Genealogy 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.
          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; Always start with the known and work back in time. I put the papers about "Uncle John who is mouldering in his grave" in my archives just in case someone discovers something new.
          I am going to quote the next paragraphs from the "Jackson Citizen Patriot" newspaper in 1952.
   "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.
    "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.
   "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."
            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.
            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".
            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."

Genealogy Lessons I Learned From My Grandfather Brown

Do you remember having to write a story in school about “Your most interesting character”?  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.   It was our grandfather, Edwin Dexter Whitmore Reed Brown.

            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.

            He also was a nephew of John Brown, the abolitionist.  He graduated from the University of Michigan and the Michigan Agricultural College (now known as Michigan State University).  He worked on building the canal at Houghton, Michigan and the locks at Sault Ste. Marie.

            His first wife died in the Johnstown flood.  He was employed in a war plant during World War II despite the fact that he was 86 years old.  He attributed his health and longevity to never “chewing, smoking, or drinking” and to eating a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast every morning.

            According to his obituary and his death certificate, he died in Jackson, Michigan at age 97 having been born on February 15, 1858.

            How did I know all of this?  My grandfather told his family.  He also told the Jackson newspapers which published the stories.  I have at least eight different newspaper clippings about grandfather that my mother had saved.

            When I started genealogy research, long after my grandfather and all of his children were gone, I learned several important lessons.

LESSON ONE:  Do not believe everything your grandfather tells you. After 15 years of research, the only proven facts in all of the above are:  He did have a first wife who died before he met my grandmother.  He did eat a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast every morning and never chewed, smoked or drank.  He was born on February 15^th. And, he did die on December 10, 1955.

LESSON TWO:  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.  He accepted and I have a fine picture of him from the alumni magazine shaking hands with Dr. Hannah.  He and another man were the oldest graduates present.  Upon further investigation, the college archives sent me a very diplomatic letter explaining that they could find no record of him ever attending MSU.

LESSON THREE:  Do not believe all the courthouse documents you find.  The first birth certificate I found for grandfather was a delayed birth certificate that he applied for in 1945.  Then I found his real certificate in the next county.  The two certificates vary in his year of birth by fourteen years and neither of them are correct.

LESSON FOUR:  Be prepared to uncover some surprises—not all pleasant.  The bad surprise was finding grandfather serving a prison term for burglary during the time he was supposedly a U.S. Marshall.  The good surprise was being able to prove my descent from the Mayflower through my grandfather’s ancestors.

P.S. He is still one of my most interesting characters. 

I originally published the above in the March issue of "Vintage Views", the quarterly newspaper of the Older Persons Commission in Rochester Michigan.