Brown was the sixth most common name in England and became the second most common in New England. It is no surprise to find three Brown(e) families in my ancestry. The extraordinary thing is they have their English origins known in two cases and appear in the English origins of another. So despite being a common name, much is known about the Browns.
In this case, Henry's parents are George and Christian (Hibbert) Brown of Salisbury, England. They married there on 30 September 1611. George died about October 1633 and his widow and three of his sons all sailed to New England. They all settled in Salisbury with George Brown (Jr.) removing to Haverhill and living there. The widow Christian Brown died at Salisbury on 28 December 1641.
Henry was a shoemaker and had a wife named Abigail. He died at Salisbury 6 August 1701 and she followed on 23 August 1702. They had seven children: Nathaniel, Abigail, Jonathan, Philip, Abraham, Sarah and Henry.
Nathaniel Brown was born at Salisbury on 30 June 1642 and died there 5 October 1723. He married there on 18 August 1666, Hannah Fellows, daughter of Samuel and Ann (---) Fellows. She was born at Salisbury on 15 September 1648 and died there 23 May 1727. They had six children: Hannah, Abigail, Abra, Ruth, Ruth, and Nathaniel. Their eldest daughter Hannah married Thomas Evans on 30 September 1686 at Salisbury.
This information is gleaned from two sources: Essex Antiquarian Vol. XII (1908): 97-98 and Massachusetts and Maine Families in the Ancestry of Walter Goodwin Davis by Walter Goodwin Davis (Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, 1996), 1: 217-220. The English origins are given in Davis and he correctly identifies Henry's father as George not Henry as the Essex Antiquarian author mistakenly gives.
Posted by: |