tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12582500638710669502024-03-13T14:34:15.234-04:00Turning Pages -- Ancestor by AncestorMy family history one ancestor at a time with detailed descriptions of how and where I found the genealogical records and stories.Ann Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06576535188429279894noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258250063871066950.post-43785522304477433942012-06-30T21:01:00.000-04:002012-06-30T21:01:06.510-04:00Getting Grandpa Out of PrisonI am sorry to say, but in my last blog post about my grandfather, Edwin D. Brown, I transcribed his prison entry record, and left him there while I went off to investigate all the interesting facts that were brought to light. With the dates and place given, I was able to find several accounts of the burglary, arrest, and conviction in the <i>Gladwin County Record</i> newspaper at the Library of Michigan. The first article was published in the January 10, 1896 edition and was titled "Bold Burglars". It gave full details of the crime, arrest, and evidence of several previous burglaries by Edward (sic) Brown and Charles Stockford.<br />
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In the next weekly newspaper another article titled "Robbers Roost" told of late developments in the case including new depredations committed by Brown and Stockford, but the most interesting part of this article for me was the following; "Mrs. Clark, of Vassar, mother of Brown, was in Gladwin Saturday, and took Brown's two children to her home. Brown's mother is a minister of the gospel, and is connected with the Free Will Baptist church, having charge of a circuit in Sanilac county."<br />
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My next step was to revisit the Tuscola county records. I did find death certificates for Grandpa's first wife, Clara (Mosher) Brown and his mother, Wealthy Ann (Whitmore) (Brown) Clark. Both of them died in 1897 while he was still in prison. Clara would have been 21 years old, but as she was an inmate of the county home, there was no one to speak for her and the rest of the record was marked "unknown". Her parents names were on the marriage certificate so I looked at their Death certificates and both had already died of T.B. I suspect that was also the cause of Clara's death.Until I can get into the birth records of Tuscola County I cannot find the children of Edwin and Clara. The only one that I know about is Curtis who, according to the records I have,was born about 1893. If Edwin's mother picked up his two children, one of them disappeared before Grandpa was released from prison. <br />
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Yes, he was paroled and I have his parole certificate signed by Governor Hazen S.Pingree. My next post will explain what I learned from the certificate that solved the big problem I had about how my grandfather from southern Michigan met and married my grandmother from West Prussia in who immigrated to the Houghton-Hancock area in the Upper Peninsula.Ann Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06576535188429279894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258250063871066950.post-46531052200706639422012-06-26T11:36:00.000-04:002012-06-26T11:36:09.493-04:00What I Did On My Spring VacationEvery once in a while I need a vacation from genealogy. It reminds me that there are other things going on in my life like a husband, three daughters, six grandchildren, two sons-in-law, three step-grandchildren, and one step-great-grandchild. Does that qualify my husband and me for being great-grandparents? <br />
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I also took time to prepare for our semi-annual move to our cottage on the beautiful shore of Lake Huron where, on a clear day, we can see the Mackinaw Bridge and watch the lake freighters go by. Because we face north, we also can see the most beautiful sunsets and sunrises, and occasionally, the northern lights. <br />
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All three of our daughters and one of their girlfriends decided that their "elderly" (their definition-not mine) parents needed help moving. Because it happened that the only time they could all get away was Mother's Day weekend, I had the rare treat of having all three of my girls with me to celebrate the day. And, I have to admit they were a big help in moving. They even ran the vacuum cleaner and dusted and, of course, cooked a few meals. They are all Food Channel fans.<br />
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I couldn't resist looking myself up on the 1940 Census. Since I remembered my address in Detroit, Steve Morse's one step gave me the ED number so I didn't have to wait for Detroit to be indexed. I did some genealogy "pay back" by doing a few pages of indexing through the Family Search program. I also wrote an article for Vintage View (our Rochester Hills senior newspaper which publishes quarterly and reaches about 2,000 people). The article was not about genealogy this time but about the Rochester-Avon Historical Society new website that uses a Google map to show locations of many historical sites and their history.<br />
