Brown and Guess/Gist: Native American Research

I’d like to thank many relatives and others for helping with this research. Carol, my sister, found information about information about the marriage of Harriet Guess and David B Brown. A “cousin“, Carla Davenport from California, was researching our family years before I was doing so. Page Beagle, my Uncle‘s granddaughter, found our family mentioned in “Indian Pioneer Papers”. Would especially like to thank Don Sticher, a Gist/uess/t researcher who isn’t even descended from my branch of the Gist/uess/t surname, doggedly stuck with me, stuck to his guns, and helped us to find our REAL ancestors. Mostly, I want to thank my Father, who was a good man, as honest as any man who ever lived.

I have been obsessed with trying to find our Indian blood. The following describes a part of that quest. Since it led back to Lawrence/Winston/Walker Counties, I have been graciously asked to write a little something about us. Well, here it is.

Howdy. I am 56 years old, as of Oct 2009, and I’ll be 57 in late December. Dad (A. O. Hawkins) was born August 15, 1915. He passed away in October 1992. He always said his maternal grandmother, Josephine [Brown] Richey (1854-1932), who was a midwife, attended to his birth on the family farm in Southwestern Oklahoma. They lived on neighboring farms in what was called “Holton Community” or township -- there was no town there, just a lot of small farmers living on or near Deep Red Creek in Eastern Tillman County, Oklahoma. It had been part of the last opening of Oklahoma Territory to White Settlement in 1906 and was known as "The Big Pasture." Dad’s family had moved there from what is now Stephens County, Oklahoma, but back then was the Chickasaw Nation, in Stephens County. Well, more on that later.

To get to school, Dad used to say, he walked past his grandparents farm. He said sometimes he stopped by there for an hour or town on the way home from school. He used to talk about how poor they were, saying he sometimes walked to school with no shoes, because he didn’t have any. I used to have a school photo of him shoeless, but I don’t know what happened to it. As a child I used to think, yeah, sure Dad -- but the older I get, I know it was true. That was the Dust Bowl era, and everyone was penniless.

Anyhow, he said he’d stop by his grandparents house and when he was old enough, he took a class called “Oklahoma History” . He said his grandma looked through his Oklahoma History Book, point at an Indian, and say “Did you know you are related to him?” Now years later, after we found out Dad’s grandma’s mother’s maiden name was “Guess”, we thought we were related to Sequoyah. I remember showing Dad a copy of that famous painting of Sequoyah done by either King or Caplin, I forget which (both painted him) and asking him if that was the picture his grandma had shown him. All he ever said however, was “I just don’t remember”. Now everyone who saw him immediately thought he WAS an Indian. Now other cousins had similar stories of an Indian ancestor, but none of us knew where it came from. We knew it was from great grandma Richey’s side, but that was all.

Several of us started looking through the old rolls, especially Cherokee, but our family wasn’t included, and one by one, most relatives gave up. Dad used to mention his cousin Eunice (daughter of his Aunt Bea) once said she found some Indian papers about us, and he asked her about it, and she said “Awe, you just want that Indian money.” Dad said that so hurt his feelings that he seldom spoke to her after that. I have tried to find her descendants but I haven’t had any luck. I heard she married an Indian but don’t know any more than that.

