Name is the same – Charles Brown
As I sit here and contemplate the hint for this this week which is “Name is the same” I was drawn to my ancestor Charles Brown. When I started researching him, I found him in a small town in Iowa called, funny enough, Charles City. However, there were actually two Charles Browns who seemed to be contemporaries. As I attempted to learn more about my Charles, the other Charles would pop up and many times I got the two confused while looking at land, tax and other records. However, this is the story, as I know it now of my ancestor, Charles Brown.
Charles Henry Brown (Browne) was born on March 12, 1856, in Stockton, Jo Daviess County, Illinois, according to the record of births and deaths in the family Bible my grandmother showed me. His father, John H Brown, was 35 and his mother, Alice Graham, was then 21. Charles was the oldest of 8 children. Emmaline or Emma was second in line of birth and she became a crucial part of my family’s story later. Four of the 8 children were born in Jo Daviees county. Some time between 1863 and 1865 the family moved from Illinois to Iowa where the remaining 4 were born.
On Dec 16 1877 Charles, who was then 21, married Jennie Gordon who was 18 years of age. The couple had two children: Grace Pauline who was born on December 1, 1882, in Dubuque, Iowa. George M was born on October 6, 1884, in Davenport City, Iowa. Unfortunately, Charles lost his wife, Jennie, at the age of 27 on August 31, 1886.
After Jennie’s death, raising two children must have been very difficult for Charles. He met and married Ida Alceste Hall. Unfortunately, Ida didn’t want a built in family so Grace was sent to live with Charles’ sister, the above mentioned Emma Brown, in Glenwood, Iowa. George was sent “east” to live with other family, presumably back in Illinois. (I haven’t found out where yet, but am on the trail)
My grandmother had told me that Grace never saw her father or brother again after moving in with Aunt Emma and her husband Milton Edwards in Glenwood, IA. However, I came to learn that Grace did indeed return to visit her father on occasion, which brings me great happiness that the family ties weren’t completely broken.
Charles was a machinist working at a mill in Charles City and met an untimely death at the mill at the age of 39. I hope to learn more about this ancestor, but with the intertwining records with the same name, it is difficult to discern my ancestor from the other Charles Brown, but the search continues.