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I confess, I also played numerous games of Spider on my computer. Then I took some time for recreational reading. We have a wonderful library in Cheboygan and if they don't have the book you want, they can usually find it in their consortium and have it for you, often within a day or two. Since I went on vacation, I have read at least seven books--none of them having anything to do with genealogy. Now, however, I have decided I have ignored my blog for too long and it is time for me to get back to my grandfather's story.Ann Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06576535188429279894noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258250063871066950.post-90560322910186753192012-04-20T23:02:00.000-04:002012-04-20T23:02:02.133-04:00The BOMBSHELL LetterIt was at a Brown family reunion in August of 1996 that my Cousin Richard showed the letter to the rest of the cousins. He had found it in an old desk that had been passed down to his father, my Uncle George, and when my uncle died, to my Cousin Richard. When he carefully pulled it out of the small, faded envelope and unfolded it we were all astonished to see that it was written on birch-bark. Not only that, but the date it was written was a little over 100 years ago. Here is a copy of page one of four using both sides of two sheets of birch-bark.<br />
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The first bombshell hit in the address of my grandfather. I have transcribed the whole letter and the top two lines read:<br />
"Gladwin Mich March 20th 1896<br />
To Edwin Brown Regd. No 2354 S.H.of C & R." I can't believe how long it took me to figure out what the initials meant, perhaps because the thought never entered my mind that my grandfather was ever a number in the State House of Correction and Reform. As soon as I figured it out, I called the Archives of Michigan because I knew they had an extensive alphabetized card file of prisoners in the state correction facilities from 1839 to 1980. They looked but could not find a card for Edwin, Eddie, or Ed Brown.<br />
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<div style="text-align: left;">The next time I was in Lansing, I headed for the Archives and found the record book of the S.H.of C.& R at Ionia. It is a ledger, arranged by registered number, of entrances into the reformatory. Here is a transcription.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"> 2354 Edward Brown. 7 years. Burglary 2/12/6</div><div style="text-align: left;"> 27 years of age. Born Mich. Married. Carpenter.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> Parents living. Father George Brown. Gladwin Mich.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> Home with father. Separated from wife. R.W.C. Temperate.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> First conviction.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> Complexion fair; deep sky blue; brown hair tinged with grey;</div><div style="text-align: left;"> round receding forehead; medium nose; small mouth; square</div><div style="text-align: left;"> sharp chin. King William star on left breast, Sc cut both sides </div><div style="text-align: left;"> second finger right hand. Sc cut right thumb. Does not use tobacco.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> Wgt 147# Hgt 5 ft 10" </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">There are certainly a lot of interesting facts about my grandfather in the above, but I was left with a lot of questions. The cousins all knew that he had a son before he married my grandmother in 1900, but he had never said anything about his previous wife. Another little bombshell, also brought out in the above letter, was that he was living with his father. Since we knew that his mother had married Nathan Clark in 1892, she was either a bigamist or there must have been a divorce. I do know that R.W.C. meant that he could read, write, and cipher. I have, so far, been unable to find out what a King William star is. If anyone knows, please tell me. Another thing I need help with is how to preserve the original birch-bark letter which is now in my possession. </div><div style="text-align: left;">Grandpa's story will be continued.</div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Ann Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06576535188429279894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258250063871066950.post-54763610207926624642012-03-24T22:52:00.000-04:002012-03-24T22:52:18.574-04:00More Lessons about Grandpa Edwin BrownWhen I first started on my genealogy research in the early 1990s I read a lot of "How To Do Genealogy" books and they all agreed on one thing--"Talk with your oldest relatives." Unfortunately all of the next older generation were already gone. Except for one living aunt on my father's side of the family, I was in the oldest living generation. Fortunately, when my Brown family grandparents married it was a second marriage for both of them and altogether I had 15 cousins, and three of them had also died. My mother was very good about keeping records and I have her birthday book with a space on each day of the year where she recorded, not just birthdays of family and friends, but also death dates next to the birthday and marriages on the appropriate day. With that information I was able to fill in quite a few details on the family group sheets I was compiling.<br />
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My next step was to send a family group sheet with all the data that I had for each of my aunts and uncles and another for each cousin. I asked each cousin to fill in any blanks that they could and also to make any necessary corrections. I also asked them to write down any remembrances that they had of our extended family. I was pleasantly surprised to get answers from all of them with quite a few additions and corrections for my genealogy.<br />
