Uncle Boone

One a more personal note, my Great Uncle, Don "Boone" Brown passed away last week. Here is his obituary from The Orting News.

I do not yet have a paper copy.



The Passing of Don "Boone" Brown
by Terry Brown
May 8, 2013

Long-time resident of Orting, Don Brown, more popularly known as "Boone ", passed away on the morning of May 8,2013. Boone was born in Chehalis on Nov. 17,1927, but his family soon returned to Orting after his birth. Boone was the youngest of seven children in his family. When his health reached the point that he needed to receive more personal care, he really hated giving up POB 4, which had been in the family name for nearly 100 years. If one did not know Boone personally, one was probably aware of his magnificent flower and vegetable garden on Calistoga, which supplied beauty and fresh food to many friends and acquaintances. Orting is now without a Brown of this family in residence which basically has not happened in nearly 100 years.

Interment will be at the Orting cemetery at 11:00AM on Thursday, May 16th. A potluck reception will follow at the Orting Eagles. Bring your memories to share in the celebration of Boone's life.

Boone holding my father as children. They
were not far apart in age.
Personal collection of author.
Circa 1943, Washington.

Obituary: Mrs. Charlotte Anderson

Mrs. Charlotte Anderson Called By Death

 

Charlotte was my great-great grandmother, through her daughter, Emma, who married William W. Brown of Orting, Pierce County, Washington. 

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

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 likely candidate to be Oscar's father, based on the evidence collected and the conclusions that have been drawn from said evidence? 

Theory One: Abraham Brown

In the obituary for Oscar Fitzallen Brown, Abraham is listed as his father. Although the hand written notes on this photo copy indicate the newspaper is not known, I have since been able to determine that this was printed in the Central City NonPareil, Merrick County, Nebraska on 18 October 1906. 

Additionally, this was printed in The Freeland, 19 October 1906, Page 10: 

"Died in Central City, Nebraska, on Saturday October 19 at 75 years of age. Buried at Richland cemetery, with services in Richland Methodist Church, Presbyterian Church, and at the grave side. Oscar was one of the early homesteaders North East of Richland. He was heavily involved in community service including public affairs, school boards, grange organizer, delegate to conventions, and acting as an assessor."

 Assuming the dates in the obituary are correct, or even within a year or two, Oscar and his family should be listed in the following census records and locations:

• 1840: Michigan. In order to narrow down this search, I am forced to include information from other sources, as the 1840 Census did not list anyone by name other than the head of household, who would have been Abraham. The obituary states that Oscar had four older siblings, so the family should have included a husband and wife, and five children. That is, of course, making some rather large assumptions. At this time, no likely candidates have been found. There are two sources that list a possible move date for the family to have left New York and gone to Michigan: this obituary, and a Political Ticket for Oscar from The Columbus Journal, October 21, 1882, Platte County, Nebraska, when he ran for State Senate. In that column, it states he was born in Danville, now Town of Sanford, in Broome County, New York in 1832 and moved to Michigan only two years later, putting the family there in 1834, versus the 1836 date that the obituary suggests (born in 1831, moved at age of 5 years). To be thorough, a similar search of the 1840 Census was conducted for the family in New York, and three results came back as potential matches, however, their locations were far from what I would have expected to see for Oscar and Abraham. I backed up ten years, looking for 1830, and again, nothing was found that would indicate a match to this family without more information. Also, the Town of Sanford was contacted, and no record of birth for Oscar Brown exists, though they indicated that much of their historical collection was lost to flood several years ago (Letter dated 13 Feb 2007, Town Clerk/Registrar).

Action Item: Try to obtain a copy of the original newspaper article for Oscar's political ticket. The copy currently held is a transcription. 

• 1850: Michigan. Lists an Oscar F. Brown in the household of Tolman Brown of Pittsfield, Washtenaw County. No other candidates for Oscar were found in this census in the correct state. 
• 1860: Michigan or Missouri: Located in the household of W.W.W. Weatherby and his wife, Harriet, living in Salt River Township, Shelby County, Missouri. Later determined that Harriet and Oscar are siblings.
• 1870: Nebraska. Colfax County, Nebraska, living independently as a farmer, born in Michigan (not New York). 
• 1880: Nebraska: Richland, Colfax County, Nebraska, with wife Frances and two children, as well as two boarders. Birth place listed as New York. 
• 1900: Nebraska. Central City, Merrick County, in a household with wife Frances and his two youngest children, born in New York. 

In 1890, Nebraska conducted a Special Census of Civil War survivors and/or their widows along with the state census. Oscar is listed as a resident of Richland, Nebraska at this time.

Moving away from census records, I have not been able to locate vital, property, tax, probate or any other record for an Abraham Brown, father of Oscar. Since this is the only real information I have on Abraham, searching for such a common name has not been easy, nor fruitful.

Other records provide nothing to support the theory that Oscar's father was Abraham, and we will get into these in more detail as the series continues, but Abraham is not found on his marriage record, death record, military records, etc. In fact, the only mention of Abraham that I can confirm is the obituary.

I have been able to confirm two of Oscar's sister's: Harriet (mentioned above) and Mary. Both list other men as their father (not only are they not Abraham, they don't match each other, either.)

