Elsie the Rebekah

Recently I received a few more pieces of my own family history. As the designated family archivist, my collection of photographs, ephemera and other heirlooms is already quite large, but these pieces I found especially interesting.


Out of the envelope came two certificates relating to my Grandmother, Elsie (Tober) Brown; her religious life, two certificates relating to her fraternal life, and two published texts from her organization, the Rainbow Rebekah Lodge No. 31, I.O.O.F., in Orting, Washington. The texts are small, pocket size pieces, and I am sure that I will blog about them soon. The certificates, however, were the prizes in this collection.


Rainbow Rebekah Lodge No. 31, I.O.O.F.


I have known for years that my great-grandfather, William Warner Brown, was a member of the Odd Fellow’s lodge in Orting. However, it has just been recently that I learned that his son, Harley (my grandfather), and my own father were both involved in fraternal societies as well. (How dare he keep that secret from me!??!? Humph.)  In conversation with family, it was a treat to learn that these documents existed.


The first piece is dated 21 Dec 1938, and it is the letter indicating that she had been elected to membership in the organization. Presented on letterhead, it simply asks that Elsie attend a specific meeting to receive the Rebekah Degree. One of the pieces I like about this document is the letterhead itself; it provides the information of when the meetings occur and where. Using this, I can pinpoint with minimal doubt how my Grandmother spent her evening on 27 Dec 1938, and where. This is quite early in her married life, and approximately 18 months before her eldest child – my father – was born. It also provides the names of the current Noble Grand and the Secretary.

Letter of invitation to Elise Brown, "Mrs. Harley Brown"
Personal collection of author.

The second carries the official seal, but is a duplicate, as indicated on the form itself. It is perforated along the top edge, and is pre-printed, “DUPLICATE – To be retained by the Past Noble Grand.” I feel it is safe to guess that the original was the top half of the page, broken by the perforation.

Certificate of Past Noble Grand, Elsie Brown
Personal collection of author.

“Certificate of Past Noble Grand
Hall of Rainbow Rebekah Lodge No. 31 I.O.O.F. Jan. 20, 1941
To the Rebekah Assembly I.O.O.F. of Washington:
You are hereby respectfully informed that our worth SisterElsie Brown has performed the services requiredto constitute her a Past Noble Grand in Rainbow
Rebekah Lodge No. 31 I.O.O.F., her term of service as Noble Grand havingexpired on the 31 day of December 1941
Yours in F., L. and T.,
(Signed) Esther L. Whitley, Secretary”

Initiate to Past Noble Grand in Four Years


These two documents together create an interesting timeline, do they not? She was initiated as a member on 27 Dec 1938. Her service as a Noble Grand ended on 31 Dec 1941, almost four years to the day!


Now I want to know… what requirements are there of a Noble Grand? What is that job, exactly?


There is still much to learn, and I am grateful to my family for entrusting me with these documents. I have a feeling I will be learning a great deal about the Rebekah organization very soon!

Curiosity is Allowed to Take Over

What's the deal with Fraternal Societies? 

One of my favorite areas of research lies in fraternal societies. These organizations played such an important role in the lives of our ancestors, and simply should not be overlooked in genealogy. Over the past few months, I have been focusing part of my self-education time to this venture, hoping to gain a much better understanding of these organizations, their role in society, how they affected the country as a whole, and what they really stood for. There is much to learn!

I have carried this goal into my social media, creating the Fraternal Organizations for Genealogists group on Facebook and the Fraternal Organizations for Genealogists community on G+. I follow several chapters and lodges on Twitter, and engage them when I can.

The sharing within these communities has been wonderful to see, and even just being more aware of the idea of the societies has taught me a thing or two. I've been able to identify more fraternal symbols on headstones, and realized that all of the elementary schools in my county have Masonic cornerstones. Perhaps I would have noticed this before, perhaps not. Either way, my eyes are wide open now.

As we quickly progress into winter (it's snowing as I write this post at my Colorado high country home...), I feel it is time, and it is necessary, to be more intentional with my self-education, as well as sharing what I discover with my genealogy friends and colleagues. With that in mind, I am planning a long term series of blog posts, all about fraternal societies and the various aspects of them. I plan on asking a lot of questions over the next few months, and doing my best to find and share the answers.

Let us begin! 

W.W. Brown
From personal collection of Jen Baldwin.

My first experience with fraternal societies was when I realized, several years ago, that my great grandfather, William Warner Brown (or W.W. as we like to call him), was an active member of the International Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.) in Orting, Pierce County, Washington. As a family, we knew this to be true. Getting confirmation and any any available records from the organization itself was a much more significant challenge. It took me six years, uncounted letters and phone calls, but I was finally able to get something out of them. It wasn't much, just a few copies of meeting notes that included the date and his name listed as "present."



It was, however, the beginning of a decade long curiosity. And the process taught me quite a bit when it came to researching these groups. There is always more to learn, though, and so I am taking the opportunity to let my curiosity take over... and I hope you will join in on the journey. If you have a genuine interest, feel free to ask to join the two communities listed above, we'd be happy to have you engage in the conversation. If not, that's ok, too. We can read, discuss, and engage right here.

It does make me wonder.... what organizations do you have a connection to? Leave a comment, and hopefully sometime in the near future, we can explore it together.



 (Selly sell : I wrote a Legacy QuickGuide on the subject. You can find it via my website.)