Another relative whom I got some of my early research results from was Carla Davenport. Her husband’s grandma was Etta [Richey] Davenport. Now the Davenport’s came to the Chickasaw Nation from Georgia, and Etta’s husband was Charley Davenport. I looked them up and his father had been an official in the Confederate government and came to the Chickasaw Nation after the Civil War. Any Oklahoma History Book will tell you a little known fact outside of Oklahoma -- many former Confederate officials moved to both the Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations in Southeastern and South Central Oklahoma after the Civil War -- that region of Oklahoma is sometimes called “Little Dixie” to this day, and for that reason. One of Uncle Charley’s brothers married a Chickasaw and I have also run into one of their descendants. She has made a name for herself, become a local historian, and has transcribed many documents of that era, which have set slowly decaying, totally ignored for more than 100 years. Through her, I found the husband of Sarah Ann [Brown] Bull, a White man named Tarlton Bull, had served in the “First Choctaw and Chickasaw Mounted Rifles”. She told me that unit was comprised in the early days of the war, mostly of White Texans, as early in the War, to serve in Indian Territory, they had to serve under the Indian government. However later in the war that requirement was lifted, and some Texas and Arkansas Units did serve in Oklahoma, then Indian Territory. Tarlton became a local celebrity in Lewiston, Denton County, Texas after the Civil War. During a Comanche/Kiowa raid in the early 1870s for horses and cattle, he killed an Indian and there was an article written about it. He moved to Oklahoma after the 1900 census and was still alive for the 1920 census. Dad said he met Tarlton (his great uncle by marriage) once and was impressed by him, saying “he was a great big man, nearly seven feet tall”. Well, Tarlton applied for Confederate Pensions in both Texas and Oklahoma. Texas rejected him but Oklahoma accepted his application. In those papers it said he fought in the two most important battles fought in Indian Territory. It also said he was five feet, eight inches tall. So I suppose Dad was a small child when he saw Tarlton, and sometimes children’s memories can get distorted I suppose. We sometimes forget, or recall incorrectly after the passage of many years.

For our other lines, I found two first cousins of a direct ancestor on the Richey side, surnamed Wayland, served at Fort Gibson, IT, from 1830-1836, and were even on the “First and Second Dragoon Expeditions” in Indian Territory, the same expedition where the painter George Catlin, painted many Plains Indians, also both Sequoyah and Tah-chee., aka Captain Dutch. If you will look at the first treaty signed between the U. S. Government and the Comanche, Kiowa, and Wichita, two Cherokee signed it as guides -- Captain Dutch, and David Melton [http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/com0435.htm]. The Cherokee named David Melton descends from the same Melton family found in North Central Alabama, and there is a “Melton’s Bluff” named after them. Captain Dutch was Sequoyah’s KNOWN brother. Interesting there was a record of him where it mentioned his “clan” and it was not the same as Sequoyah’s. I thought that interesting as it means if he was Sequoyah’s brother and it is recorded that they were brothers, well -- they were related on the father’s side, as a Cherokee‘s clan descends from the mother. Both were well known Cherokee, with Captain Dutch being the last traditional “War Chief” of the Cherokee. There has been no traditional War Chief since his death in the 1840s. Anyhow it was while on this journey to Oklahoma that Catlin painted both Sequoyah and Tahchee, aka Captain Dutch. My Joseph Richey served at Fort Gibson in 1846 and 1847. His wife was Sarah Wayland, whose first cousin’s had served at Fort Gibson 10-15 years earlier. It was their son, Jeff Richey, who married Josephine Brown. They are my great grandparents. This is the same Josephine that told my father that we were related to “an Indian” in his Oklahoma History book. I suppose I have rambled, but please just bear with me.

Dad was a natural born story teller, with his stories about the Dust Bowl and World War Two. And it was his stories got me interested in the past, and specifically in genealogy. One road block was our Indian blood. No one could trace it back then, and I have had great difficulty in trying to trace it today, as well. Now we can find most of our ancestors, but the Brown’s and Gist/uess/t surnames have for years, been hard to trace.

There is another family story my mother told me about my Dad’s side of the family. She said everyone in the neighborhood knew Dad’s family was Indian/mixed. She said she was told that his grandparents, Jeff and Josey [Brown] Richey had thought about and applying for Dawes, had talked to others about it, but “something happened” that upset them, and they never filed. So we are not on the accepted or rejected rolls. Anyhow it seems like someone said something to them that upset them, and so they just didn’t file. Dad never mentioned this, but Mom did. She was born one month after Dad, on a neighboring farm, and Josephine (Dad’s grandma) was also the mid-wife that delivered her on the family farm in 1915.