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I have continued to keep in touch with them and let them know about new discoveries as I made them and they have continued to send me information as they found it. We also have continued to have yearly Brown Family reunions, although they are not as well attended as our family is getting scattered and many of the cousins are no longer able to make the trip. My first letter with the family group sheets went out in 1993 and in January of 1994 I visited my cousin Mary Jean and asked her to get out all pictures, documents, etc. that she had. She did not have the reunion pictures that I thought she did, but she did have a photo of my great grandmother, Grandpa's mother, and my uncle had written on the back information that unlocked several family secrets and sent me to a different county in which to research. Among other things he said Grandpa's mother was buried in Vassar under the name of Clark who she married after her husband died. You will hear more about that after I finish Grandpa's story.<br />
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It was cousin Richard that found what I call the BOMBSHELL LETTER in an old desk that his father had inherited from his father, Grandpa Brown.Ann Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06576535188429279894noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258250063871066950.post-13859276541564534202012-02-29T12:59:00.000-05:002012-02-29T12:59:44.547-05:00Mother Was A LeaplingMy mother was one of the relatively rare people (one in 1500) who were born on February 29th. Had she lived, she would be celebrating her 26th birthday today and she would be 104 years old. She was the fourth child of six born to Edwin and Augusta Zabel Brown.<br />
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Here is her birth certificate and a picture of Mother with her three older siblings:<br />
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Unfortunately, Mother died at age 67 of pancreatic cancer just a month before her 15th birthday. She is buried close to the graves of her mother and father and several of her brothers and sisters in East Cemetery, Grass Lake, Michigan. She is still missed by all who knew her, particularly on her special day.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOTHER</span></div>Ann Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06576535188429279894noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258250063871066950.post-6078465526744528202012-02-15T16:30:00.001-05:002012-02-23T11:14:15.690-05:00Genealogy Lessons Part Three, ContinuedI apologize for being so late in posting the conclusion to Part Three as the other part of my life (family, an attempt to organize my piles of research, general housecleaning, and a few doctor appointments) got in the way.<br />
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As you may remember I was comparing the two birth certificates for Edwin Brown, both with wrong information. In order to find his correct birth date, I decided to go back to the old fashioned preponderance of evidence. Remember the first US Census in which I found Edwin was taken in 1880 and his age was 11 years. After many years I finally found him in the index of the 1870 Census with the same parents in Shiawassee Co., thank you to Ancestry.com, and his age was listed as 1 year. Other censuses I have are the 1910 in Saginaw Co., 1920 and 1930 in Jackson Co. All agree his year of birth must have been 1869.<br />
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Other records I had collected from courthouses were his first marriage in Tuscola Co. on 23 Jul 1892 his age 23, his second marriage to my grandmother in Houghton Co on 4 Aug 1900 his age 31, and his mothers divorce papers. Since all records and his family agreed that his birthday was February 15, I would say his birth year was 1869.<br />
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<b>Happy Birthday Grandpa!</b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XlRUswwmf6Y/TzwitDTcF-I/AAAAAAAAACs/YQuEKMQEG40/s1600/Grandpa&+cake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XlRUswwmf6Y/TzwitDTcF-I/AAAAAAAAACs/YQuEKMQEG40/s320/Grandpa&+cake.jpg" width="224" /></a></div>Ann Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06576535188429279894noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258250063871066950.post-69725102005801689062012-01-16T15:19:00.000-05:002012-01-16T15:19:46.515-05:00Genealogy Lessons Part Three In Part Two of some of the lessons I learned while researching my grandfather's life, I told of finding him, age 11, as the oldest son in the family of George R. and Anne in the 1880 US Census in Conway Township, Livingston County, Michigan. Since, at the time, this was the only record I had of my grandfather, I started searching Livingston County for more data. This time instead of going to the courthouse, I went to the Family History Center in East Lansing where they have all the available vital record films from Michigan.There was an index film of birth records for Livingston, but the only two of the five children listed were Curtis (with a note that he was registered in Livingston but born in Shiawassee Co.) and my grandfather Edwin, who had filed a delayed birth certificate in 1945. Here is a copy:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zcSRQPCVTW8/TxRoL_XUBPI/AAAAAAAAACc/qb4yMbgKtPo/s1600/Brown%252C+Edwin+D.+delayed+birth+cert+Livingston+wrong+date.