It's Saturday again, so it's time to review another of the surnames that I am researching. Just like the Beach surname, since there are still living relatives in this line, we'll start this post with my great-grandfather Charles E. Brown. Since I started my research, I learned that Brown is the fourth most common surname in the United States as of the 2000 U.S. census. This may make scanning indexes a little more difficult, but I have a strategy.
Charles E. Brown was born in 1877 and died in 1943. I don't know the complete dates or locations of either of these events yet, but his daughter was born in Indiana in 1908, so I've got somewhere to start with at least. Charles married Rose R. MacWhirter (F; b. 1880, New York; d. 1954), but I don't have the date or location of their marriage yet. Again, judging by the date and location of their daughter's birth, I have a decade and a state in which I can search. In 1900, Charles was 23 and Rose was 20, so I can search marriage records for them from about 1898 until 1908, and I'll start looking in Indiana. Charles's parents reinforces the possibility that the marriage took place in Indiana as we'll soon see.
Charles was one of three children born to James Brown (M; b. circa 1853, Bloomington, Monroe County, Indiana) and Jane Neal Campbell (F; b. 1850, Bloomington, Indiana; d. 1935). James and Jane were married circa 1878 in Bloomington, Indiana; I suspect that this marriage could have taken place as much as five years earlier due to the birth dates of their children: Minta Barthena Brown (F; b. 1873; d. 1950), Charles E. Brown (above) and Nancy Rae Brown (F; b. 27 Nov 1879, Bloomington, Indiana; m. 23 Dec 1910, George Franklin Millett; d. 1969).
Unfortunately, this is as far back as I've traced this line so far. I don't know anything about James's parents yet. The next steps on this line are to find the vital information for Charles and James. I haven't found them yet mainly because I haven't placed a high enough priority on researching this line. I think it's likely that I'll find something if I start poking around in the Monroe County, Indiana, records collections, and with several of the deaths in this line dated in the mid-20th century, the Social Security Death Index also seems like a good place to search soon.
1 comment:
with all surames and branches, one seems to research such lines in spurts. I have found [grasping at straws research]it pays to look into them and also to see who they are related to and who are there neighbors early in their settlement.
I was looking to see what your strategy is for researching Browns fourth in rank, huh, I suppose that beats Meyer.
Also genealogy wise,I was wondering if one has to look at Braun too or not?I was told we have Braun, and now thinking I may have to look into Brown, when I eventually get around to it.
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