And I already mentioned Dad’s grandma (Josey) telling them they were related to “an Indian” whose picture was in his Oklahoma History text-book. Well later I started thinking Dad’s generation was passing away, and only Aunt Lorena, Dad’s younger sister of that generation, still was alive. This was about 2000 or 2002 or so, somewhere in there. Well she married a G. I. Stationed at nearby Fort Sill during World War Two, and they moved up to his home which was Indianapolis, Indiana. I wrote her a letter and told her what Dad had said about his grandma’s story and asked if she heard any story about us having Indian blood, or about us being related to Sequoyah.

Here is part of her reply:

I remember more what our Mother told us than grandmother Richey. We had a wonderful grandmother and I suppose she talked more about Sequoyah to the boys than to us girls. Alpha [Vance’s note -- my Dad] was almost six years older than I. She was a Brown before she married Grandfather Richey. Her mother was a Guess before she married great grandfather Brown. I think mama said she was a niece of George Guess “Sequoyah”. . . . Our mother looked a lot like some Indian trait [Vance’s note: that’s what she wrote]. . . . I saw a picture of Uncle Hoten and Uncle Otho . . . [in] A school picture of the Old Holton grade school just about a mile and ½ from where we were raised South and East of Manitou. They definitely showed some Indian blood.

Lula, Lorena, and A.O.

[Vance’s note: Manitou is a small town about 200 folks in Tillman, County, Oklahoma. In her day it also had about 200 people. I have a copy of that photograph she is mentioning. It is a good Identification also, because the photographer places the names in order, and we know the two boys who look Indian in the photo, are the two Richey boys. They were grandma‘s brothers.]

. . . Grandma and Grandpa Richey came to Oklahoma before Oklahoma became a state. They lived in covered wagons when grandma and Aunt Bea were little girls. I used to love to hear her talk and tell when they were children. . . . Sage grass was taller than mama and Aunt Bea. . . . Both Andrew and Raymond were born before Oklahoma was a state. They and Cecil were born in a half-dugout. [Vance’s note: Dad’s brothers and sister’s were Andrew, Raymond, Cecil, Joe, Alpha (Dad), Lula, Lorena, and Eual Lee, who was killed in Normandy during WW2.

The last page of her letter has been lost. She ended the letter by saying, and I am paraphrasing, “I’m quite sure mama said her grandma was Sequoyah’s niece or great niece.”

Here is a photo of my grandma, who is the person referred to by Aunt Lorena in the letter above, as inferring that we descend from a brother of Sequoyah’s.

For years I was stuck here, knowing my ancestors had come to Oklahoma before it was a state. Dad had said they came from Arkansas before that. A cousin,Page Beagle, had told me a great Uncle had written about us in a Dust Bowl era project called “Indian/Pioneer Papers”. People of all races wrote about what life was like in Indian Territory, what later became Oklahoma. They got old timers -- Whites, Indians, and Blacks, Mixed-race people -- to tell what life was like here in the 19^th century. Well my great uncle -- Oscar Taylor Richey -- was interviewed for this project.

From a website about this collection:

Below are a few excerpts from that interview with my great uncle:

One last thing on this topic. I received a lot of help from Carla Davenport. She was wife to the grandson of my great Aunt Etta (called Ettie), grandma’s sister. She was a sort of family historian, and had old records, all of which were lost when she passed on in the 1960s.

I asked her about our Indian blood, and she had been researching it longer than I. Here is something I received from her:

I met Aunt Ettie (my great aunt) a couple of times she was very stubborn, but I always admired her. She lived in Marlow, in Northern Stephens County, Oklahoma. I have seen her handwriting and she did misspell many words. I recall as a boy seeing her entire back yard was dug up and filled with every vegetable you can imagine. She was a little old lady, but I knew she had dug up that whole yard herself.