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zcSRQPCVTW8/TxRoL_XUBPI/AAAAAAAAACc/qb4yMbgKtPo/s320/Brown%252C+Edwin+D.+delayed+birth+cert+Livingston+wrong+date.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>All of a sudden my grandfather seems to have aged 10 or 11 years. His birthday of February 15th stayed the same on all documents. It is just the year of birth that changes quite dramatically. I can remember his telling his children that he hadn't wanted my grandmother to know that he was 10 years older than she was. There are a few other mistakes such as his father's age and his father's and mother's place of birth. Also his only proof was affidavits from two acqaintances who probably said whatever he told them to say. By this time, I had collected enough other information about the family to know the above certificate was false. So I picked up the clue about Grandpa's brother Curtis being born in Shiawassee County and made a trip to the County Courthouse in Corunna, definitely not the friendliest Clerk's office in Michigan. They would not let me look at the ledger books myself, but a lady took my list of names and birth dates I was looking for and disappeared into the back room. Fairly soon she came back to tell me that she had found Ethel Mae and Edwin, but my dates were wrong. In order to see the records I had to order a certified copy for $20. As Ethel Mae's appeared to be correct, I only ordered Edwin's and here it is:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VuCHocG7OTY/TxRoYWnkUmI/AAAAAAAAACk/XvfLScEzR6k/s1600/Brown%252C+Edwin+W.+birth+cert.+Shiawassee+wrong+date.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="201" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VuCHocG7OTY/TxRoYWnkUmI/AAAAAAAAACk/XvfLScEzR6k/s320/Brown%252C+Edwin+W.+birth+cert.+Shiawassee+wrong+date.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Please note that Edwin's middle initial has changed to "W" but his birthday is still on February 15th. The year, however, has changed to 1873 which means he was born approximately 3 months after his sister, Ethel Mae, who, according to Shiawassee records, was born in November of 1872. <br />
Lesson learned--<b>DO NOT BELIEVE ALL THE OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS YOU FIND.</b><br />
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Ann Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06576535188429279894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258250063871066950.post-54045772949760785192011-12-23T20:18:00.000-05:002011-12-23T20:18:10.848-05:00CHRISTMAS MEMORIES<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">My earliest Christmas memories come from our house in Detroit when I was six years old and my sister Kay was a baby. The memories arise, as most of my early memories do, from 8mm. movies that my father took. I am never sure whether I am remembering the happening or the pictures of the event, but I am ever grateful to my father for keeping such a good photographic history of our family. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I really cannot recall a time during my growing up years that we spent Christmas at home. Fairly early on Christmas Eve day, Kay and I would get placed in the bathtub to get cleaned up for our trip and, lo and behold! We would hear sleigh bells jingling, and, hurriedly getting dried and dressed, we would rush to the living room and find that Santa had made an early visit. Mother always assured us that “He knew when we were going to be away as well as whether we had been naughty or nice.” After opening gifts and exclaiming over them, we each got to choose just one to take with us in the car. We would then bundle up and hop in the Chevy sedan and go “over the river and through the woods” to Grandmother’s house. We always spent Christmas Eve at Grandma and Grandpa Brown’s house in Jackson along with most of my aunts and uncles and cousins. My mother had nine brothers and sisters and I had 15 cousins on that side of the family. Most of these cousins lived with their parents in the Jackson area, so the gathering was always large and noisy, but I remember it as a truly happy occasion. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OBMGGGFsLdA/TvUjWOX3P6I/AAAAAAAAACQ/T6qUbWy76ao/s1600/Christmas+at+Brown%2527s+1933.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OBMGGGFsLdA/TvUjWOX3P6I/AAAAAAAAACQ/T6qUbWy76ao/s320/Christmas+at+Brown%2527s+1933.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Because we were going to be gone on Christmas Eve and the next day, our tree at home was decorated a few days before Christmas. It was always a real tree, usually a balsam or spruce, because our family liked to have some space in the branches. Father’s job was to set up the tree and put on the strings of lights. Then Kay and I helped Mother decorate the tree. I recall the glass balls and ornaments--I still have a few of them--and the “icicles” that were carefully separated and hung after the ornaments were put in place. None of that throwing on clumps of icicles for our family. