Legends – John H Brown

My grandmother told me once that one of her ancestors served on the USS Constitution – “Old Ironsides”.  I remember during one of my childhood trips to visit my other set of grandparents, who lived in Massachusetts, we took a trip to visit the USS Constitution. Little did I know at that time that one of my ancestors possibly walked on the same planks I walked on that day!

His name was John Brown, yes a very common name.  So common a name that in the 1880’s in a very small town in Iowa there were 3 John Browns!  My grandmother, Pauline Holm, is the one who told me about our connection to the USS Constitution and John Brown. She also visited the ship, possibly on the same trip as me, though I can’t remember, and claims to have seen his name recorded on the ships roster as one of the crew.

According to the family record of births and deaths handwritten on plain paper among those of Grace Brown Royer, “John A Brown, born in Montplier, VT, was orphaned as a child and went to live with his uncle, a sea captain”.  

The first real record I have for John Brown is in the 1860 US Fed Census for Stockton, JoDaviess County, IL where John is already 30 years old working as a farmer.  How did John get from somewhere on the east coast (if he was a sailor) to Illinois?  The person giving the enumerator the information stated that John’s birthplace was Canada. OK, Canada and Vermont are close so that could be confusing.   Along with John is his wife Alice, age 24 whose birthplace is England.  Note: She immigrated to the US with her parents John and Susannah Graham and their 9 children in 1851 aboard the ship Albert Galatin that departed from Liverpool, England. The children home with John and Alice were: Charles H, a son age 4, Emmaline age 3 and Rosannah age 2, all born in Stockton, Jo Daviess County, IL.

Sometime between 1860 and 1864 the family moved from IL to Iowa. The one photo of him I have almost looks like a military uniform.  Could he have served for the north during the Civil War?  Could a pension have caused the family to move?  John purchased land in Charles City, Iowa on 20 Dec 1864. They were lots 3&4 in block 84 in Kelly and Co addition to the village of St. Charles for $350.

In the 1870 US Fed Census taken in Charles City recorded John Brown, who was then 43 yrs old, as stating his birthplace as Mass and his father and mother as being foreign born. He is listed as a laborer with his wife Alice, and now 7 children – Charles 14, Emmaline 13, Rose 11, William 9, John 7, Abraham 5 and Alice 3. Abraham and Alice are listed as the only children born in Iowa.

One year later, on 9 November 1871 at the age of 36, his wife, Alice, died. Cause of death was consumption. On her death certificate, her husband is listed as Sailor Brown.

In the 1880 US Fed Census John is now 59, and living only with William F Brown, his second son, at 407 Gilbert Street, Charles, Floyd, Iowa. In the census John claims birth place as the District of Columbia, and that his father was born in Scotland and mother in Germany and his occupation is listed as laborer.

However, in the 1885 Iowa State Census, John, who is still living with his son William, lists his occupation as a retired sailor. He lists his birthplace as Boston which is crossed out and replaced with Mass. John is now 64 years old and William is 24 and listed as the head of household, his occupation is a plasterer as is his younger brother, John D Brown, age 21, is also listed as an occupant of the house.

John Brown died at the IHI (Independence Mental Health Institute (built to hold alcoholics, geriatrics, drug addicts, mentally ill, and the criminally insane) in Independence, Iowa of chronic diffuse nephritis, at the age of 69, on 1 Nov 1889.

He was buried in the Riverside Cemetery, in Floyd County, Iowa. The death records indicate John was a widower, born in Pennsylvania whose occupation was sailor. 

I have no proof of where this ancestor was actually born, maybe he wasn’t really certain himself!  Maybe when sent to live with the uncle he did go out to sea and never really had a home.  Maybe as a young man he did sail on Old Ironsides or maybe his uncle did and told him stories.  Whatever John’s full story is, it is yet to be discovered and legends yet to be disproved.