Although the “above” was well and good, it did not tell us where my ancestors lived before they came to Arkansas and Oklahoma, and there is NO mention at all of us having Indian blood in any old document that I have come across, something that I have since proven TRUE through an autosomal DNA test, and something that the evidence of our family photographs also attests. We DO have Indian blood, but where did they come from? All the census records said my great-great grandpa David B. Brown (1822-1865) was born in Alabama, but where in Alabama? Some census records said his wife, Harriet Guess (1817-1886), was born in Alabama and some say Tennessee. More said Tennessee than Alabama, but both are possible based on census records, I supposed. Which was it? And here do I go from here?

Carla did send me a copy of an old tin-type of Harriet. Her email said she looked through the trash at Great Aunt Ettie’s funeral, and recalled many old tin-types and other documents were just thrown away. She remembered Great Aunt Ettie saying this was her Grandma, Harriet, and our great grandma Josephine taken as a baby. So she saved this old photograph from the trash can and took it home with her.

We have found one of Harriet’s brother, James Gist. He served on the 29^th Missouri, Union, during the Civil War. His pension application, more extensive than Confederate pensions, said he was born in Lawrence County, Alabama, married in Shelby County, Tennessee (same as Harriet) in 1847, and described him as “dark complected”, as was Harriet. Ironically Harriet’s husband, David Brown, served in the 8^th Arkansas Confederate. While David was taken POW at the Battle of Corinth, Mississippi, James Gist, his brother in law, was wounded at the first battle for Vicksburg, both in 1862. Both also died in as the war was ending, in 1865. Some of James descendants still live in Missouri.

Back to Carla Davenport. She became convinced that we descended from John Brown found in Lawrence County, Alabama in 1820. She also became convinced out Guess family came from the same region. Then one day I just quit hearing from her. She lived in California and I lived in Oklahoma. I suspect maybe she passed away, but I don’t know for sure. After a few more years I believe I have finally put it together. I have had some help from a cousin. Here goes.

Recently Don Sticher and I were e-mailing each other back and forth, while researching the Gist/uess/t surname. He descends from that surname, but a different branch than me. After searching months and months with him, and years before that, we DID find at least one, and possibly both, parents of my Harriet Guess.

Our Gist/uess/t’s

Our breakthrough was discovered by Don Sticher. He knew my Harriet Guess had married David Brown in Shelby County, Tennessee, in July, 1841. I had previously seen Rachel Guist marry Thomas Talbot/Tolbert in 1820 and wondered if we were related to Rachel, but that is as far as I went with it. He found another reseache online had a website showing that Thomas Talbot/Tolbert died, and saw the executors of his estate were Rachel, his new wife, and James Havens. He then saw that James Havens had a daughter named Rachel and this was her. Armed with this information, Don found that Rachel Talbot married Emanuel McNutt in 1822 in Lawrence County, Alabama and on the 1830 census for Lawrence County, Alabama, they have four children too old to have been McNutt's -- they were Gist's by Rachel's first husband, an unknown Gist whom we suspect was "James". The coup-de-gras was the 1840 census of Shelby County, Tennessee. Emanuel McNutt was living there with his family in 1840. From this point foreward, everything just fit into place.

Here are the Gist/uess/t families that tie together through DNA, family stories of an Indian ancestor, or genealogical records. I sent Don Sticher some information and my "best guess" as to who descended from whom. Here is what he wrote me back -- his makes more sense than what I had sent him, so I am sending it. He said:

Vance,

The following is based on both his and my research efforts. It is based on evidence, both through genealogical records and genetic research of DNA testing, that has grouped these families together.

1. John Gist - born about 1750 or so. Lived in east TN. Was in Anderson County TN from at least 1785 until June 1802 when appointed co-executor of Aaron Gist estate. Gone by Mar 1803 when the Anderson County Sheriff noted he had moved from the County. No further records for this John Gist.

The following was written of this John Gist/Gess, and was taken from The Land of the Lake: An Early History of Campbell County, Tennessee By Dr. G. L. Ridenour, LaFollette, TN, 1941. Excerpt from Pages 7 and 8:

Unfortunately, Dr. Ridenour gives NO source information as to where he obtained this information. We have a possible unknown brother of Sequoyah, which would agree in great detail to what Aunt Lorena wrote me, when she said her mother had said her grandma, Harriet [Guess] Brown being “niece or great niece” of Sequoyah.

