Marriage of F.N.W. Burton and Lavinia Bembury Murfree, 1814

 ©  Kathy Duncan, 2026

While it might seem reasonable to guess where a couple married based on where their families traditionally lived, that can lead to errors. Always look for a source instead of blindly guessing!

An example is Lavinia Bembury Murfree. When her father Col Hardy Murfree, left Hertford County, North Carolina, and went west to Tennessee, he left Lavinia in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to be educated at the Moravian School. That would have been about 1802 when Lavinia was seven years old. By then, Hardy Murfree was a widower, his wife Sally (Brickell) Murfree having died in 1802. Lavinia remained at the Moravian school until she finished her education. Then she moved to Halifax County, North Carolina, where she lived in the home of her sister, Mary Moore Murfree, who married Isaac Hilliard, Jr.

Lavinia Bembury Murfree married Col. Francis Nash Williams Burton in Halifax County in 1814. 

One might have guessed that Lavinia and F. N. W. Burton had married in Granville County, North Carolina, where the Burton family had lived for many years, or that they married in Hertford County, North Carolina, where the Murfree family had lived for many years. One might even guess that they married in Rutherford County, Tennessee, where many of the Murfrees had migrated, or that they married in Forsyth County, North Carolina, where Lavinia had attended school for many years. At some point, I considered all of these possibilities. 

Instead, they married in the home of Lavinia's sister and brother-in-law in Halifax County, North Carolina.

Nancy (Johnson) Brown's Trip to California, 1895

©  Kathy Duncan, 2025

After sorting through newspaper clippings, I have come to the conclusion that when Elizabeth Jane (Johnson) Selvy and her sister Nancy (Johnson) Brown were reunited in 1895, after 34 years, they must have been corresponding with each other on a regular basis during all of those years. In 1894, Nancy Brown of Weldon, Illinois, knew that her sister Elizabeth Selvy and her sons were living in Gallup, New Mexico. Here's how I connected the dots.

The first dot includes Nancy Brown's sons, Joel Herbert Brown and Isaac Sherman Brown, had gone to California to seek adventure and new opportunities in the late 1880s. Sherman and Herbert Brown were mostly loggers or woodmen. Herbert, aka J. H. Brown, wrote long letters describing California and the loggers' camps. Those letters were mostly published in the Dewitt County, Illinois newspapers, but at least two were published in the newspaper at Selma, California. 

After several years, J. H. Brown had his fill of roughing it in California and headed east. He wrote a letter from Albuquerque, New Mexico, on 26 October 1894 that was published by the Weldon, Illinois, newspaper. In that letter, he detailed his arrival at his first stop in Gallup, New Mexico. He described it as a division of the Atlantic and Pacific railroad and as a mining town. He noted that even though the sky was clear, the odor of coal burning and the sight of its black smoke were the first things he noticed. Then he visited the "Sunshine" mine, which he described this way:

"Arriving at the base of a sand stone mountain we entered the opening of the slope and descended gradually, walking along side of a steel laid track. I had been furnished with miners caps and lamps, and in company with an old miner friend we soon left the light of day and plunged into darkness; so dense that I begin to feel that I was lost to all the world except my cousin. I think I appreciated his company more than any one I ever knew at that moment. Our little lamps only penetrated the gloomy tunnel with its ribs of staunch timbers, for a few feet ahead we would hear the rumble of a train of coal cars coming down the slope, and I would flatten myself like a flap jack against the cool walls of the tunnel. I guess my cousin laughed, but it was too dark for me to appreciate the initiative joke of taking a man from the 'fruit vine, and alfalfa belt, down into the abdomen of New Mexico and hugging a wall while a train of coal cars had passed you in the dark at the rate of a thousand miles an hour' so it sounded to a man in the dark." -  The Weldon Record, Weldon, Illinois; 2 November 1894.

J. H. Brown's cousin was probably either George W. Selvy Jr. or his brother Lee Selvy. Both of them worked as coal miners before working for railroads.

Obviously, J. H. Brown knew he had an aunt and cousins in Gallup when he headed there. In a time when staying at hotels and eating out were expensive, people headed to where they knew they had family. Often, they just turned up on a relative's doorstep, where they were offered a place to stay and a meal. It's impossible to know if Herbert Brown surprised the Selvys or if he was expected.

The second dot - A little over a month after J.H. Brown's letter was published, his cousin Cabe Selvy and wife visited John DeLoss and Nancy (Johnson) Brown in Weldon, DeWitt County, Illinois. Albuquerque was such a foreign place that the newspaper spelled it phonetically: "Abbey Kirk." 

The arrival of Cade Selvy and his wife, Mary Bailey, was probably a welcome diversion for the Brown family as they ending a difficult year. Their beloved daughter, Catherine E. "Kate" Brown died on 18 April 1894 after a long illness and a valiant fight to save her life. 

On 5 January, 1895, the Weekly Citizen of Albuquerque, New Mexico, noted that Cade and Mary Selvy had returned from DeWitt County, Illinois. 

 

The third dot - On 12 April 1895, Nancy Brown departed for a trip to California by way of New Mexico. John Deloss Brown accompanied her as far as Chicago. All of their daughters were married by this time, so it is doubtful that any of them accompanied her. 

The following day, the Albuquerque Daily Citizen reported Nancy Brown's reunion with her sister Elizabeth Jane Selvy. This is also the first reference that I have that her son J. H. Brown had gone to work for the A & P Railroad. Evidently, coal mining was not for him. My guess is that Cade Selvy, who worked for the A & P,  helped Herbert Brown get this job.

The son in Fresno that Nancy was going to visit was probably Sherman, who lived near Selma, California. 

After Nancy reached California, she wrote a letter to J. H. Brown, who responded with a letter of his own. That letter was published in the Selma Enterprise on 17 August 1895. Mostly, it described witnessing a faith healer who had arrived in Albuquerque after Nancy left and who was so popular that wagonloads of people were flocking into the area to see him.

The fourth dot - By late September, Nancy Brown was headed home. On 20 September 1895, The Clinton Public predicted that Nancy Brown would be home by 25 September 1895.

