I think my 2nd great grandfather was a bigamist

[dragonfly13]

I am an absolute beginner at geneology.  I only just started this past March.  I HAVE been quite diligent and spend hours at it every day.  One of my cousins thinks that dear old grand dad only married once.  My reply to that is “Then where did this half great uncle come from on ancestry.com thru lines?”
The facts as I know them:
2nd GGF is Henry E Brown b. 24 Jan 1852 in Baden, Germany d. 2 Aug 1927 in Charlotte, MI
Marries Rosa Katharina Disher on 1 Feb 1873 in Lucas County, Ohio.  She was b. 26 Mar 1846 in Diemtigen, Bern, Switzerland (and so was her sister: Susan Katharina Disher on 26 May 1846).  Their parents, Christian Teuscher Disher and Magdalina Minnig, took them, along with their six siblings sometime between Dec 1849 to Oct 1850 to Providence Township, Lucas County, Ohio.

Rosa’s sister Susan marries Henry’s brother George W Brown in 1869. There was yet another Disher family living near Henry and George’s family farm - headed by Christian David Disher.  HIS daughter, Clarissa Disher married John Brown, brother of Henry and George.

Back to Henry E Brown.  He married Rosa in February 1873 and their first child Mary was born 3 months later.  And then in October 1874, his daughter Minnie (my GGM) - with my 2nd GGM Louise Hettinger - was born out of wedlock. He went on to have 7 more children with Rosa.  One of them is my half great uncle according to thru lines - Allen Louis Brown b. 1904.  He kept his Rosa family in Van Wert County, Ohio.

In June 1876, he married Louise Hettinger.  And had four more children with her.  I think that Louise was the wife he kept secret, and he kept her and the children in Wood County, Ohio.  When he died 2 Aug 1927 in Charlotte, Eaton County, Michigan (he and Rosa had moved there).  He was buried in Van Wert County, Ohio.  His Find A Grave Memorial # is 79929244 and the url is https:/www.findagrave.com/memorial/79929244/henry-brown

If anyone could weigh in on this, I would be very grateful.  As I imagine you could guess, I don’t have tons of geneological skills in my toolbox.  But I have the most expensive membership at ancestry.com.  I could start a fake branch of my family tree for one of you in an attempt to help.

[amondg]

We have 2 Henry E Brown's here

Pension application for Louise Brown WIDOW of Henry  E Brown was applied for on 8 March 1909 in Ohio

If your relative is Minnie daughter of Henry Brown and Louisa/ Louise then that is your correct family.
-----

The Henry E Brown who married Rosa you say died 1927 in Michigan is a separate family

[amondg]

They have different birthdays.

1900 census Providence Ohio
Henry E Brown born November 1852
Louise born September 1858
Charles H born February 1888

German spelling for Brown is Braun previous records may reflect
------------------------
1900 Van Wert Ohio
Henry E Brown born January 1852
Rosy December 1849
chlidren etc.

[dragonfly13]

Thank you so much for your quick response, amondg!  I noticed that on one of the census records he gave his birthdate as Jan 1852; and on the other one it was Nov 1852.  That was the only time the census taker found him at home at both addresses (if my theory is correct).  Could the different birthdates be an attempt to muddy the waters on his part? 

Also….I have these dna connections to one child of Rosa Disher and ancestry.com calls him a half great uncle.
I may just totally be out on a limb but that dna is what started me wondering.  Is there any help I can offer you in return?

[shellyesq]

It's not beyond the realm of possibility that he was a bigamist, but I'm not quite sure what evidence there is to support that these are all the same Henry.  I have a Henry Brown from Ohio in my family tree too, so it's certainly a common name.

We have 2 Henry E Brown's here

Pension application for Louise Brown WIDOW of Henry  E Brown was applied for on 8 March 1909 in Ohio

I think that pension application might be another Henry E. Brown with another Louise.  It's under Civil War pensions, and a Henry Brown born 1852 would have been too young to be in the Civil War.  Even if he was faking his age, he only would have been 13 at the end of the war.  Seems unlikely that he would have passed for an adult. 

[dragonfly13]

And….just to stir the pot a little more, one of my cousins who shares Henry as an ancestor with me believes that our Henry died in 1901 in Toledo, Ohio.  Which makes it impossible for him to be the father of Ruth Brown born in 1905.  I know Ruth is related to me. Her sister Minnie is my great grandmother.   Ruth had an illegitimate child in 1922.  Said child was adopted by the paternal aunt and her husband.  I have several rather close cousins from the out of wedlock child!  It took those cousins and I a bit of struggling to finally figure out how we were related.  Sexual misbehavior seemed to run in the family.  I talked to my half 2nd cousin the other night and found that her grandfather (son of Henry and Rosa) lost his wife when he had 3 young children.  So he hired a nanny.  And four years later, he and nanny married about a month before their first child was born.

I swear I’m not making this up, even though it sounds like a good soap opera plot….

[Stanwix England]

If there are two Henry E Browns, is there any chance they are cousins? Maybe that might explain your DNA puzzle?

I don't know what the convention was in Germany, but in England at least, at the time, it would not have been considered strange to give two cousins the same name, particularly if there was an important person or family member they wanted to honour.

So if both your Henry E Browns are from Germany, perhaps they were related but not the same person?

[Lisa in California]

I’m in the middle of another project but popped in here during a break.  Perhaps I haven’t given enough attention to your first post, but i think you mentioned that Brown brothers married Disher sisters?  I think when DNA matches are given there are two or three possibilities of a connection, such as (purely as an example):
2nd cousin or
1st cousin, once removed or
half aunt or uncle

Is it possible that the DNA connection you have could be just a 1st or 2nd cousin and not a half-uncle?

[Lisa in California]

If there are two Henry E Browns, is there any chance they are cousins? Maybe that might explain your DNA puzzle?

I don't know what the convention was in Germany, but in England at least, at the time, it would not have been considered strange to give two cousins the same name, particularly if there was an important person or family member they wanted to honour.

So if both your Henry E Browns are from Germany, perhaps they were related but not the same person?

Same was true in Canada, at least with my families.  I have a grandfather James and his son, James H and his son James S, and James H’s two nephews, James E.
Two cousins (in the three families) were also named William (and William), and Emily (and Emily).
I wouldn’t want to go to their family get togethers - it must have been confusing.

They all had the same surname.

PS James was handed down since at least the 1740’s, William was handed down from the wife’s side since the 1720s and the Emily’s were named after (I think) a second wife who didn’t birth any children but helped raise James H and his siblings.