… 2. Nathaniel Gist - born about 1775. Lived in Pulaski and Wayne County KY in early 1800s. Was in Campbell County, TN in 1836 and Roane County, TN in 1839.

….. + Rachel Havens b. 1790s, m. abt 1812 and died sometime after 1840. Of the 4 Gist children, two have been identified. Rachel remarried Thomas Tolbert in 1820, who died soon after. Then she married Emanuel McNutt, in 1822, also in Lawrence County, Alabama. Emanuel McNutt is on 1830 census Lawrence County, Alabama, living near several other McNutt families. My John Brown, with 2 children, lives nearby also. The son in the John Brown household was David B Brown, my ancestor, who later married Harriet Guess, a step-daughter of Emanuel McNutt. By 1840 census, Emanuel McNutt’s family is on Shelby County, Tennessee census.

Mary Gist - Mother of David Smith. David Smith being the connection to Rachel Havens. [Vance's note: David and James are listed together in many documents in Lawrence County, Alabama] David Smith was born 1777, so this Mary Gist must have been born about 1760 or so. This would make her about the same age as the Old John Gist of Anderson County, Tennessee.

Of the above families, descendants of all of them have family stories of “an Indian ancestor”. DNA testing also connects all these families very closely together. Some of the above I have directly quoted my friend Don Sticher, and some of it is from my own words. I have italicized them. The quote from the book is also Italicized. To distinguish the two, I have made the quote from the book in red. Lawrence/Winston/Walker County researchers in Alabama will recorgnze some of the names above as living in those counties from earliest records in 1818 past 1850 and/or 60, with most of them moving off by the latter date. What I have said is but the tip of the iceberg. For more details please contact me. It gets pretty complicated. It is important to note these Gist/uess/t’s are NOT related to the children of Moses Guess/t who also lived in early day Lawrence County, Alabama, and this is borne out by both family stories and DNA results. All those descending from the above families claim an Indian ancestor, and those descending from Moses say they have NO Indian blood. It is interesting that DNA results also say these are two different Gist/uess/t families that are NOT related.

David Smith's (mentioned below) mother's maiden name was Mary Gist. Mary was sister to John Gist, most likely candidate to be the grandfather to my Harriet Gist/uess/t -- email me for evidence and you'll agree. It's complicated.

From "Warrior Mountains Indian Heritage" by Richy "Butch" Walker, p 276, there is the following --

"John Bull, In 1829, a frontiersman and famous rifle maker by the name of John Bull engraved 2 of his masterpieces from the Warrior Mountains. According to information provided by Mr. Dan Wallace, the exceptional rifle is inscribed on a silver platelet in the stock, "John Bull for David Smith, Warrior Mountain . . .

"According to Old land records of Lawrence County, Alabama by Margaret Cowart, David Smith entered 79.92 acres of land . . . near Indian Tomb Hollow on September 18, 1818 and 79.92 acres on September 28, 1818 . . . He married Charlotte Ann Havens, who was the daughter of James Havens. According to Havens family legend . . . James Havens was buried next to his Indian friends on the side of Warrior Mountains. . ."

There was a website for a college in Rolla, Missouri that had some Smith/Havens papers. Well I sent off for some of them and was sent some few papers, maybe 20 sheets. Here are a couple of things I thought interesting right off the bat --

It mentions David Smith (whose mother was a Gist) and Sarah Havens administrators of the estate of the late James Havens. This is in Lawrence County, Alabama. It mentions 2 quarter sections of land, and says the estate of the deceased is not suffecient to pay it off. He says all his payments were made to the United States, from whom the land was purchased. It says they don't have suffecient funds to pay the ballance due, then ends with the following --

This means John Brown and William McNutt would pay off the debt if the widow Sarah Havens couldn't. Now remember "Emanuel McNutt's" name was just 47 names from "John Brown" on 1830 census of Lawrence County, Alabama. I recacll seeing 7 McNutt families within 3 or 4 pages of John Brown, on the 1830 census records, and William was 2 of them, one elder and one younger. That is the SAME John Brown I have long believed was the father of MY David Brown, the same David who married Rachel's daughter, Harriet Guess/t/ist/ess/t . . . This shows MY John Brown knew these Havens' and McNutt's.