The Mrs. Dick Greenwood who had returned from Iowa was John D. and Nancy Brown's daughter, Carrie Viola Brown, who married Richard Greenwood in the summer of 1894.

The same newspaper noted on 27 September 1895, that John DeLoss Brown had gone to Chicago to meet Nancy's train. I'd be willing to bet that they spent some time with their daughters, Mary Ellen Miller and Minnie Norfleet, in Springfield, and that they both went to the state fair.

Nancy brought several souvenirs back from her trip: a redwood tree branch, an Indian bow and arrow, an Indian basket, and a photo of the "Great Healer."

 

The fifth dot - The Great Healer? Like the fanatical faith healer J. H. Brown had described in his letter? The "Great Healer" turned up in a quick Google search. He was a German named Francis Schlatter, who was visiting the little villages south of Albuquerque in the late summer of 1895. Crowds began flocking into Albuquerque's Old Town, hoping to be healed. Then he abruptly moved on to Denver. The photograph that Nancy brought back from her trip was probably like this one:

The sixth dot - One last tantalizing newspaper clipping turned up in my search. On 27 October 1895, George Selvy, the thirteen-year-old son of Cade, was at the depot to meet his grandmother, who was coming in from the west. 

At that time, young George F. Selvy had two living grandmothers: Elizabeth J. (Johnson) Selvy and Ellen (Briggs) Bailey. Elizabeth is the only one I am sure was living in New Mexico. Was she expected from Gallup or from further west? Did she go with Nancy to California and stay longer than Nancy? 

Welcoming 2024

  ©  Kathy Duncan, 2024

Once again it is time to say goodbye to one year and hello to the next. 

Here is a look at 2023 in review. The year ended with 204,317 page views, which was an increase of 52,449. It would be amazing if those figures were accurate. However, they are not. This year foreign bots were trolling the internet and driving up the page view count. There are ways to filter those numbers out, but that is beyond my expertise.

This was not a very year productive in terms of writing new posts. I only managed to write and publish twenty-one. Of those posts, the three most viewed were as follows:

1. Daniel A. Lewis, Son of John D. Lewis. This post was a continuation of my Lewis family research. Daniel is one of the most controversial since family researchers are not in agreement over what happened to him after his first marriage. 

2. Squire Brown, Brother of Isaac S Brown. This was one of my favorite posts. I was able to link Issac S. Brown to at least one other family member other than his own children. As a result, I was contacted by another Brown researcher who has a photo album containing photographs of the Brown family, including my husband's 3X great-grandmother, Catherine E. (Hay) Brown. 

3. Wiley Lewis, Son of John D. Lewis. This was another in a series of posts on the children of John D. Lewis. Wiley turned out to be one of the most interesting of the Lewis sons. He appears to have been a good person who lived large - probably a little too large for his father's approval.

My favorite posts for the year, in no particular order:

1. Mollie F. Brown's Photo Album was a favorite because identified photographs are so difficult to find. Plus, this experience gives me hope that more photographs and family bibles are out there waiting to be shared.

2. Joseph Rutherford Cawthron Returns on the Wheaton was a favorite because it added so much more information to what seems like a small event - a brother's body returned for burial in the U.S. 

3. The Bedside of M. P. Kelley was a favorite because newspapers continue to be one of the most valuable research tools available to us. This small clipping told me that my 2x great-grandfather, M. P. Kelley, had been sick for a few months before his death and that his family was traveling to visit him. 

Even though this has not been the most productive year in terms of publishing, it has been a very productive research year. I have been researching my cousins' ancestor who was a Mexican War veteran. At first, there was not much information about him, and it seemed like not much more could be learned about him. Then the floodgates opened. And I do mean a flood of information. He has turned into the most interesting individual I have ever researched. He is teaching me more about research strategies. Right now, I am organizing and refining the information that I have and plan to write about him in the new year. 

Mary (Kelly) Fair, Daughter of John Kelly Sr. - Update

  ©  Kathy Duncan, 2023

This post has been decades in the making. Most of the other researchers who were interested in Mary (Kelly) Fair are deceased now.

While on a brain break from working on my husband's Brown family, I decided to have another go at one of my ancestor's sisters - Mary (Kelly) Fair. I've seen a lot of new researchers ask what they should do when they have run out of steam while researching an ancestor or family line. I always work on something else that I have not touched for a long time. It's a good use of my time and beats frustrating myself with material that I can't find anything "new" in - or I just need a break from something tedious that I'm working on. Usually, new information for an old problem has become available, and I can make progress. In this case, the Hinds County, Mississippi estate files for Mary (Kelly) Fair and her husband William Fair were available on Family Search. I've attached those files to both of them as sources on Family Search. Here are the highlights from Mary's file.

Mary Fair, wife of William Fair, appears in the estate records of John Kelly Sr. of Fairfield County, South Carolina, as one of his children. She was to receive three slaves from the estate: Nelly, Tom, and Serena. A Fairfield District, South Carolina, equity court document stated that Mary and William Fair resided in Mississippi as early as 1843. Tracking them from there has been difficult. A William Fair lived in Hinds County, Mississippi in the same timeframe that other children of John Kelley Sr. lived there, but it has been impossible to know for sure if it was the same William Fair. In 1850, neither Mary nor William Fair appeared on the census. Their children, if they had any, were unidentified.

As it turns out, both Mary and William Fair were deceased by 1850. Mary died first in 1846, and there is an estate record for her in Hinds County because she owned four slaves in her own right. Therefore, William Fair, filed to administer her estate. This document provides her death date, the names of the four slaves, and the names of her heirs:

According to the document, created on 24 January 1848, the Fairs were residents of Hinds County, where Mary died on 17 April 1846. At the time of her death, she owned four slaves: Jesse, his wife Lina, and their children Caroline and Ben. Note that these are not the slaves that Mary Fair was to receive from her father's estate. Her brother Littleton Kelly inherited a slave named Jesse. It's possible that they traded slaves. It is also possible that rather than transporting three slaves from South Carolina to Mississippi they were sold in South Carolina and the money was used to buy slaves in Mississippi. In that event, the slaves purchased with that money would still be considered Mary's property. 