Considering the obituary is an indirect source (meaning, someone besides Oscar or his father would have had to have given the information to the newspaper), I am going to officially mark Abraham as "not very likely" in the race to be Oscar's paternal ancestor.

I am going to conclude by answering my initial questions:

1. Has a reasonably exhaustive search been conducted? Based on the information I can confirm as of now, I believe it has. There is more history beyond what has been touched on here, I have just featured the highlights, and truly, I have attempted every search configuration I can think of utilizing just the combination of names. Unless further information is obtained to narrow down the parameters of the search, I have done what I can do. 
2. What other resources need to be examined?  This is not something I can answer at this time. Without further details on this individual, I would not know where to start looking or what to look at. It would be like looking for hay in the hay stack.  
3. Who is the most likely candidate to be Oscar's father, based on the evidence collected and the conclusions that have been drawn from said evidence? Only time will tell... stay tuned for theory number two! 

Capt. Oscar F. Brown
Personal archives of author.

Obituary: Mrs. Samuel Reid, Sr.

Personal archives of author.

Hopefully, you are all familiar with "The Diary", a transcription project I have been working on, posting pages of the 1895 diary of Carrie E. Reid.

On the side, I have also been working to determine exactly who Carrie was, and how her family is connected to mine. In the process, I have been using other materials found in the same collection in which the diary originally came to me; what I refer to as the "Carlyle Collection". Most of this material was either owned or gathered (or both) by Carrie (Brown) Carlyle, my great great aunt, and her descendants.

One of those pieces is the obituary of Mrs. Samuel Reid, Sr. (Seen here. The original newspaper print, it does not include a newspaper name or date.)  A bit of mystery of its own, as Mrs. Reid's given name or maiden name is never mentioned in the document. It does, however, give enough information to identify her, and her immediate family line.

May I introduce you to... Nancy (Marlin) Reid, the maternal grandmother of my 1st great grand aunt's husband, Samuel Reid.

Included with the original is a photo copy and some notes, indicating her death occurred in 1908.  Canadian records actually indicate it was 1907, 22 of January. She was 94 years old when she passed away, having been born in 1813.

So. Who was Nancy in relation to Carrie? Well, she had several sons', as you can read in the column, but only one daughter that I know of: Jane. She married one James Carlyle, who was born in Scotland in 1841, and immigrated to Canada sometime before 1875. Together, Jane and James had at least four children: Adam (the husband of Carrie Brown), Elizabeth, or Lizzie, as she is referred to in The Diary; Bert, an assumed brother from the transcription of The Diary, and of course, Carrie, our author. Nancy was their grandmother. Possible one listed as living near the Carlyle family (you'll have to wait for further posts from The Diary for that one!). Unfortunately for my family, Adam had already left the house when Carrie started putting her thoughts on paper on 1 Jan 1895, but I'm still hoping he'll show up soon enough. He wasn't yet married, but was out on his own. Maybe he'll come home to visit. 

"Grandma Carlyle", Carrie L. (Brown) Carlyle, wife of Adam Carlyle.
With  her daughter and family. Date unknown.
Personal archives of author.

The story, and life, of Mrs. Samuel Reid, Sr., really is worth reading, so take a minute to examine the obituary also. The writer left a broad suggestion at the end for the youth of Canada, but more so, to all of us. I certainly wish I had a photo of this remarkable woman... then again, maybe I do. Just another reason to keep digging into the mysteries that the "Carlyle Collection" has provided for me. 

By the way, "Reids' Mills" was located in Carleton County, Ontario, and is still a community today. 

Obituary: Francis "Marie" (Brown) McKinney

Taking a break from The Diary to offer you this...

The obituary for Francis "Marie" (Brown) McKinney, who was my great grandfather's daughter, from his first wife, Nora Della Brigham. They were married in Nebraska, and just three short years later, William Warner Brown could be found in Orting, Pierce County, Washington, a single man. Though no record of a divorce or separation has been found as of yet, the marriage was never a "known fact" in the family, and was not openly discussed.

My great half-aunt passed away in 1999 in Nevada.

Obituary: Family Friend Sue Skinner

Sunday's Obituary: John McGowan

"John McGowan, 49-year veteran of The News, dies


John R. McGowan, Sr., a composing room employee for The Birmingham News for almost 50 years and through whose hands some of the century's most important stories passed, died Wednesday. He was 67.
Mr. McGowan retired from The News in 1974 after 49 years of work. Beginning as a printer's devil (an apprentice), he worked his way up to copy cutter, the man who directs the flow of copy from the newsroom to machine operators in the composing room.
A native of Birmingham, he lived at 1237 Princeton Ave. SW. He was a member of Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church.
Funeral will be at 9:30am. Friday at the church with burial in Forest Hill, Elmwood Chapel directing. Rosary will be said at 8 tonight at Elmwood Chapel.
Surviving are his wife, Mrs. Georgia F. McGowan; four sons, John R. Jr., James W. and Patrick J. McGowan, Birmingham, and Robert B. McGowan, Georgetown, Ga., and a daughter, Mrs. Mary Frances Creel, Birmingham.
The family suggests any memorials be made to the American Cancer Society."

Born 9 November 1908 in Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama, to Patrick Henry McGowan and Elizabeth McNamara, John was the last of their ten children. He married Mildred Fratoddi in 1931, and lived in Birmingham his entire life. His children lovingly referred to him as "Big John".