The above document was dated 1826. By 1826 Rachel and Emanuel had been married for 3 or 4 years. My David was just 3 or 4 years old, and Harriet, living in the Emanuel McNutt household, was twice his age, 8 at least. So they knew each other as children.

At least one other interesting thing came with this record. Mentioned is made of a son of James Havens, Thomas Havins, b. Mar 7, 1793. It said he was born in Tennessee and died in Coryell Co., Tx., 22 Apr 1883. His children are listed. Interesting, his 5th child (he had 12) was named Thomas Tolbert Havins, b. 15 Dec., 1822, and he was born in Lawrence County, Alabama. He was born not long after Thomas Talbert, Rachel's second husband, had died. This documents my Rachel [Havens/Gist/Tolbert/McNutt] even closer to the Havens family.

It also ties my Brown's to the Gist children of Rachel, the Havens, Smith's, and McNutt's.

My sister said she once asked grandma about our Indian ancestry. She has said grandma said “her grandparents” were “Blanket Indians”. She said she asked grandma what that meant. Why were they called “Blanket Indians?" She said grandma responded, “Cause that’s what they wore.” Now grandma’s grandparents would have been David B Brown and Harriet Gist/uess/t Brown. They are never mentioned as having been “Indian” in any document I have found, but family story states this as do our old photographs.

The following is what we have discovered about our Brown’s:

1. John Brown. Born about 1790, give or take a few years, location unknown. His family is still in Lawrence County in 1830. 1830 census Lawrence County, Alabama. John Brown 100001, 010001 ó John Brown, 30-40, Mary 30-40, 1 daughter 5-10, 1 son 0-5. They live near the Emanuel McNutt household where John’s son, David’s future wife lives. There is also a household surnamed “Black” living nearby as well, perhaps his wife’s relations. By 1840 they are on Walker County, Alabama’s census . On 1847 tax records John Brown is still alive. By 1850 census, his widow Mary is head of household in Walker County, Alabama, so he seems to have died between 1847 and 1850. Nothing is known of him before his marriage to “Polly” [Mary] Black.

.. + Polly Black Dec 23, 1820 in Lawrence County, Alabama. Mary is in Walker County, Alabama, 1850 census, as head of household. Family was in Lawrence County, Arkansas, on 1860 census.

… 2. Unknown daughter, possibly Francis who married John Randolph. I say this because J E Randolph was bondsman for the wedding of David B. and Harriet [Guess] Brown.. We have never discovered who J E Randolph was, or how he is related to the family.

… 2. David B. Brown. David Brown was born in Lawrence County, Alabama, abt 1823 or 4. Married Shelby County, Tennessee, 1841, appears to have returned to Walker County, Alabama by 1847 as “David Brown” is a taxable household in Walker or Winston County. David Brown is a taxable household for the first time in Lawrence County, Arkansas in 1848.

….. + Harriet Gist/uess/t m. 1841 Shelby County, Tennessee.