The document names Mary Fair's legal heirs: Sarah Harris, John Farr, Isaac Milton Farr, Frances Hutson, Mary Taylor, Mariah Floyd, Jane Farr, William H Farr, and Eliza Mitchell. The last three are noted as being minors. Farr is a frequent alternate spelling for Fair. 

Additionally, the document states that the William Fair who is filing to administer the estate was Mary's husband. The document also requests that Littleton Kelly, Mary's brother, be named as one of the appraisers.

The estate record indicates that at the time of her death, Mary (Kelly) Fair was old enough to be the mother of four married daughters: Sarah Harris, Frances Hutson, Mary Taylor, and Mariah Floyd. Eliza Mitchell is a bit of a puzzle. Is Mitchell her middle name or a surname? Would a married daughter also be considered a minor??

In other documents in William Fair's estate records, Isaac M. Fair is called Isaac Middleton Fair, which seem like a more likely name for him, given that Mary had a brother named Middleton Kelly.

By 1851, William Fair was also deceased and Mary Fair's estate was being administered by Francis Stubbs.

This document states that Stubbs had been administering the estate since October of 1849. In another document that Stubbs filed when seeking to administer the estate, he stated that William Fair died in April 1849. This document names heirs and their whereabouts as of October 1851: Isaac M. Fair and William H. Fair who reside in the state of Lousiana; and Mariah Floyd, wife of Thomas H. Floyd, who reside in the state of Arkansas; also Eliza Tyler, wife of Joseph A. Tyler who reside in the state of Texas; and the following persons who reside in the state of Mississippi, to wit: Elizabeth J. Seastrunk, wife of Joseph Seastrunk, of Copiah County; Sarah C. Harris, wife of James Harris, of Claiborne County; John J Fair of Rankin County, and Mary Taylor wife of William Taylor, and Harriett Hutson wife of Jefferson M. Hutson deceased - each reside in Hinds County. All of them were of full age except for William H. Fair, who was under the age of 21. 

Note the addition of John J. Fair to the list of heirs. Jane Fair seems to be the same person as Elizabeth J. Seastrunk. Is Eliza Tyler also the same person as Elizabeth Mitchell [Fair]?

In other documents, there are dealings with Obediah K. Kelly and F. J. Kelly - two of Mary Fair's brothers.

This is a wealth of information about Mary Fair's children, who her daughters married, and where they lived as of 1851. However, tracking them has not proven to be that easy. Only about half of them can be found on the 1850 census at this point. Even fewer can be found on the 1860 census. Even fewer of their children can be tracked forward.

Next, I need to go through the key documents in William Fair's estate records.

Mollie F. Brown's Photo Album

  ©  Kathy Duncan, 2023

A few months ago, I was contacted by Jim McCabe, who had read my blog post that connected Squire Brown and Isaac S. Brown as brothers. Jim had a family photo album that was kept by a young woman named Mollie F. Brown who was a daughter of James A. and Margaret (Ryan/Rian) Brown of Scott County, Illinois. Mollie's album was unusual in that it contained many identified photographs, but Jim was trying to positively identify who those people were and how they might be connected to James A. Brown.

One photograph was of "Uncle Squire Brown" of Alton, Illinois:

A photograph of "cousin Joe Brown," who was the son of Squire Brown:

One of "Aunt Kate" Brown. Aunt Kate would be Catherine E. (Hay) Brown, wife of Isaac S. Brown of Pike County, Illinois:

A photograph of "Cousin Hank E. Brown, Milton, IL." This is a photograph of Henry E. Brown, a son of Catherine E. (Hay) and Isaac S. Brown of Pike County, Illinois:

A photograph of "cousin Clara Grimes." Clara Grimes was the daughter of Ellen Elizabeth (Brown) and Eli Cox Grimes. Clara was also the granddaughter of Catherine E. (Hay) and Isaac S. Brown:

A photograph of "cousin Katie Grimes." Catherine Grimes was Clara's sister:

A photograph of "Uncle William Brown" of Woodville, IL. I believe that this was William Brown of Woodville Twp in Greene County, Illinois, rather than Woodville, Illinois:

My interpretation is that in order for Mollie to be related to these Browns in the way that the photographs are labeled, her father, James A. Brown, would be a brother to Squire Brown of Upper Alton, Madison County, Illinois; Isaac S. Brown of Milton, Pike County, Illinois; and William Brown of Woodville Twp, Greene County, Illinois. 

There are other photographs in Mollie's album that need to be identified. 

This was the most exciting genealogy "discovery" of the summer of 2023. I never thought that I would ever see a photograph of Catherine E. (Hay) Brown. 

A Clue for Isaac S. Brown and His Brother, Squire

  ©  Kathy Duncan, 2023 

So far, I have not been able to determine much about Isaac S. Brown and his brother Squire Brown. Both were born somewhere in Kentucky - Isaac in 1810 and Squire in 1818. By pulling from biographical information about each one, it can be guessed that they came to Greene County, Illinois in 1828 with their parents. The 1880 census for Squire Brown states that his parents were born in Virginia. Of course, during the time period in which Isaac and Squire's parents were born, Kentucky was also considered Virginia. By 1850 Isaac S. Brown was living in Pike County, Illinois while Squire Brown was still in Greene County, Illinois. By 1860, Squire was in Madison County, Illinois.

I am looking for a Brown family with brothers named Isaac and Squire Brown, both born in Kentucky, to parents who had been born in Virginia. I started googling for such a family and felt hopeful when I found the following biography of Norman W. Brown of Pike, County Illinois:

Brown, Norman W.

