Co MA.  My line of descent:

ABRAHAM BROWN b Nov 1, 1649 Salisbury, Essex Co MA m Elizabeth SHEPHERD on June 15, 1671
SAMUEL BROWN b Nov 16, 1649 Salisbury, Essex Co MA m Mary MORRILL on June 29 1719
ABRAHAM BROWN b Oct 10, 1725 Salisbury Essex Co MA m Hannah OSGOOD on Nov 30 1743 died in NH
ABRHAM BROWN II REV WAR b. 1753 Nottingham, Rockingham Co NH m. Mary BUTLER, daughter of Rev. Benjamin Butler (Harvard Grad) & Dorcas Abbott of Andover, Essex Co MA. Abraham helped defend West Point under Capt Daniel Gordon in 1780 during Revolutionary War (Source: DAR records, & book "History of Northfield NH").
Benjamin Butler Brown b abt 1800 Sanbornton , Belknap Co NH m Phebe GALE, occupation was shoemaker.
HENRY "New Hampshire" BROWN b Sept 21, 1825 Sanbornton Belknap Co NH d 1897 Sacramento, CA m. a widow, Mrs Cordelia (RICKARD) MYERS in Sacramento CA on June 1, 1857. Henry studied medicine with his uncle in NH until the 1849 California Gold Rush, at which time he sailed around Cape Horn to California with his brother Stephen Gale Brown, who died a few months after arriving at Ft Coloma. Henry remained in California for the rest of his life, living at Salmon Falls, Folsom, Lundy and Sacramento; for a short time he also lived in Cornucopia, Elko Co NV; his occupation was miner, store clerk/owner, and Wells Fargo agent. At one point he was employed by D. C. Stanford. He was a Freemason and was secretary of the Natoma Lodge in Folsom in the 1860s. Usually signed his name "H N H Brown". He picked up the nickname "New Hampshire" in California.
FRANK RICARD BROWN b Feb 1858 Sacramento CA; lived Bodie CA and Unga Island AK; m Mary Etta KENNEDY on July 2, 1878 in Aurora, Esmerelda Co NV; Frank d 1939, of tuberculosis, in San Francisco CA, at the home of his daughter Ruby. Occupation was miner, assayer and manager of the Apollo Mine in Unga AK, and he lived there from 1880s until just before his death in 1939.
RUBY BOLTON BROWN b July 17, 1893 San Francisco, CA, raised Unga Island AK m Randolph Benjamin "Rolla" MARTINE, my grandparents.

2) The second BROWN family I am descended from  is that of the Quaker WILLIAM BROWN Sr  b March 29, 1658 Puddington, Northhamptonshire, England, d Aug 23, 1746 W. Nottingham, Chester Co PA; he married four times, my lineage through his wife CATHERINE/KATHERINE WILLIAMS. Other wives were DOROTHY PRESNELL/ PRESLAND, ANN MERCER, and MARY MATTHEWS. Apparently he had children with each wife (unverified by me). WILLIAM BROWN was the son of RICHARD BROWN/BROWNE & MARY who became Quakers and attended Wellingborough Monthly Meeting in Northamptonshire, England. They never emigrated to Pennsylvania. WILLIAM emigrated either with or shortly after his brother JAMES BROWN who married HONOR CLAYTON, daughter of WILLIAM CLAYTON & PRUDENCE LANKFORD. JAMES and WILLIAM were both apparently  Quaker ministers. WILLIAM BROWN accompanied William Penn to PA and was one of the first settlers at "Nottingham Lots".

My line of descent is through MARY BROWN b April 29, 1706 Chester Co PA (the daughter of WILLIAM BROWN Sr & CATHERINE/KATHERINE WILLIAMS), who married WILLIAM REYNOLDS Sr. (Ancestry of Alonzo Cox Huber, my paternal grandfather)

3) The third BROWN family I am descended from is that of JAMES BROWN I b abt 1699-1700, who moved from Stamford, Fairfield County Connecticut to Pound Ridge, Westchester County, New York.  "A History of Westchester County from its Earliest Settlement to 1900 Part 1" by 

Frederic Shonnard & Walter Whipple Spooner, notes on p 225:    "In 1741 JOSEPH LOCKWOOD, JAMES BROWN, DAVID POTTS, EBENEZER SCOFIELD & others from Stamford made a settlement on the site of the present village (Pound Ridge)". 

