G’day all and thanks once more for input from JJ, PolarBear and Barleyfields – lovely image of Wansboro Park, beside Shannon, Athlone.
JJ: I did add all the info sent to me from St Mary’s church, Athlone. No sponsors were included –the info added to the previous post was a copy of the correspondence I received.
I have called my cousins again and asked if they can add any further information about the family and they could only repeat all the stories that I have added previously. They said that they thought Mike Brown had 2 younger sisters and a younger brother who’s name may have been William. They think one of the sisters was Mary Margaret and the other was known as Aggie (Agnes Helen or Helen Agnes maybe) They say these names because their mother told them she was named after one of Mike Browns sisters. My cousins were also told that Mike and Minnie’s second daughter Agnes Helen Brown was named after another of Mike Browns sisters.
I asked again about the letters and photos from Mike Browns family and they again told me that most things were lost when the family house was flooded in the early 1950’s.
It seems Minnie never met Mike Browns family and it is unclear if she ever corresponded with them. I did, however, find out that Minnie did live with my cousins and their parent at the time the home was flooded and that could explain why so much information was lost. Minnie and Mike Brown had been living with one of their other daughter at the time of Mike’s death.
My cousins are not happy with the news that St Andrew’s Vancouver is a Presbyterian Church….they had always thought Mike and Minnie were married in a Catholic Church. However they have accepted that sufficient evidence has been found to support the fact that Rev Angus C Cameron MA was indeed a minister at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Vancouver in 1913 when they were married there.
And another thought I had was this will also partially explain somewhat why the Scotsman Ralph Swanston was one of the witnesses to their marriage – they may have went to the same men’s bible group or met at the church.
In the 1900 census JJ sent link to William Brown, the lumbar merchant, says he was born in New York and his parents were from Ireland. Being born in NY was supported in the Bio on Walter Brown but not that he came from Ireland. And as already pointed out these Browns were Presbyterian. Walter E Brown also achieved a great status in his lifetime and I would also imagine that would have been a story to pass down in the family too but it was not. Have sent my cousins the link to Walter E Brown bio and will have to wait for their comments. Maybe it will jog a memory?? That is if Walter E Brown is part of the Mike Brown tree.
I am still wondering about the Michael Brown on the 1900 and 1910 census in Whiting, Jackson and all the bios not quite lining up about the Browns….what a shame there was no mention of JP Brown in Atchison in these stories. However the 1910 census does say this Michael Brown migrated in 1839 – he would have been 9 years old so who did Michael Brown go to Nth America with?
Over the next few days I will look again at all the evidence and see if anything lines up. Will re-read all the bio’s and look anything else that may shed some light on Mike Brown.
Other things are urgently demanding most my time – but living family must come first.
Cheerio for now G