Norman W. Brown, who follows farming on section 35. Atlas township, was born on the old family homestead of two hundred and twenty acres, upon which his father, Isaac Brown, located in 1828. The natal day of the son was September 23, 1840, and he was reared upon the home place, acquiring his preliminary education in the old log schoolhouse of the neighborhood about one mile from his father's home. He afterward, however, attended the Summer Hill district school, from which he was graduated. All this time he was living with his parents, Isaac and Susan (Smoot) Brown, the former of Scotch ancestry and the latter of Dutch lineage. Isaac Brown was a native of Virginia and removed from the Old Dominion to Kentucky, where he was married. He made farming his life work and followed that occupation until his life's labor's were ended in death. He became a pioneer resident of this county, settling here in 1828, when much of the land was still in possession of the government and few clearings had been made. He at once began to cultivate his land in Atlas township and resided upon the old homestead farm until his death in 1850. He had served his country as a soldier in the war of 1812. His widow survived him until April, 1860, and was then buried beside her husband on the old home farm that is now the property of C. B. Dustin. The old flintlock musket which was carried by Isaac C. Brown in the war of 1812 is still in possession of the family, being now the property of Willis Brown, a brother of Norman W. Brown. In the family of Isaac and Susan Brown were thirteen children, namely: Maria, Mahala, Squire, Owen, Hardin, John, Willis, James, Isaac, Susan, Jane, Benjamin and Norman W. All are now deceased with the exception of four. Isaac died in infancy and was buried beside his parents on the old home farm, where also lie the remains of Hardin and John Brown, while Susan, Mahala and Benjamin were buried in California and Owen was buried in Kentucky near Mammoth Cave.

Norman W. Brown, the youngest of his father's family, was reared upon the old homestead farm. He lost his father when but ten years of age and was reared by his older brothers and sisters with whom he lived until nineteen years of age. when, in August, 1859, in company with William and James Baxter, he started for Pikes Peak, attracted by the discovery of gold in Colorado. They traveled with ox teams a part of the way and on reaching Nebraska they met many gold-seekers who were returning and who gave them information that there was no gold to be found. This discouraged the party so that they turned back and again came to Pike county. In the spring of 1860, however, Mr. Brown once more determined to try and win a fortune from the depths of the earth, for favorable reports concerning mining operations were still being received from Colorado and California and other sections of the country. In company with about one hundred and forty others he started, the party having forty wagons, most of which were drawn by ox teams. The company was commanded by John Underwood, whom they elected captain, and slowly they wended their way across the plains, completing in safety the long trip of five months, and reached Sacramento, California, on the 5th of September, 1860. They saw many Indians en route but they kept a strict watch, each male member of the company standing guard in his turn and they were not molested. Upon reaching Sacramento they did not find the gold as plentiful as they had pictured in their minds, so the members of the company scattered and sought employment in various ways. Mr. Brown went to work on a ranch and was thus employed for four and a half years, at the end of which time he returned home on the ocean steamer, Moses Taylor, embarking at San Francisco on the 13th of November, 1865. He disembarked with six hundred others at San Juan on the coast of Panama and from there they traveled overland, crossing the mountains, Mr. Brown riding a pony. He finally reached Virginia Bay, where he with the rest of the party took a boat across the bay to the head of San Juan river, where they embarked on two small river boats, going to Walker's Rapids. They traveled around the rapids on foot and again embarked on two other boats, thus making their way to old Graytown. a small port in the Atlantic ocean, where they took the steamer Santiago de Cuba for New York, arriving safely at that port. Thence they traveled by rail to Niagara Falls, and then on to Quincy, Illinois, and from there Mr. Brown made his way home.

On again reaching Pike county he once more engaged in farming and soon afterward he secured a companion and helpmate for life's journey. He was married on the 28th of January, 1869, to Miss Ann Elizabeth Gay, a daughter of James and Amelia (Yokem) Gay, who are mentioned on another page of this volume. Unto this marriage six children, three sons and three daughters, have been born, namely: Nellie, who was born November 25, 1869, and is now the wife of X. J. Carter, of Rockport; Paul W., who was born June 19, 1871, and is now a practicing physician in Springfield, Ohio ; Carrie, born October 27, 1873, who is the wife of H. D. Marion, a resident of Atlas township ; Claud, who was born October 9, 1876, and is living in Carterville, Illinois, where he is employed and is part owner in a mining machinery foundry; Erma, who was born May 22, 1882, and is a stenographer with the Simmons Hardware Company of St. Louis, and Bert, who was born May 10, 1884, and resides with his parents.

Politically Mr. Brown is a republican, unfaltering in the advocacy of his party and its principles. He cast his first presidential ballot for Abraham Lincoln in 1860 and is proud of the fact that his second vote also supported the martyred president. Mr. and Mrs. Brown are now living upon the old home farm in Atlas township, where for years he has carried on general agricultural pursuits, having devoted his life to farm work since his return home from California more than forty years ago. [Source: Past and Present Of Pike County, IL by Capt. Massie, 1906]

Then there was this biography for Norman W. Brown's brother Willis Brown:

Brown, Willis
Willis Brown, who since 1877 has resided in Pike county, was born in Hardin county, Kentucky, on the 2d of September, 1827. He was brought by his parents to this state, the family home being established in Atlas township on a farm now owned by Charles Dustin, but which is better known as the old Brown homestead. He is a son of Isaac and Susan (Snodgrass) Brown. The father was born in Virginia and was a planter there. He removed from the Old Dominion to Hardin county, Kentucky, where he again conducted a plantation and in the latter state he was married. He lives in Kentucky until there were eight children in the family and he and his wife, with their children, then came to Pike county, Illinois, settling in Atlas township upon what is now the Dustin farm. There he carried on general agricultural pursuits, being identified with the tilling of the soil up to the time of his death, which occurred on the old homestead in 1848, while his wife passed away two years later. Their graves were made on the old home farm. In their family were thirteen children, namely: Maria, Mahala, Squire, Owen, Hardin, John, Willis, James, Isaac, Susan, Jane, Benjamin and Norman W. All are now deceased with the exception of four. Isaac died in infancy and was buried by the side of his parents, where also lie the remains of Hardin and John, while Susan, Mahala and Benjamin were buried in California, and Owen near Mammoth Cave in Kentucky.

