Re: Common Mistakes-Browns in Central & Eastern VA
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In reply to:
Re: Common Mistakes-Browns in Central & Eastern VA
Anna Brewer 1/16/12
Anna....I have done some research in Amherst Co., VA for my Davidson family, but I have not spent much time looking at the Browns in that county.I saw one record that claimed that your James M. Brown was married to an Elizabeth Reese, but I do not know the source (nor the accuracy) of that claim.
There was a Mordecai Brown who appeared as a witrness on a deed in Amherst Co., VA in 1772, and he was almost certainly a member of my mother's overall Brown family (that "traces back" to Old Rappahannock/Lancaster/Essex Co., VA in the 1650s).I do not know, however, if any of his children lived in Amherst Co., VA.That Mordecai Brown family is "represented" by DNA "Group 10" at the Brown Genealogy Society DNA testing project website.Do you know of a living male Brown in your family who could take the DNA test?That MIGHT prove to be the only way to "trace" your Brown family back much further.
One of the two "early" Mordecai Brown's in my mother's Brown family (and I am not postive which of those two Mordecai Browns was in Amherst in 1772) married the widow Mrs. Elizabeth (Unknown) Croxton.Mrs. Elizabeth (Unknown) Croxton's daughter (by her first husband Samuel Croxton) named Nancy Croxton married Aaron Higginbotham.Aaron and Nancy's daughter Clara Graves Higginbotham married Lindsey Sandige/Sandridge/Sandidge, and Lindsey and Clara had a son who was named Mordecai Brown Sandidge (born in the 1820s, as I recall; he lived in Amherst Co., VA).There were other Browns (like a Fielding Brown and a Walter Brown) who married into that same Sandidge family in Anherst Co., VA, but I do not know if they were members of the same family as the "early" Mordecai Brown mentioned above....nor do I know if they were perhaps part of your Brown family.
With a common name like "Brown," DNA testing is sometimes the only way to "get to the bottom" of things.It was typical for two or more UNRELATED Brown families to live in the same area at the same time, so unless there is truly excellent documentation available, DNA testing sometimes becomes the only way to make any progress.If I come across anything else that might help you, I will certainly post it here.Comments/questions?