Brickwall: The Case of Oscar F. Brown, Part Three

Please refer to this previous post for the summary on this multi-part series. Thank you! 

Within this series, I have decided to reevaluate my evidence on Oscar Fitzallen Brown, and the theories surrounding who his father may have been. The ultimate goal is to determine the following: 

1. Has a reasonably exhaustive search been conducted? 
2. What other resources need to be examined? 
3. Who is the most reasonable candidate to be Oscar's father? 

Theory Three: William Brown

William Brown. How much more common of a name can you possibly have?  According to Wikipedia, William was the third most common male name in the United States in 2011 (source article), and Brown has always been in the top five of surnames, ranking second in 2010 (source article). So, here I am. William Brown. Should be easy, right? 

Let's start this one with the original source.  In theories one and two, I mentioned Oscar's siblings, and one of them is Mary (Brown) Collins. Mary was born in 1817 in New York and died in 1879 in Washtenaw County, Michigan. She is buried in the Collins Cemetery. On Christmas Eve, 1835, in Pittsfield, she married Josiah H. Collins, who was just three years her senior. 

"Michigan, County Marriages, 1820-1935," index and images, FamilySearch
(https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VNLC-PJY : accessed 01 Oct 2012),
Josiah H Collins and Mary Brown, 1835.

The Brown family would have been fairly new to the area at this point, having arrived in Michigan at some time within the last two to three years. Mary and Josiah had at least five children: Henry, Charles, Mary Elizabeth, Josiah, and William B. They resided in Michigan their entire married life. When Mary died, her death record held by the county states her father's name as William Brown, and her mother as Mary. 

Interestingly, the 1870 Census lists the family, and Mary is "at home, no occupation". She is the only person in over ten years I have noted as labelled "insane" on the record. Her now adult daughter, Mary, is listed as the individual "keeping house" for the family. I do find it intriguing that Mary waited so long to get married; and although I do not know the date of her marriage to one Cyrenius H. Sadler, the first child's birth I have recorded is 1879; the year her mother died. It seems to me that there is a real possibility that Mary Brown was so incapacitated that her daughter was required to run the household for her father for a rather lengthy period of time. 

Her record of death with the County of Washtenaw, State of Michigan, is listed on two pages: 

"Michigan, Deaths, 1867-1897," index and images, FamilySearch
(https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/N3NP-6MP :
accessed 01 Oct 2012), Mary Collins, 20 May 1879.

Transcription: 

(Line 1) 352  May 20 1879  Mary Collins  F  W  Married  63 (years)  Lyndon (residence)  Chronic (?)  N.Y. (state of birth)   Housekeeper William Brown (father)  Mich. (Parents residence) June 2, 1880 (Date of Record)

(Line 2)  Unknown (part of cause of death)  A5 P2 U (clerk notations?)  Mary Brown (mother) 

Under the entry on page 1 is a note, stating "See letter of County Clerk, filed Sept 7, 1880." At this point, I do not know if this is in regards to her death, but it may explain why the death was filed in the books more than a year after it actually occurred. 

Action Item: Inquire with the Washtenaw County Clerk and/or the State of Michigan to see if this letter is still available; if so, request a copy. 

Even after this lengthy examination of Mary (Brown) Collins' death record, her tombstone states her father's name as "Tolman Brown." 

A search of appropriate census records during Mary's lifetime provides several William Brown's in the Washtenaw County communities, however, none indicate at least a 50% match on what we know of Mr. Brown, father of Oscar and Mary. The presumed facts are that he was born in New York, sometime around 1790, had a wife named Mary, who died in 1836, moved to Pittsfield, Michigan by 1835 and remained there. 

I have been in contact with another assumed descendant of the person identified as Tolman Brown. Their notes indicate that at some time, oral history indicated the father's name as "William Tolman", but there is no source or further information in their documentation. Could Tolman and William be the same person? 

Since I have been unable to find any further evidence of the life of William Brown, other than the death record of Mary Collins, this question remains unanswered. However, after reexamining the documents I have collected on Tolman Brown, I can say that the names Tolman and William never occur in the same place as different people. Can that be any more confusing?  Where I found Tolman, I did not find William - and vice versa - so it could be considered a possibility that they are not different men with the same surname, living in the same county at the same time. 

Could they be the same man? Sure, but there is nothing to confirm NOR deny that statement. Searches conducted for William using Talmon's vitals typically result in queries posted by the descendants, who are spread across the country looking for more information. 

Allow me, once again, to ask those three initial questions: 

1. Has a reasonably exhaustive search been conducted? No, I don't think so. More could be found on Mary (Brown) Collins, that could lead to her parents, and there is a possibility of tracking the family to current day and seeking information from them. Although I have been in contact with one descendant, there could certainly be more out there that have unique artifacts or sources. This is not a line I have fully identified and I do feel that additional work can be done. Additionally, one or two action items have been identified, and more questions have been presented than answered. 
2. What other resources need to be examined?  See above. I also think that Washtenaw County and the State of Michigan probably have records on file that I need to look at, I just have to do a bit more research to determine what those are. Certainly newspapers need to be researched, as I have realized a great lack of evidence on the Brown/Collins family in that regard. 
3. Who is the most reasonable candidate to be Oscar's father?  I still feel that Talmon has the best chance, but I think the idea that William and Talmon are the same guy is one that needs more of my time and attention. 

Coming up next... We go back to Oscar and examine his young adult life for clue's. 

Oscar F. Brown
Personal Archives of Author