Willis Brown received but limited educational privileges as the schools of Atlas township were not in very good condition at that day. He was reared on the old homestead and early became familiar with the labors of field and meadow. After his father's death he took entire management of the farm, for his brothers had learned trades and had left the old homestead. He then conducted the property for about six years, subsequent to his mother's death, when it was sold to Charles Dustin and the proceeds of the sale were divided among the heirs. Willis Brown then purchased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, which was covered with forest trees. It was situated on section 25, Atlas township, and here he took up his abode and began to clear and cultivate the property. He has since made extensive improvements and now has an excellent farm, the fields being rich and productive, so that he annually harvests good crops.
In 1874 Mr. Brown was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Worley, a daughter of Elias and Elizabeth Worley, and they have become the parents of eight children, Byron, Meyer, Malinda, Guy, Nettie, Sadie, Charley and Bessie. Of these Charley, Sadie, Bessie and Guy are all now sleeping in the Ball Bluff cemetery near Atlas. In 1861 Mr. Brown went to California, where he engaged in farm work for two years, returning to Pike county in 1863.

In his political affiliation Mr. Brown is a stalwart republican and has always supported the party. He and his wife still reside upon the home farm in the midst of children and grandchildren. Mr. Brown is a self-made man, owing his success entirely to his own labors and during the years he has wrought earnestly to acquire a competence and provide a good living for his family. [Source: The Book of St. Louisans, Publ. 1912. Transcribed by Charlotte Slater]

While Isaac Brown and his wife Susan Smoot were born in Virginia, married in Hardin County, Kentucky, and had children there, including sons named Isaac and Squire, they can't possibly be the parents of the Isaac S. Brown and Squire Brown that I am seeking. Isaac Brown and Susan Smoot's son Isaac turned out to be younger than Isaac S. Brown, and he died in infancy. Not only is he a different Isaac, but this could not be an instance of Isaac S. Brown being named after an older, deceased brother. Squire Brown, the son of Isaac Brown and Susan Smoot, was a couple of years older than the Squire Brown that I am seeking, and he remained in Pike County, Illinois while my Squire Brown was living in Greene County and Madison County, Illinois. 

However, there are several parallels between the families of Isaac and Susan (Smoot) Brown and my Isaac S. Brown and Squire Brown. In both families, the parents were born in Virginia. Both families spent a few years in Kentucky. Both families removed to Ilinois in 1828 with Isaac Brown and Susan Smoot going to Pike County and the parents of Isaac S. Brown and Squire Brown going to Greene County. Significantly, Pike County and Greene County are neighboring counties. Then there is the repetition of the names Isaac and Squire in both families. The elder Isaac Brown, husband of Susan Smoot, may have been an uncle or cousin to my Isaac S. Brown. So far, I have been able to determine that Isaac Brown and Susan Smoot married in Hardin County, Kentucky, and that Isaac Brown is supposedly a son of Dixon Brown. Dixon Brown had several sons, so one of them might yet turn out to Issac S. Brown's father. 

Squire Brown's Place of Birth, 1818

      ©  Kathy Duncan, 2023

The Illustrated Encyclopedia and Atlas Map of Madison County, Illinois, reveals the only documentation that I have found so far for Squire Brown's place of birth:

Like Isaac S. Brown, his brother Squire Brown was born in "Davis" County, Kentucky. Of course, that would actually be Daviess County, Kentucky. Squire was born there on 3 January 1818. This Atlas also reveals that he moved to Upper Alton, Madison County, Illinois in 1863, which is probably the year that he left Greene County, Illinois. 

Then there is the added information that he lived in Township 5, Range 9, section 5:

There is definitely a Brown with land in the northeast corner of section 5, but the first name does not look like Squire. It looks more like "Jam" Brown. As far as I know, Squire appears in all records as either Esquire or Squire Brown. He was not a lawyer or judge, so I think his name was actually Squire. 

Isaac S. Brown's Place of Birth, 1810

     ©  Kathy Duncan, 2023

Isaac S. Brown was reportedly born in Daviess County, Kentucky on 7 February 1810. The source for that information is Isaac's Civil War service record as found on the Illinois State Archives site:

There are two problems with this record. The first problem is that Isaac S. Brown was actually 53 years old when he enlisted in 1862 - not 43 years old. It's likely that he was determined to serve and could pass for a  younger man. The second problem is that there was no Davis County, Kentucky, but there is a Daviess County, Kentucky. 

However, when Isaac S. Brown was born in 1810, Daviess County, Kentucky did not exist. It was formed from Ohio County, Kentucky in 1815. Ohio County had in turn been formed from Hardin County, Kentucky in 1798.

My guess is that Isaac S. Brown was born in the portion of Ohio County that became Daviess County and that the family remained in the area. Possibly, Isaac's father owned a farm in that area. My fingers are crossed for that. Since Isaac would have been five years old when the county change happened, he would have always known that location as Daviess County; hence, he would have reported his birthplace as being Daviess County rather than Ohio County.

Daviess County is the northwestern portion of what was formerly Ohio County. It is positioned between Hardin County on the west and Ohio county on the east.

I think this shifting border and the close proximity of these three counties is going to be important in trying to identify the parents of Isaac S. Brown and his brother Squire Brown.

Squire Brown, Brother of Isaac S Brown

    ©  Kathy Duncan, 2023

In many areas of the nation, the newspapers of the later part of the nineteenth century began publishing social news - who was visiting who, who was visited by whom, who got married, who died, who was born, who celebrated a birthday, who had a golden anniversary, etc. These little tidbits are invaluable. 

Combining newspaper social columns with the FANs of John Deloss Brown has paid off multiple times, but this is the best find to date. A. L. Brown was Augustus Leroy Brown, brother of John Deloss Brown. Augustus lived in Champaign, Illinois. His first wife was also his first cousin, Lucia Hay, the daughter of Coonrod or Conrad Hay. For that reason alone, it has been important to research him. Over the years, the Champaign, Illinois newspapers reported the visits of his mother and brothers to see him in Champaign. Sometimes they reported his trips to visit them in Weldon, Illinois. There was a report when James A. Brown, one of his brothers, was murdered. Over the years, Augustus L. Brown was a justice of the peace, a marshall, and a truant officer. All of that was reported in his own obituary.

