Brown Ancestral Files

Following the Fitch side of the family was relitively easy and one internet search gave us a ton of information.  The Brown side is a little more difficult.  I've had to piece it together generation by generation.  I am on the right track though.  Here is what I found so far:


John Campbell Brown was the man who took his family from New York state to North Dakota.

- A Weird fact I found- in New York, the family was from Oneida County.  In South Dakota, they moved into the town of Oneida in Sanford county.  I'm not sure of the history of the town in South Dakota, but Oneida, NY is named for the Oneida Indian Nation.   The Oneidas are known to be the first ally of colonial Americans.  They fought with them against the British during the American Revolution.  Without knowing the history of Oneida, SD, I can only guess that John Brown followed others from New York there.  I'm guessing who ever settled the South Dakota town named it after his hometown in New York.

Anyways, back to John Campbell Brown.  We need to find his parents.  I am doing my searches on Ancestry and Family Search.  I look up John Campbell Brown on North Dakota first.  I look at the earliest US Census record I can with him and Urvilla- 1880 comes up putting them in Davison County, SD:

In their household, Seymour is listed as John's brother.  This will be a link to finding records on John's past.

Next, because I couldn't find earlier records of John, I looked up Seymour Brown along with his birth date (est. 1862) and birth place (New York).  I found him listed in the 1870 US Census in the same are as John is known to come from:

Seymour is listed as the young son Mariette Brown. Another son is listed- Marcus who looks to be 17 in 1870.  Since Seymour is young, he will not be listed in earlier records.  Next, I try Mariette Brown along with her birth year (est. 1834) and birth state (New York).  I am lucky and find a US Census record from 1860:

This is the record that I was looking for- the one that links John to Mariette Brown!  John is listed as Marcus and Mariette's first born son.  His younger brother Marcus is also listed on this record linking this to the 1870 record.  So now we know that John's parents were Marcus and Mariette Brown.  Most likely Mariette's maiden name is Campbell since it is John's known middle name.  We will look up that soon but now I want to see if I can track Marcus any farther.  We know that he died before 1870 and he was born in New York around 1829.  I am lucky again and find the US Census report from 1850:

Marcus is still in the right area and has the right birth date to make me think I'm on the right track.  We see from this Census report that Marcus is from a large family and has extended family in the area.  His occupation is a boatman.  His father is Sanford Brown, born in 1805, is listed as a lumberman. His mother's name is Ruth.  So, let's look up Sanford Brown and see if we can get any further back.  First, I found the 1880 US Census that holds some information on Sanford's background:

Sanford has listed his parents as being from Connecticut and Rhode Island.  He would have been the first generation of Browns to be born in New York.

I decided to do a grave search for Sanford Brown of New York and found this at Find a Grave:

Here is a clip from the local newspaper that was included in the link above:

Roman Citizen
May 24, 1892

Vienna - Sanford Brown, an old resident of this place, died the 9th inst., aged 86 years. Saturday the 14th, at 4 am occurred the death of his wife, Mrs. Ruth Brown, aged 79 years. They leave five sons and four daughters to mourn, Stephen of Black Rock, Ark., Sanford of Virginia City, Montana, Marcus of Los Angeles, Cal., George, whose whereabouts are unknown, Mrs. James H. Peacock of Vienna, NY., Mrs. O. L. Kane of Rockaway Center, L.I., Mrs. Abba Roberts of Vienna, NY, and Melinda of Albion, NY. The remains were interred at Sylvan Beach Cemetery. Rev. L. B. Moulton officiating

So, now we know that Ruth's maiden name was Hicks.  We also know that Marcus ended up going to Los Angeles, CA instead of dying before 1870.  Interesting, right?

Unfortunately, that is as far back as I can go with the Brown line.  If you know of any further information, please let me know!