………3. John H. [Henry] Brown b. 1852 (9) (10) (11) (13) (14) To Los Angeles County, California where they are found 1900 census only. Have not found a ny other record of them past that date.
…………+ Cariane ?? (12), b. Tx. Probably married in Denton County, Texas.
……………4 Emma (12)
……………4 Ida
……………4 Minnie Bailey
………3. Josephine Brown b. 1854, m. 1872, d. 1932.
………..+ Jeffrey Hoten Richey b. 1851 -- [I have more information on these families if you want it]
……………4 Charlotte Richey, died as infant, Leflore County, Choctaw Nation
……………4 Joseph Richey, died as infant, Leflore County, Choctaw Nation
……………4 Etta Richey
………………+ Charles Davenport
……………4 Swaney Adow Richey
……………4 Oscar Taylor Richey
………………4 Loney Clementine Richey

…………….. + Noah Allen Hawkins
……………4 Beatrice Pearl Richey
……………4 Jeffrey Hoten [called by Dad “Uncle Hoten” ] Richey
……………4 Otho Richey -- died flu epidemic @ 1919 Tillman County, Oklahoma
………3. Sarah Ann Brown b. Oct 1855, m. 1878
………..+ Tarlton Bull, b. Mar 1845, 1st Choctaw and Chickasaw mounted infantry, 19th and 37th Texas Cavalry, per pension applications he was at just about every major battle in IT. Sarah was his 2nd wife.
……………4 Hattie N., b. Feb 1883
……………4 Alta D. May 1883
……………4 Robert H. Nov. 1888
……………4 Johnnie J. Nov 1890
………3. Amanda Brown
………… + John Knight
……………4 Amy Lee Knight

…………….. + Mr. Goldsberry -- emailed their granddaughter -- have stories of Indian ancestry ”somewhere” in the line, don’t know where.

……3. Orphans living in their household of Dvid and Harriet [Gist/uess/t] Brown

……… Nancy I. Joiner, b 1843 Shelby Co., Tn daughter of Thomas Joiner and Cynthia McNutt. Cynthia was half-sister to Harriet. Married Alfred Brown, David’s younger brother.
………… Thomas McNutt, b. 1834 Lawrence County, Alabama, half-brother to Harriet Married Orlena Brown, David’s younger sister.
………… Nancy A. Loony -- b. 1844, in Alabama -- relationship to David and Harriet is unknown at present.

… 2. Malinda Brown, b. abt 1826 Appears on 1850 census of Walker County household of Mary Brown, as “Linday Brown”. One of her descendants said they were told they had Indian blood on her “Johnson” side -- that would be the Brown side as well, as they don‘t know who the husband of her/our Malinda Brown was, only that he was a “Johnson“.

….. +Unknown Johnson

… 2. Elizabeth Brown, b. 1834. In household of Mary Brown, 1850 Walker Co., Al census. Not found afterwards. Probably married. Descendants might still be in Alabama.

… 2. Orlena Brown

….. + Thomas McNutt

………3 Elizabeth b. @ 1860
………3 Clinton
………3 Laura
…2 Alfred Brown b. @ 1837 Alabama
……+ Nancy I. Joiner b. 2 1845
………3 Mary J b. @ 1865 -- living with my great grandparents per 1880 census, who were married in the home of "Alph Brown" in 1872. Listed as “niece”
………3 Louisa b. @ 1867
………3 Alice b. @ 1870
…2 Nancy Brown b. @ 1841
…2 Martha Brown b. @ 1844
…2 Cynthia “Syntha” Brown b. @ 1846

My John Brown is Not found on 1820 census. 1820 census has Thomas Talbot, single with no children.

1830 census Lawrence County, Alabama

John Brown 100001, 010001 ó John Brown, 30-40, Mary 30-40, 1 daughter 5-10, 1 son 0-5. These 2 children “might be” Frances Brown who married John Randolph and David Brown who married Harriet Gist/uess/t?! J. E. Randolph was bondsman for Harriet Guess and David Brown, in Shelby Co., Tn in 1841 for their marriage. Only a close relative would be the bondsman.

Found 47 names later is

Emanuel McNutt 00201, 110201 ó Emanuel is 20-30, has 2 sons 10-15. Rachel his wife is 30-40, has 2 daughters 15-20, 1 daughter 5-10, and a daughter under 5. We know one older daughter was Harriet and one older son was James Jr -- do not know the other 2 older children. One younger son was Thomas McNutt who married David’s sister Orlena, and another was Cynthia McNutt who married Thomas Joiner. There were “Freedmen” Joiners who claimed to descend from a Cherokee living in Hamilton County, Tennessee, named John Brown. Their application was rejected saying they couldn’t prove their claims.