Because I know that A.L. Brown was a marshall in Champaign, Illinois during this time period, I am confident that this notice is about him:

However, because I have never been able to connect A. L. Brown's father, Isaac S. Brown, to any other Browns, I had no idea that A. L. Brown had an uncle named Squire Brown. This notice in the Champaign County Gazette on 9 February 1887 indicates that A.L. Brown's uncle Squire Brown lived in Upper Alton, Illinois, and  A.L. Brown had not seen him for more than 30 years. That would mean that Augustus had not seen his uncle since before 1857 when Augustus would have been 24 or younger.

The most important takeaway here is that Isaac S. Brown of Pike County, Illinois had a brother named Squire Brown who lived in Madison County, Illinois. Having a brother with such an unusual name will eventually help me identify the rest of their family. 

My next step was to seek Squire Brown in Alton, Madison County, Illinois, and to hope that Squire was his real name. I found information on the Findagrave memorial of Josephus J. Brown that indicated that he was the son of Squire Brown and Jane Underwood, natives of Kentucky and that he had been born in Carrollton, Greene County, Illinois on 31 July 1853. That gave me a link between Squire Brown and Isaac. S. Brown because it placed them in the same county in the mid-1800s. 

Even better, I found a Findagrave memorial for Squire Brown in the Troy City Cemetery, Troy, Madison County, Illinois. According to his tombstone, he was born on 3 January 1818, making him eight years younger than Isaac S. Brown. Squire Brown died on 22 March 1893 of "lung fever." 

Next, I doubled back into Greene County, Illinois, where I found Squire and Jane Brown on the 1850 census, living next to her parents Francis and Margaret Underwood. The Underwoods are buried in the Mt. Gilead Cemetery in Carrollton, Greene County, Illinois, as are Isaac S. Brown's mother-in-law and father-in-law, Amy and John Hay. A search of the Mt. Gilead Cemetery turned up Jane (Underwood) Brown who died in 1876. All I can imagine is that she either died while on a visit to her relatives or that Squire Brown took her to Mt. Gilead Cemetery to be interred near her parents. I wonder why Squire's children did not inter him with their mother? 

Squire Brown does not appear by name on the 1840 Greene County, Illinois census, but I suspect he might be the young man living in Isaac S. Brown's household. 

Squire then married Jane Underwood in Greene County, Illinois on 20 May 1840. They were married by Rev. Peter Dodgson, whose wife was Jane Brown, born in Kentucky. So far, I have not been able to find out enough about her to know if she is related to Squire Brown and Isaac Brown. 

I located a land deed for Squire Brown in Greene County, Illinois in 1844, from when he purchased land. No other Browns are mentioned in the deed in terms of having land adjacent to this purchase or as witnesses. I still need to search for Squire Brown's sale of that land.

After a  lot of searching, I finally found Squire Brown on the 1880 Madison County, Illinois census. On that census his name appeared as Esquire Brown, He had been indexed on Family Search as Esquire Bronen. My purpose in locating that particular census was to find out where his parents were born. On that census, their birthplaces were reported as Virginia for both father and mother. 

One biography that I found for Josephus J. Brown, son of Squire Brown, stated that his father had come to Greene County, Illinois with his parents at a young age. If I combine that with the account that I have of Issac S. Brown coming to Greene County in 1828, a picture of the Brown family starts to emerge. 

Mother and Father Brown were both born in Virginia by at least 1790. They either married there or met and married each other in Kentucky. They were married by at least 1809. They were in Kentucky from at least 1810 when Issac S. Brown was born until 1818 when Squire Brown was born. Of course, they may have been older than I have projected. They probably had several more children, some of whom may have been born in Virginia. They were probably in Greene County, Illinois by 1828. Isaac S. Brown may have been on his adventure in New York in 1830, so I need to search the 1830 Greene County, Illinois for all Brown households that have a son in Squire's age range. 

The Camera Never Lies

      ©  Kathy Duncan, 2021

This is my pride and joy. It's a solar enlargement or crayon enlargement of my great-great-grandparents, Isaac and Susan Poindexter (Reese) Duncan. Prior to her marriage to Isaac Duncan, Susan was married to Anson Hodges. 

Like many owners of one of these enlargements, I had never seen the original photograph from which it was made. Was the original actually two photographs or one? 

A few years ago, I saw another solar enlargement that was supposed to be of Isaac and Susan, but the woman looked very different. She was much older, and the enlargement had been damaged and repaired so that the left side of her face (the viewer's right) looked droopy, and the eye was very odd looking. While I was sure that the man in the photograph was Isaac Duncan, I did not recognize the woman as being Susan. 

This is the solar or crayon enlargement: 

Last week, Becky Roseman, a distant cousin of mine, emailed a photograph of Isaac and Susan to me. After being able to see the original photograph and comparing it to the enlargement, I can see all the liberties that the artist took with the enlargement.

They both look much younger. In fact, Susan looks fifteen to twenty years younger with smoother, firmer skin. Part of this is due to their darker coloring. 

I've also realized that the other enlargement that I saw was a more accurate rendering of the original below: 

Obituaries of the Children of Abner Chapman and Martha Frances Meadows

   ©  Kathy Duncan, 2021

Today's sibling obituary study concerns the children of Abner Chapman and his wife, Martha Frances Meadows who lived in the Damascus community near Mt. Pleasant in Titus County, Texas. Obituaries for Vince Chapman and his brother Ike Chapman only appeared recently in Portal to Texas. 

Abner and Martha (Meadows) Chapman moved from Georgia to Titus County, Texas just prior to the Civil War.

Their children in birth order:

1. John Thomas Chapman, called "Tom Chapman" by my grandfather, born October 1853 in Georgia

2. Vincent A. Chapman, born 20 November 1854 in Georgia

3. James Martin Chapman, born 15 May 1857 in Georgia

4. Georgia Ann Chapman, born 10 February 1859 in Titus County, Texas. She married Henry Edward Duffee. Alternate spellings: Duffey and Duffy.