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Running in a circle under the tree was my father’s Lionel train. When he turned it on, the headlight on the engine would light, and the control would make the train go around the tree. I am pretty sure there was also a whistle and smoke coming from the engine. The cars were large enough to hold small treasures which we were allowed to place in them. Also under the tree or close by would be the little Christmas scene which mother would arrange. She used a flat mirror for an ice rink and had lots of cotton for snow. The figures and buildings were not the “village scenes” available today, but were little cardboard buildings covered with glitter and some matching snowmen that were made in Japan and could double as ornaments. There were also little “bottle brush” trees whose green branches were tipped with “snow”. I still have a few of these trees and figures, which occupy a place of honor on my windowsill at Christmas time each year along with an antique Santa in his sleigh which we inherited from my husband’s family.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The overpowering idea of Christmas that I remember was that Christmas was a time to get together with “family” to share the wonders of the season.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div>Ann Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06576535188429279894noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258250063871066950.post-37048130122769362962011-12-02T23:11:00.001-05:002011-12-02T23:24:10.577-05:00Genealogy Lessons Part Two There were so many interesting stories it was hard deciding where to start. Remember this was back in the early 1990s. The internet was really in its infancy and genealogy research usually had to be done the old fashioned way. I was also in my infancy as far as genealogy was concerned. I did know how to do research however.<br />
So I decided to try to prove my Grandfather Brown's connection to John Brown, the abolitionist. If he was a nephew, I had to find all of John Brown's siblings. Before I was through, I knew an awful lot about John Brown's family, but did not find any that could be the father of my Edwin. I also learned one of the cardinal rules of genealogy; <b>Always start with the known and work back in time. </b>I put the papers about "Uncle John who is mouldering in his grave" in my archives just in case someone discovers something new.<br />
I am going to quote the next paragraphs from the "Jackson Citizen Patriot" newspaper in 1952.<br />
"The Jackson octogenarian has had an eventful career. After he was graduated from the University of Michigan in 1880, he was taken by the governor of Michigan to see President James A. Garfield in Washington, and there Brown received the appointment of United States marshal, assigned to the states west of the Mississippi river. He held that post for 18 years and six months, working principally out of Denver, Colo. and Phoenix, Ariz. and in conjunction with the 16th United States cavalry.<br />
"He helped put down an oriental dope ring on the border between Canada and the United States, he saw outlaw gangs come and go in the Middle West, and he had met Col. William F. (Buffalo Bill) Cody many times. in fact, they belonged to the same Masonic lodge at Denver.<br />
"Once, Brown recalls, he was shot at from ambush 35 miles from Reeder Fort, Wyo. His horse was killed and he was struck in the left leg, He doesn't know who fired upon him, or why."<br />
I had help from some of my cousins who attended U of M as they did a lot of looking and could find no record of our Grandpa attending the University. Then I finally found his family in the U S Census of 1880 and Edwin was 11 years old, a little young to be graduating and appointed a marshal. As for knowing Buffalo Bill, I called the Masons in Jackson, Detroit, and Denver and none of them had any records of Edwin Brown. Another cousin, who lived in Wyoming, called the Buffalo Bill museum and they checked their list of over 100 people who knew Buffalo Bill and were invited to the opening of the museum. No Edwin Brown on the list.<br />
As for being a U S Marshal, I went to the original records at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. I was directed down a long hall to an old elevator in which I rode to the seventh floor and walked down another hall to the office where they kept the records and reports of the U S Marshals. Thankfully they had an index, but no mention of Edwin Brown. The kindly man who was helping me, smiled and said,"Lots of men dreamed that they were U S Marshals".<br />
All I can say right now is my grandpa sure had a good imagination and must have been a good reader. Stay tuned to this blog. "You ain't heard nothin yet."Ann Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06576535188429279894noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258250063871066950.post-56513836366020679852011-11-19T20:51:00.000-05:002011-11-19T20:51:24.196-05:00Genealogy Lessons I Learned From My Grandfather Brown<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">Do you remember having to write a story in school about “Your most interesting character”?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When my cousins on my mother’s side of the family received this assignment back in the 1940s, there was no doubt who to write about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was our grandfather, Edwin Dexter Whitmore Reed Brown.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>After all, he used to be a U. S. Marshall in all the territory west of the Mississippi where he fought oriental dope rings on the Canadian border, became acquainted with “Buffalo Bill” Cody in their Masonic Lodge in Denver, and won several shooting contests.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He also was a nephew of John Brown, the abolitionist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He graduated from the University of Michigan and the Michigan Agricultural College (now known as Michigan State University).