1840 census Walker County, Alabama

Don’t know how these 3 Brown’s are related.

William Brown 00010001, 0000001 ó 1 male 15-20, 1 male 50-60, 1 female 30-40

Next name

Coleman Brown 10001, 10001 ó 1 male under 5, 1 male 20-30. 1 female under 5, one female 20-30.

2 names later

John Brown 10120001, 0110101 ó this is ours. John is 50-60, 1 male is under 5, 1 male 10-15, 2 males 15-20. His wife Mary is 40-50, 1 female is 5-10. 1 female is 10-15, 1 female is 20-30.

1840 census Shelby County, Tennessee

Emanuel McNutt 0100001, 0020101 ó Emanuel was between 30-40. 1 male is 5-10. Rachel is 40-50. 2 females are 10-15, and 1 female is 20-30. Since Harriet married in Shelby County in 1841, just one year after this census, we suspect the one female 20-30 years old is her.

Next -- compare the ages of John and Mary’s children on 1850 and 60 census to the ages in 1830 and 1840.

1850 census Walker County, Alabama

Mary Brown          49     North Carolina

Linday Brown          25     Alabama

Elizabeth Brown          16     Alabama

Orleny Brown          15     Alabama

Alfred Brown          13     Alabama

Nancy Brown          10     Alabama

Martha Brown          8     Alabama

Sintha Brown          4     Alabama

Nancy Brown          5     Alabama

Levy Brown          3     Alabama -- there was a “Levi Brown” who signed a petition to help get a pension for a “Bill “Black Fox” Looney” after the Civil War. I wonder if he was related?

David Brown          1/12     Alabama (named after his uncle, my g-g-grandpa, I‘d like to think :)

1860 census Lawrence County, Arkansas

Mary Brown           59     Alabama

Nancy J                19     Alabama

Martha L           16     Alabama

Malinda Johnson      34     Alabama

Nancy                13     Alabama

Levi                12     Alabama

David                10     Alabama

Thomas                1     Arkansas

Comparing all 4 census records, we get --
My Brown’s ages and date and place of birth, based on census records
Name (names appear Birth Year per census . Location of Birth

…………………1830 …………… 1840 …………… 1850 ………… 1860 …… Location
John Brown
…………………1790-1800 ………1780-1790 [died btw 1847-1850]
Mary Black
…………………1790-1800 ……… 1790-1800 …….. 1801 .………… 1801 …… North Carolina
Francis Brown
…………………1820-1825 ………1810-1820 ……… unk ………… unk …… unk
David B. Brown
…………………1825-1830 ………1820-1825 ………1823 …………1823 …… Alabama
Unk male
…………………1820-1825 -- could be a relative?
Unk male
…………………1825-1830 -- could be a relative?
Lindy Brown/a.k.a. Malinda Johnson
…………………1825-1830 ………1825-1830 ………1825 …………1826 ……Alabama
Elizabeth Brown
……………………………….........................................1834 ………… unk ……Alabama
Orlena Brown
………………………………...........1830-1835 ………1835 …………1835 .……Alabama
Alfred Brown
……………………………….........................................1835-1840 ……1837 ……Alabama
Nancy Brown
……………………………….........................................1840 …………1837 …….Alabama
Martha Brown
……………………………….........................................1842 …………1844 ……Alabama
Sintha/Cynthia Brown
………………………………..........................................1846 ……………………Alabama
Nancy Brown
………………………………..........................................1845 …………1845 ……Al/Ms
Levi Brown/Johnson
………………………………..........................................1847 …………1847 …….Al/Ms
David Brown/Johnson
………………………………..........................................1850 …………1850 …….Al/Ms
Thomas Johnson ……………………………….......................................1860 ……Arkansas

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