5. Susan A. Chapman, born c. 1860 in Texas.

6. Abner A. Chapman, born April 1862 in Texas.

7. William Sargent Chapman, born 23 February 1868 in Texas.

8. Mattie Chapman, 20 February 1869 in Texas. 

9. Margaret Lee Chapman, called "Maggie," born 1 May 1873 in Texas. She married Gifford Marion Smith.

10. Isaac Roger Chapman, called "Ike," was born 20 February 1874, in Texas. 

Their obituaries in death order:

1. Susan A. Chapman - no death notice or obituary found. She only appeared on the 1860 census and it is thought that she died before 1870.

2. Martha L. "Mattie" Chapman - no death notice or obituary found. She died 30 June 1881 and is buried in the Damascus Cemetery near Mt. Pleasant, Titus County, Texas. My grandfather told me that she got too near the fireplace and her skirt caught on fire, and she died from her burns. A death notice for her might still materialize.

3. Abner A. Chapman - no death notice or obituary found. He died sometime between the conception of his last child in 1888 and the 1900 census. Searching the Titus County tax list would possibly give me a better idea of when he died.

4. William Sargent Chapman - no death notice or obituary found yet. He was killed in a hunting accident on 18 September 1893 and was buried in the Damascus Cemetery near Mt. Pleasant, Titus County, Texas. He had gone raccoon hunting with his uncle Simeon Meadows, among others. Uncle Sim had climbed up in a tree and was trying to shake the raccoon out of tree, causing a tree limb to break, falling on William Sargent Chapman and killing him. 

5. John Thomas Chapman - no death notice or obituary found yet. He supposedly died in 1907, probably in Texas or Oklahoma.

6. James Martin Chapman - no death notice or obituary found yet. However, there was an obituary for his wife. This obituary verifies the names of James M. Chapman's children who were surviving in 1930: Henry Chapman, Will Chapman, Luther Chapman, Jim Chapman, Mrs. Will Scarbrough, and Mrs. Ben Hensley. Like the other Chapmans, she was buried in the Damascus Cemetery.

7. Georgia Ann Chapman, died on 11 May 1939 and was buried in the Bogata Cemetery in Bogata, Red River County, Texas. There must have been a death notice or obituary in the newspaper at the time of her death. However, there was a reference to it ten years later in one of those columns about what had happened 10 years before.

A similar record appeared for Georgia's husband Henry Edward Duffey in a "ten years ago column," but, again, the original death notice or obituary has not been found yet. 

8. Vince A Chapman died 2 October 1942 and was buried in the Damascus Cemetery near Mt. Pleasant, Titus County, Texas. His obituary reveals that he came to Texas at age two, which would be around 1856 or 1857, and that he had lived on his farm for 85 of his 87 years. That indicates that he lived on his parents' farm all his life. Therefore, deed records involving Vince A. Chapman would be very revealing.

This obituary reveals that his surviving children in 1942 were J.R. Chapman, Abner Chapman, and Mrs. Lee Sinclair.

Also of importance, is that his obituary links him to his two surviving siblings: Ike Chapman of Texarkana and Mrs. Maggie Smith of Johntown [Red River County, Texas]. 

9. Margaret Lee "Maggie" Chapman died on 21 May 1947 in Johntown, Red River County, Texas, and was buried in the Bogata Cemetery, Bogata, Red River County, Texas. 

Her obituary reveals that she was born in Mt. Pleasant, Texas. She had nine children who survived her: Mrs. Nettie Thomas, Mrs. Eva Cooper, Mrs. Letha Dowell, Mrs. Joe Herring, Mrs. John Miller, Mrs. Vera Watts, Mrs. Nell Franzen, Mrs. Georgia Smith, and Oscar Smith. It also mentions that she was survived by a brother living in Texarkana, but does not name him. 

10. Isaac Roger "Ike" Chapman died 9 February 1958 in Texarkana and was buried in the Damascus Cemetery near Mt. Pleasant, Titus County, Texas. His obituary revealed that he was survived by three daughters: Mrs. Lennie Regain, Mrs. Ollie Moore, and Mrs. Mildred Traylor.

William Dendy's wife Elizabeth

        ©  Kathy Duncan, 2021

William Dendy, sometimes spelled William Dandy, who died in Halifax County, Virginia c. 1757, is my furthest back Dendy ancestor. I've spent several years collecting information on him. Now images of those records are viewable through Family Search. 

William Dendy's wife Elizabeth appears with him at least twice in the records. Her last appearance was when she released her dower rights in Amelia County, Virginia on 24 July 1752. Her husband, William Dendy, had sold 399 acres in Amelia County to Isaac Ferguson. It is possible to see both the Dendy and Dandy spelling in this single document. 

This document indicates that Elizabeth was still living as of 1752, but had probably predeceased William by the time his estate was being probated in Halifax County, Virginia in 1757. 

Elizabeth Dandy first appears with William Dandy when they both witnessed the will of Francis West in Amelia County, Virginia on 26 April 1738. Following the death of West, William Dandy acted as an appraiser for the estate. 

It is still impossible to determine when and where William and Elizabeth Dendy married. The earliest record I have found of William Dendy is when he was sued by the estate of John Shelton in Goochland County, Virginia in 1728 and 1729. That lawsuit was brought by Thomas Posser who had evidently married John Shelton's widow, Elizabeth. John Shelton had died intestate in 1725. In order for William Dendy to be indebted to Shelton, they would have had to have known each other before Shelton's death, so they were well enough acquainted by 1725 for Dendy to have incurred a debt to Shelton. 

Based on those dates, I would push William Dendy's birthdate back to at least 21 years prior to 1725. That would be a birthdate of at least 1704. Very likely, William Dandy was born in the late 1600s. There is at this point no reason to think that he was not born in the colonies although he may have immigrated to Virginia. 

Based on William Dendy's presence in Goochland County, Virginia by 1725, I would say that he is most likely to have met and married Elizabeth in Virginia so that they were not an immigrant couple. 

Just a reminder: if you are a long-time subscriber to this blog, you will need to subscribe again to stay on the mail list. You can read about it here. 

John Deloss Brown's Letter, 1913

 ©  Kathy Duncan, 2021

Newspapers continue to shed light on one of my husband's Brown lines. John Deloss Brown of Weldon, Illinois, frequently wrote letters to newspaper editors over the course of his life. Almost all of those letters were political in nature. However, near the end of his life, he wrote a highly personal letter to his old hometown newspaper. Below is a transcript of the letter with commentary.