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He worked on building the canal at Houghton, Michigan and the locks at Sault Ste. Marie.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>His first wife died in the Johnstown flood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was employed in a war plant during World War II despite the fact that he was 86 years old.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He attributed his health and longevity to never “chewing, smoking, or drinking” and to eating a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast every morning.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>According to his obituary and his death certificate, he died in Jackson, Michigan at age 97 having been born on February 15, 1858.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>How did I know all of this?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My grandfather told his family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He also told the Jackson newspapers which published the stories.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have at least eight different newspaper clippings about grandfather that my mother had saved.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When I started genealogy research, long after my grandfather and all of his children were gone, I learned several important lessons.</div><div class="MsoNormal">LESSON ONE:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do not believe everything your grandfather tells you. After 15 years of research, the only proven facts in all of the above are:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He did have a first wife who died before he met my grandmother.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He did eat a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast every morning and never chewed, smoked or drank.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was born on February 15<sup>th</sup>. And, he did die on December 10, 1955. </div><div class="MsoNormal">LESSON TWO:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do not believe everything you read in the newspaper. Someone from Michigan State University read in the paper that grandfather had graduated from MSU and sent him an invitation to attend the Patriarchs alumni banquet in East Lansing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He accepted and I have a fine picture of him from the alumni magazine shaking hands with Dr. Hannah.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He and another man were the oldest graduates present.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Upon further investigation, the college archives sent me a very diplomatic letter explaining that they could find no record of him ever attending MSU. </div><div class="MsoNormal">LESSON THREE:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do not believe all the courthouse documents you find.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first birth certificate I found for grandfather was a delayed birth certificate that he applied for in 1945.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then I found his real certificate in the next county.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The two certificates vary in his year of birth by fourteen years and neither of them are correct. </div><div class="MsoNormal">LESSON FOUR:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Be prepared to uncover some surprises—not all pleasant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The bad surprise was finding grandfather serving a prison term for burglary during the time he was supposedly a U.S. Marshall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The good surprise was being able to prove my descent from the Mayflower through my grandfather’s ancestors. </div><div class="MsoNormal">P.S. He is still one of my most interesting characters. </div><div class="MsoNormal">I originally published the above in the March issue of "Vintage Views", the quarterly newspaper of the Older Persons Commission in Rochester Michigan. </div>Ann Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06576535188429279894noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258250063871066950.post-50771488080546716272011-11-11T15:13:00.000-05:002011-11-11T16:01:44.997-05:00Welcome to Turning Pages -- Ancestor by Ancestor<a href="http://localhost:1320/8cdd037788d4e0344f2ab1ab535bbf5c/image514.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; FLOAT: left; CLEAR: both" border="0" alt="" src="http://localhost:1320/8cdd037788d4e0344f2ab1ab535bbf5c/image514.jpg?size=320" /></a> You are invited to join me as I turn the pages of the family picture albums and the books and ledgers with genealogy records. I plan on sharing my family history with you one ancestor at a time and tell you how I went about finding the information to "flesh out the bones."<br /><br />Although I have been working on my genealogy for over twenty years, I didn't start until almost all of the older generation was gone. I needed to find the existing records and will tell you as I write about the ancestors where each of their information came from. <br /><br />I will be starting with my grandfather Edwin D. Brown, my mother's father, because he has always been my most interesting character and because I learned so much about the "do's and don't's"of doing genealogy while researching him.Ann Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06576535188429279894noreply@blogger.com1