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What are we nudging for? ;)

Aren't we waiting for Natasha to receive Eric's birth certificate??

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Aha! Found him in 1851 in the English census.


Name: W Wells Brown
Age: 38
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1813
Relation: Lodger Traveler (Lodger)
Where born: United States
Occupation: NK (not known)

Condition as to marriage: Unmarried

Civil Parish: Leeds
Town: Leeds
County/Island: Yorkshire

There's no one else in the residence who stands out as being associated with him -- no one else born in the US, one person born in Copenhagen and one in Italy.



I do have to say that I would be sceptical until you get facts, Natasha. Most of us do have stories of exalted ancestors in our trees that often aren't accurate. (Me included!) No matter who told them. ;)

I don't quite understand how it would be that WWB was your grx2 grfather. Eric, your grandfather, was born in 1922. WWB was born in 1814 and died in 1884. There's no possible link. Eric could be a son of a son of WWB, but it doesn't look like WWB had any sons.

Is there obvious African heritage in your family? I'm not fond of the blood fractions business, but WWB was one/half African-American. His children would have been at least 1/4, and probably 3/4 African-American. His first wife, at least, was African-American, so their two surviving daughters were 3/4 AA; no info about his second wife, whom he married when he was 46, or about how old she was or whether they had children, but it seems unlikely. I can't find him in US censuses.


Here is one record that is rather interesting, though.


Slave Registers of former British Colonial Dependencies, 1812-1834
about Sammy Wells Brown

Name: Sammy Wells Brown
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1830
Age: 2
Nationality: Creole [i.e. mixed race]
Gender: Male
PARISH: Manchester
Colonial Dependency: Jamaica
Owner Name: Robert Porter
Record Date: 1832


It seems rather unlikely that WWB would have had a child in 1830, or that the child would have been in Jamaica in 1832, but that is a coincidental name. Perhaps WWB wasn't the only one to adopt it!


This birth was during the period WWB was in England, and might be interesting:

Births Dec 1849
BROWN William Wells St Pancras 1 260

Info about William Wells Brown's family/children is not easy to find.

http://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/brownw/bio.html

In the summer 1834, he met and married Elizabeth Spooner, a free black woman; they had three daughters, one of whom died shortly after birth. Two years after his marriage, Brown moved to Buffalo ...

In 1849, he began a lecture tour of Britain and remained abroad until 1854. The length of his stay was conditioned by personal and political motives. He was exhilarated by the tour, had time to write, and enjoyed the benefits of reform circle society. He was also trying to recover from the dissolution of his marriage. ...

http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap3/brown.html

While Brown was in Europe his wife died.

In 1860 he married Annie Elizabeth Grey. ...

hello evie

Thank you very much for helping me, yes already on it's way my grandad Eric's birth certificate.

All i can do now is wait :)

Thanks again

Natasha

I'm just wondering -- the Arthur Archer Brown - Lucy Wheatley marriage was in 1899, and those births in Croydon are 1913-1927.

If Lucy was 20 when she married in 1899, she would have been pushing 50 in 1927.

I'd get Eric's birth certificate first and get his parents' names for sure.

Deleted because I thought I might have found him in 1861, assuming he was still in England, as a visitor in Liverpool. But the image shows that William Brown, aged 46, born in "America", to be a seaman.

Drat, William Wells Brown must have been off on the continent lecturing in 1851 -- he isn't in the 1851 English census!

And - what you really need is the Brown-Wheatley marriage certificate, to find out the name of Arthur Archer Brown's father. I guess you did figure out that's what you need. ;)

Natasha, the "Click to view" is just bumph that I always delete when I copy and paste to here.

It means you can view the scan of the GRO index page the birth appears on. It won't tell you any more than what's copied here already -- the name, date, volume, page number, district.

You do need to do that before ordering the birth certificate, though.

Find Eric's birth here:

http://www.freebmd.org.uk

Click on the red Search

Then search for his birth by name and year.

When you get it, click on the spectacles beside his name and consult the original image, to make sure that all the info has been transcribed correctly.

Order the birth certificate here:

http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/

You do have the GRO reference (that's what the info at FreeBMD is), and you just fill out the forms and give 'em your credit card and wait.


And don't go counting too many chickens til you find out who hatched Eric for sure!

Mrs Grumpy

Thank you for your help, where & how do i click to view?

Thanks again

Natasha xx

Thank you lady dragonfly.

Natasha xxxxx

This is amazing Natasha!! How exciting for you..especially in todays political climate..(and all of us !) how proud you must be too. Can't help with look ups but..Good luck! x x x

Lots of siblings:

Births Sep 1913 (>99%)
Brown George F Wheatley Croydon 2a 781 Scan available - click to view
Births Dec 1914 (94%)
BROWN Edward L Wheatley Croydon 2a 656 Scan available - click to view
Births Dec 1917 (>99%)
Brown Ethel M C Wheatley Croydon 2a 499 Scan available - click to view
Births Mar 1922 (>99%)
Brown Eric D Wheatley Croydon 2a 687 Scan available - click to view
Births Sep 1923 (>99%)
Brown Doris B M Wheatley Croydon 2a 667 Scan available - click to view
Births Dec 1924 (>99%)
Brown John A Wheatley Croydon 2a 553 Scan available - click to view
Births Jun 1927 (>99%)
Brown Ida I Wheatley Croydon 2a 655 Scan available - click to view

Eric's birth cert :

Births Mar 1922 (>99%)
Brown Eric D Wheatley Croydon 2a 687 Scan available - click to view

Ann

I am so confused but very excited, all of this has come quite a shock to me.

Your help is so appreciated, thank you so much xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I really think you should contact the BBC and suggest they do a programme on Who Do you Think You are - it would be absolutely fascinating - I'm serious by the way

just googled again - there are 58,000+ pieces on him on google!!