The children of this JAMES BROWN I ( all born in Stamford)   are listed as SAMUEL BROWN b 1722; JAMES BROWN II b 1723; ELIPHALET BROWN b 1724, ELIZABETH BROWN SEELEY b 1725, and EBER BROWN b 1730.  More research is definitely required on this line!

( Updated 12/14/23: This JAMES BROWN is not to be confused with JAMES BROWN II of Norwalk, Fairfield, Connecticut who settled circa 1760 in Salem, Westchester, New York.  They are two different people)

My line of descent:

        

ELIPHALET BROWN b abt 1724 Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut; married THANKFUL WOOD b abt 1725 Norwalk, Fairfield, Connecticut; they were married 4 Oct 1744 in Darien, Fairfield, Connecticut, with the marriage record noting that Eliphalet was  "of North Castle" in Westchester Co NY. 

SOLOMON BROWN b abt 1746 Pound Ridge Westchester Co NY m SARAH SLASON Rev War DAR        

 SAMUEL BROWN b abt 1773 Pound Ridge, Westchester Co NY died Oct 5, 1866 Pound Ridge, Westchester Co NY m RHEUA / RUHAMAH UNKNOWN b April 1777 CT. In census 1850 & 1860 Pound Ridge, Westchester Co NY. Both buried at Long Ridge Union Cemetery, Stamford Fairfield Co CT

MARY POLLY BROWN b abt 1797 Pound Ridge, Westchester Co NY; died Feb 5, 1873 Pound Ridge, Westchester co NY m SIMEON DIBBLE; their house still stands and is a historical landmark in Westchester Co NY. Both buried at Long Ridge Union Cemetery, Stamford Fairfield Co CT.

SARAH SALLY ANN HOYT Dibble m CHARLES SCOFIELD (my ggg grandparents); moved to Yorkville, Racine Co WI in the 1840s (Ancestry of R B Martine, my maternal grandfather)

4) The fourth BROWN family I am descended from was that of JOHN BROWNE or BROWN b abt 1588 Barton Regis, Gloucestershire, England; died abt 1670? 1689? New Harbor, Pemaquid, ME; m Margaret HAYWARD. I am a descendant of their daughter EME/EMMA BROWN/BROWNE who married NICHOLAS DENNING and died Gloucester, Essex Co MA.

--JOHN BROWN of Pemaquid, New Harbor, Damariscotta and Woolwich, now in Maine, is distinguished only as having been the recipient of what is considered to be the first Indian deed on record. He was the son of RICHARD BROWN of Barton Regis, Gloucestershire, Eng., and married MARGARET, daughter of FRANCIS HAYWARD, of Bristol, Eng. He is supposed to have come from Bristol to Pemaquid (now Bristol, Me.), as early as 1623. On July 15, 1625, JOHN BROWN, then of New Harbor, purchased of the Sagamores, Capt. John Samoset and Unongoit, for fifty skins, a tract of land described as follows: Beginning at Pemaquid Falls, and so running a direct course to the head of New Harbor, from thence to the south end of Muscongus Island; taking in the Island, and so running five and twenty miles into the country north and by east, and thence eight miles northwest and by west to Pemaquid, where it first began. This deed was acknowledged at Pemaquid before Abraham Shurt, July 24, 1626, and is supposed to be the earliest Indian deed on record.
SOURCE:  "The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record Vol 51" by Green, Stiles, Dwight, et al.; and the book "Elwell Family in America" by Jacob Thomas Elwell

Eme or Emma Browne b 1620s-1630s possibly New Harbor, Pemaquid, ME; d 1697 Gloucester, Essex Co MA; m Nicholas DENNING (Ancestry of Ruby Bolton Brown, my maternal grandmother).

Have a great day!

Betty