After the death of his wife, Nancy (Johnson) Brown, John D. Brown "broke up" his housekeeping in Weldon and lived with his various children who were scattered through several states, although a few remained in Illinois. By the time John wrote this letter, he had left Weldon.

JOHN D. BROWN

VISITS OLD HOME

Tells of Pleasant Time Being Spent With Brother and Other Relatives

Milton, Ill., 5-20-'13.

Editor Record,

Weldon, Ill.

Friend Coover--

I believe I am under a promise to write a line to record my wanderings since leaving Weldon.

I returned to Springfield to await the action of the Grand Jury in the Mayhew case, but as there seemed to be nothing doing I made arrangements to visit my old boyhood home in Pike county, as I have a brother, brother-in-law and nieces living here, so on

Already, this letter begins with very interesting tidbits. First, the letter is dated 20 May 1913 (a Tuesday) from Milton, Illinois in Pike County where John Deloss Brown lived as a boy. Prior to journeying to Springfield, he was living with a daughter, probably Emma C. (Brown) Manlove Lehman Egel, in Missouri. 

 The Mayhew case that John referenced concerned his granddaughter Opal (Miller) Mayhew. She was subjected to "an illegal operation," performed by a doctor with the assistance of her husband on the evening of Friday, April 11, 1913.  She became seriously ill almost immediately. By Tuesday, April  15, she had lost consciousness and would remain in that state until her death. It was not until Thursday, April 18, that her mother, Mary Ellen (Brown) Miller Walker, was notified that she was dangerously ill and actually on her deathbed. She died on Saturday, April 20. A coroner's inquest was held at her mother's insistence. The funeral was held on April 24.

On May 14, 1913, newspapers were reporting that Dr. J. O. Salyers and Harry Mayhew were being held on bond awaiting the action of the Grand Jury.

John D. Brown evidently traveled from Missouri to Springfield, specifically to attend the Grand Jury hearing. Realizing that the Grand Jury was in no hurry, John traveled to Milton on May 15. 

Tuesday, the 15th, I left Springfield for Pittsfield and from there to Milton, which is a small inland village 12 miles east of Pittsfield. It is reached only by private conveyance, except that there is a wagon used for the purpose of conveying goods to the merchants, and I found a seat in it, reaching Milton about five o'clock p.m. I found my brother on the street in his buggy ready to convey me to any place I wished to go, and as he is living alone and keeps a Bachelor's Hall, I went down to my brother-in-law's home, which, by the way, is the same from which my old father went to the army in the 99th Infantry never to return, and the same from which I followed my dear mother to her last resting place, and where lie buried my old grandmother, my brother who was supposed to be murdered, and the mystery of whose death has never been entirely cleared, and I have never had a more pleasant visit in my life, meeting old comrades of the war,

This section of the letter is loaded with family references. The brother who was keeping a Bachelor Hall should be easy to figure out, but he is not. John only had two possible brothers at the time. One brother, William M. Brown, still had a wife who was living, so he was not a bachelor. The other brother, Henry Edward Brown, would have been widowed if he was still living! It's time to start thinking that brother Henry may have lived beyond 1912, which is his death date, without sources, on Family Search. 

The bother-in-law that John stayed with would have been Eli Cox Grimes, the widower of Ellen Elizabeth Brown. He also had a couple of daughters still living in his home. It's interesting that the Grimes lived on the old farm of John D. Brown's parents, Isaac S. and Catherine E. (Hay) Brown. Isaac S. Brown served with the 99th Illinois Infantry as teamster until he received a lethal wound at Vicksburg. 

John Brown's mother Catherine E. (Hay) Brown died in Milton, Illinois 18 January 1888 and was buried in the French Cemetery. In this portion, John referred to other family members also buried in French Cemetery, including his grandmother and his brother who was murdered. His murdered brother was James Albert Brown who was murdered in 1878. 

It is John's reference to his old grandmother that is the big mystery. His maternal grandmother Amy Hay probably died in Pike County where she was living with her daughter Catherine E. (Hay) Brown and son-in-law Isaac S. Brown. However, there is a tombstone for her beside her husband John Hay in Greene County, Illinois. Either she is buried in an unmarked grave in French Cemetery while a tombstone serves as a cenotaph in Greene County, or she was interred in Greene County and a different grandmother is buried in French Cemetery. That raises the possibility that John Brown's paternal grandmother is buried in French Cemetery. At this point, she is a totally unknown quantity. There is no woman of the right age named Brown in a marked grave in French Cemetery, who would have been Isaac S. Brown's mother. There was a woman who lived with the Browns who was old enough to be Isaac S. Brown's mother; she was Martha Johnson, who was born in New York. However, there also is not a Martha Johnson buried in French Cemetery. Of course, it could be that Isaac Brown's mother was someone else who remarried after the death of her Brown husband. At this time, John D. Brown's grandmother is a big question mark.

old schoolmates and friends of other years.

??????turday, I went out to the ????? where I spent my boyhood days, now occupied by a niece and her husband. As I looked over the old homestead I was reminded that there when a lad of 18 years my father sent me out in the hot month of September to plow for wheat, with a pair of three-year-old steers, which were not thoroughly broke, Arkansaw steers at that, broke with a line, and I saw the spot where these same steers coming to a thicket at one end of the field would break and run away from the flies into the thicket, and where on one occasion they changed to disturb about a candy bucket full of Yellow Jackets, and how they dragged myself and the plow over several acres of that plowed ground, I fearing to let go of the rope for fear I would never see the cattle again.

Well, I will return to Missouri next Tuesday. Hoping this will find the Record prospering and my old friends well and happy, I am,

Yours truly,

John D. Brown

John D. Brown could have easily been back in Springfield when the Grand Jury finally met on May 21. Unfortunately, they decided to postpone making a decision until June 16, so John D. Brown returned to Missouri on May 29 without knowing if his granddaughter's husband would be held responsible for her death.