The Mississippi BROWN tree

Mississippi Counties

In a previous post about my Granny, Lucy Washington Brown, I refer to her husband (my grandfather) as Mr. Brown.  That's how I think of him.  He wasn't in my life nor his children's lives and I've heard some not too nice things about him.  But never, never from Granny.  I think that is why I put aside  looking into the Brown family side of my ancestry.  Well, the Brown ancestors have reached out and touched me.

So I've gone back over what I have on Noah Brown's parents and siblings.  My great grandparents: Sam Brown and Mary Stamps Brown.  Also their nine children: Luella born 1886; Ida, born 1888; Fannie, born 1890; Whit, born 1892; Simon, born 1894; Willie, born 1895; Sam, born 1898; Noah, born 1902; and Elizabeth, born 1905.  My great grandparents and all their children were born in Mississippi.

Samuel Brown of Simpson County, Mississippi and Mary Stamps of Rankin County, Mississippi were married on April 10, 1885 in Simpson Mississippi.  I have found my great grandparents in the 1900 federal census living in Simpson County Mississippi with seven of their nine oldest children.  In the 1910 federal census, Mary Brown is listed as a widow with her seven youngest children, still in Simpson County Mississippi.

By the 1920 federal census my great grandmother, Mary Brown, and four of her children: William, Samuel, Noah, and Elizabeth are living together in Cuyahoga County Ohio.  They were clearly part of the "Great Migration" of African Americans who moved from the rural south to the industrial north.

Looking into the Brown family opens up more questions, more surnames and, of course, more cousins, cousins, cousins.   I embrace this challenge as I look for more branches of my family tree.