Sunday, February 5, 2017

Common New England Surname: Brown

Shades of Brown Mandala, Midge Frazel, Colorist, 2017
Common New England Surname: Brown
Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?

Whenever New England genealogists encounter the surname Brown, Smith or Jones, they groan and throw up their hands in the air! I am one of those people that has all those names in my charts. 

Proving just one line can take years of work. As I roamed the cemeteries in my local Massachusetts areas, in my native Rhode Island or my ancestral areas of Connecticut, I see many family plots that have at least one of these surnames. 

It seems people with the surname Brown are all around me! My grandparents lived next door to a Brown family, whose son was my childhood dentist.

The History of Stonington, Connecticut by Judge Wheeler, which is arranged by family surname has three sections of Brown families. They are: The "Lynn Brown Family" meaning they came from Lynn, Massachusetts, the "Rev. Chad Brown" family and the "Edward Brown" family. 

Is it any wonder that the children's rhyming picture book keeps running through my head?

The Browns buried in the Denison plot at Elm Grove Cemetery in Mystic, CT are part of the "Lynn Brown Family". Judge Wheeler's book and the vital records and Hale Cemetery records agree. Phew. But, wait, there are two Brown plots nearby. Are they the same family? I decided to find out.

If you see any Brown, Smith or Jones gravestones, you should photograph them and put them online. That's what I am doing. Hopefully none of them are bears.

Posts about this project will be in The Granite in MY Blood blog

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